China, having learned its lesson from Japan, nearly bankrupt after spending $20-billion on the 2020 Summer Olympics (which were held this year), will have a tight, no-frills budget for next year’s Winter Games.
That includes no major construction for any venues, as opposed to the eight facilities, like the 68,000-seat Olympic Stadium, the Metropolitan Gymnasium, the Nippon Budokan for judo and karate and other facilities Japan built in and around Tokyo strictly for its events at a cost of $3-billion.
“That was nuts! What are they going to use them for now? High school track meets? YMCA swim meets?,” Cai Qi, chairman of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, told a gathering of journalists from the western hemisphere. “I mean, come on! You know what we have for our events? Snow! I bet you didn’t even realize we have snow in China, right?
“When that guy we call President Persimmon visited us in 2017, he wanted to play golf but I told him our course was covered in snow. Wow! You wouldn’t believe his cursing, like we did it on purpose. Anyway, yes, we have snow. Where do you think our giant pandas live? Poolside? No, they live in high altitudes and love the snow.”
According to Song Qiang, deputy head of General Planning, “at all our venues where we want to have seating for spectators, we will mark the boundaries in the snow with spray paint. And we have stockpiled several hundred thousand buckets and small shovels.”
“Spectators who wish to watch, say, the snowboarding or ski jumping, will get a bucket and shovel, clear an area, then sit or stand on the bucket and watch the event. When it’s over, they can leave the equipment where it is or take it home, or return it and receive half their fee back.
“There’s only one other requirement for Chinese citizens to be spectators, to get buckets and a shovel,” Mr. Song added. “They have to first use them to clear the areas where the bobsled, luge, skating, skiing and curling will be held. Oh, did I mention there will be no indoors events? Figure skating, speed skating and everything else will be held outdoors at temporary rinks.
“If the National Hockey League can play outdoors in Buffalo on New Year’s Day,” he said, “Russian ice dancers Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov or own own Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu, and everyone else on ice as well, should be able to perform outdoors, too.”
Vincenzo Novari, chief executive officer of the Milano Cortina Organizing Committee for the 2026 Winter Olympics, said he was “intrigued by the idea of China forcing its citizens to help make room for the venues for their events if they want to see the competition.
“But I don’t think we can get away with that. In fact, I know we can’t. I guess we’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way, by pouring a s—load of money into a black hole and hoping we don’t go bankrupt in the process. … Maybe we should ask the NCAA to run our games. They seem to make a s—load of money no matter what. … Or maybe Allen Weisselberg. Or maybe not.”
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