BEIJING (NEXSTAR) – With just two days until the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, China is about to make history. Beijing will be the first city to have ever hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.
Monuments to the 2008 Summer Olympics still remain in Beijing. A sculpture with the logo of those games marks the entrance to Olympic Park in Beijing. Now, in 2022, some things have changed, but others remain the same.
14 years ago, Beijing set the stage with an unforgettable opening ceremony.
“I still remember the first Olympics and there was a lot of pride and excitement,” said Dr. Qiu Hailstork.
Dr. Qui Hailstork is the Director of Asian Studies at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. She says many of the stadiums built for the 2008 games have become cultural landmarks. “Like the bird’s nest, things like that have actually become a symbol of China opening itself to the world.”
The bird’s nest — formally known as the national stadium — will be used again in 2022, holding the opening and closing ceremonies for the Winter Games.
“This is everything that you want to have as an organizer. The versatility of the venues and building on the existing legacy,” said IOC Olympic Games Operations Director Pierre Ducrey.
The national aquatics center where Michael Phelps made history will now hold curling.
“Just an amazing experience to even just be standing in that venue and in that place where all those special races happened with one of our country’s greatest Olympians,” said curler, Chris Plys.
Of course, there are some new facilities and new landmarks.
But the biggest change between 2008 and 2022 — the COVID-19 pandemic — moving the games into a bubble.
Regardless of the challenges and changes, the athletes are ready to compete In Beijing.