Coming together for a sporting chance

IOC, UN General Assembly presidents call for globe to cheer for something in common

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has reiterated his belief that Beijing 2022 will help unite the world at a time when it is facing a range of unprecedented challenges.

A few hours before the 2022 Winter Games opened at the National Stadium on Friday night, the exchange of Olympic flames between Bach and Abdulla Shahid, president of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly - as the penultimate and final bearers respectively during the Olympic Forest Park section of Beijing 2022's torch relay - sent a strong message to the world that the time has come again for humankind to set aside disputes and cheer for something in common.

The showcase of elite winter sports action from the world's top athletes - regardless of race, gender and cultural backgrounds - over the next two weeks in Beijing deserves applause and appreciation from around the world, according to Bach and Shahid.

"Doing this just before the opening ceremony really gets your adrenaline up and makes my confidence for tonight and for the Games even greater,"Bach said after completing his leg of the relay at the Olympic Forest Park in the northern part of downtown Beijing on Friday morning.

"The torch is delivering the message of unity and resilience. And it shows that even in this time of a pandemic, we can unite and we can come together despite all our differences. This is the message of the Olympic flame and the Olympic Games."

With the COVID-19 pandemic remaining a major challenge worldwide, the fact that the Beijing 2022 Winter Games have kicked off on schedule, thanks to Chinese organizers' relentless efforts on infrastructure preparation and pandemic control, bears witness to the combined strength of humankind when working together, according to Bach.

"It was a big challenge, but this is why we are also always taking on challenges as opportunities," said Bach.

"What we are showing here with these Games, together with our Chinese partners and friends, is that we are living the Olympic motto here. We are going faster. We are aiming higher. We are becoming stronger, and we are bringing the athletes of the world together. This is a symbol the world needs in these times of division and confrontation."

Shahid, who completed the torch relay at the forest park and attended the grand opening ceremony, echoed Bach's sentiment.

"I think it's a great opportunity to celebrate peace," said Shahid, who is also foreign minister of the Maldives. "It's a symbol where Olympians come throughout the world to celebrate sports and peace. It's beautiful."

High-profile torchbearers running the last few legs of the relay at the forest park on Friday included Li Lingwei, an IOC member and former badminton star; Zhang Hong, another IOC member from China and a retired speed skating Olympic champion; and former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.

To guarantee the safety and health of all participants as well as the Chinese public amid the pandemic, the Beijing 2022 official torch relay was scaled down to a three-day event that involved about 1,200 torchbearers at 12 locations from Wednesday to Friday.

The locations were mostly outside of the Games' closed loop and were across the three competition zones - downtown Beijing, its northwest Yanqing district and co-host Zhangjiakou, Hebei province.

Still, the enthusiasm leading up to the opening ceremony throughout the relay showed no attenuation at all with debutants such as Zhang too excited to hold back her emotions.

"It was my first time to run the Olympic torch relay and I was over the moon that I felt like I was preparing for the Olympics again," said Zhang, winner of the China's first speed skating Olympic gold medal in the women's 1,000m at the 2014 Sochi Games in Russia.

"As the only representative of winter sports among the final five legs, I am honored to play the role and motivated by the responsibility to promote China's image in the international winter sports community," said Zhang, who delivered the torch to Bach.

"I am really proud of myself and proud of my country to host the Winter Olympics at home. I hope the global athletes enjoy their Games and the field of play and their time in Beijing."