Just six months after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics wrapped up, Beijing 2022 has arrived — with clouds of uncertainty nearly as concentrated as they were in August.
With the coronavirus pandemic now in its third year, organizers have been forced to take unprecedented precautions in order to hold one of the world’s largest sporting events in a nation that has wielded its massive state security apparatus without restraint in order to keep infection rates low.
Controversy over the decision to hold these Olympics in China — making Beijing the first city to host both the summer and winter editions — has overshadowed the buildup to the Games, with 10 countries announcing a diplomatic boycott over the reported genocide of Uyghur minorities in the country’s Xinjiang region and the treatment of anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.