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Torch bearers Dinigeer Yilamujiang (L) and Zhao Jiawen set the torch into the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games at the National Stadium in Beijing, Feb. 4. (PHOTO: XINHUA) |
With the flame lit, Beijing became the first city to host both winter and summer Olympic Games. The opening ceremony driven by technology reflected the "simple, safe and spectacular" ambitions of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as IOC President Thomas Bach addressed athletes: "Dear fellow Olympians, Your Olympic stage is set."
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attended the opening ceremony. He said, IOC is a close partner of the UN, and the Olympics bring together people with a message of solidarity and peace.
According to Nature, Beijing Winter Olympics will be the first to be carbon neutral. The Winter Olympics are also the first to use natural CO_2 as a refrigerant to cool the skating venues, instead of synthetic hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants, saving up to 26,000 tonnes of carbon. Claudio Zilio, who studies refrigerants at the University of Padua, Italy, said that CO_2 is an environmentally friendly option for the purpose.
Beijing's Winter Games are the first to have considered a broad range of emissions from the earliest stages of preparation, said Marie Sallois, a director of sustainable development at IOC. They are also the first to have taken into account indirect sources of emissions, such as air travel, she added. Beijing's approach of embedding sustainability at all stages of the process is "something we will encourage for future games."
According to tech media Protocol, China has deployed cocktail-pouring robots in the Olympic Village, installed futuristic remote-controlled beds for visitors and implemented its new digital currency system, e -CNY, for its first international test.
According to Techradar, China built the world's largest LED screen for the 2022 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. The screen was used as the main stage of the opening ceremony and was built by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT). According to the CALT, the screen offered "a visual feast even better than 8K resolution."
Bach praised China's role in making "sporting history." "China is now a winter sport country where over 300 million people are engaged in winter sports in over 2,000 resorts and ice rinks," Bach said towards the end of the opening ceremony. "This is an extraordinary achievement and [it] opens a new era for global winter sports."
According to mainstream media platforms, China kicked off the 2022 Winter Olympics in an unprecedented manner. The focus was on a spectacular technology-driven visual show that featured fireworks and a light show before culminating with a block of ice that was "broken" by ice hockey players, giving way to five snow-white Olympic rings.
This grand event provided a stunning visual feast that combined digital technology and beautiful creative designs. It was not only technologically advanced, but dynamic, aesthetically pleasing, and experiential. This was also an opportunity to showcase some of China's newest technology innovations to the world.
According to South China Morning Post, Beijing put on a spectacular and stirring show of technology and artistry at the opening of the Winter Olympics. Although it was a scaled-back affair because of COVID-19, the National Stadium was awash with light and symbolism as 3,000 performers enacted the theme of China's quest for world peace and the Games motto of "together for a shared future."