Beijing 2022 | Winter Olympics Flame Lit In Athens, Greece | Arrives In China

by GoNews Desk Oct 20, 2021 • 05:11 PM Views 985

On Monday, the Olympic Flame for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing was lit in a ceremony held in Athens, Greece. The flame arrived in Beijing today and will be put on display in various parts of China until the Winter Games begin in 2022. This is the second time that China is hosting the Olympics, the frist being Beijing 2008. Beijing has become the first city that will have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. 

Activist groups tried to disrupt the ceremony in Greece alleging that it legitimizes ‘rights abuses’ in China, to which the IOC through President Thomas Bach responded that the Games are a “politically neutral ground” and that the IOC was committed to seeing the Games proceed as planned.

Regarding scaling down of the torch relay ceremony, Beijing Mayr Zhang Jiandong said “We insist on prioritizing public health and safety, and coordinate the torch relay with pandemic control and prevention requirements”