Editor’s note: The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will kick off on February 4, 2022, making Beijing the world’s first dual Olympic city. As the second Olympics held amid the COVID-19 pandemic, how is China preparing for the international event? What are people from different countries looking forward to in the Games? GDToday & Newsgd.com will present you “Internet Celebrities on Beijing 2022” in the coming days.
“In fact, there is an ice hockey team in Zhongshan as well as an ice skating rink just about 2 kilometers from my home,” said Jerry Grey, “I saw more people are into ice skating as the Beijing Winter Olympics is drawing near. The Games stimulates interest in winter sports here, although Guangdong is famous for its warm weather.”
Jerry Grey is a British born Australian, currently living in Zhongshan, a city of South China’s Guangdong province. He loves bicycling in China and shares his observations with more than 36 thousand followers on Twitter.
Jerry Grey. (Photo/Steven)
“The important thing in the Olympics is not to win, but to take part”
Growing up in the UK, Jerry used to go skiing in northern Italy during holidays. In the coming Winter Olympics, ski jumping is also the competition he is most looking forward to.
“In the UK, we had a ski jumping Olympian known as Eddie the Eagle,” Jerry introduced. Eddie the Eagle made history at the 1988 Winter Olympics as UK’s first ski jumper. He finished last in both the Normal Hill and Large Hill events, but his remarkable persona and commitment to reach his goal earned him fame and renown.
For Jerry, it is these touching stories and interesting moments that the charm of Winter Olympics lies in. He then mentioned the Jamaican bobsleigh team, who trains in sunny climes and has qualified for the Winter Olympics for the first time since 1998, as well as the Australian short track speed skater Steven Bradbury, who surprisingly became the first Australian Winter Olympic champion in his fourth Winter Olympics.
“It’s about attitude that even if there is no hope of winning, they still take apart. And I think that’s what it’s all about,” Jerry said.
“Epidemic control measures in China are effective”
According to the official website of the International Olympic Committee, around 2,900 athletes will compete in 109 events of 7 winter sports during the Beijing 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic control and prevention will be the foremost challenge to the event.
“Having witnessed how they efficiently controlled the pandemic in Zhongshan, I’m absolutely confident in the upcoming Games,” said Jerry, “All the people I know are quite grateful for the measures. And when we go for our testing, the atmosphere is always very positive. Lots of smiles.”
As illustrated in the Beijing 2022 Playbook, a “closed-loop” system is implemented. It can create a “bubble”, which isolates Games participants and staff in regular contact with them from ordinary citizens. The system officially came into use on January 4, 2022.
An express train (350km/h) is an important part of the “closed-loop”, which set off on January 6, 2022 to provide exclusive shuttle service for athletes and Olympic personnel between the three main competition clusters -- stadiums in Beijing’s downtown area, northwest Yanqing district, and Zhangjiakou in north China’s Hebei province.
The National Ski Jumping Center, also known as "Snow Ruyi", in Zhangjiakou. (Photo/Xinhua)
“Accusation against China is merely a deflection from their own failures”
“Olympism is a destroyer of dividing walls. It calls for air and light for all,” Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, once said.
After “together” was added into the Olympic motto, China put forwards “Together for a Shared Future” as the motto of Beijing 2022 to call for international solidarity in a time of change and turbulence. However, the US-led diplomatic boycott of the Games has shattered the hope.
“I’ve been to Xinjiang many times. I’ve seen no evidence of abuses; I’ve seen no evidence of a genocide; I’ve seen no evidence of forced labour; I’ve seen no evidence of people being persecuted,” Jerry debunked the accusation of human rights violation in Xinjiang.
Jerry Grey (front) cycled in Khorgas, Xinjiang, a border city between China and Kazakhstan. Jerry and his wife rode from Urumqi to Zhongshan, along with their friend Bevan Cobbe, for a charity project called “Riding for Love” in 2019. (Photo provided to Newsgd.com)
“This is something I saw with my own eyes, not something I’ve read about,” Jerry furthered.
Jerry told the reporter that as a foreigner traveling in Xinjiang, he did not encounter any trouble with the police. There were no hostility or interrogation. “They were very helpful and friendly. They never asked have you got any photographs that you shouldn’t have had. They never asked to see our phones or our cameras or told us there were any places we couldn’t go,” Jerry recalled.
From his perspective, the boycott and criticism from US-led western countries are merely a deflection from their own domestic failures. He numerated various crises in the US: Health, crime, debt, gun control, and so on.
“They say there are some serious problems inside our own country, but stop looking at these problems and look over there. That’s the main thing: The deflection,” Jerry noted.
Author | Lydia Liu
Editor | Steven, Jasmine, Jerry
