OlymPicks: China Speeds Past Austria on the Slopes, But Are the Olympics in General Going Downhill?

OlymPicks is an ongoing blog series whereby we highlight news, gossip, and developments regarding the buildup to Beijing's 2022 Winter Olympics.

You'd think Austrian athletes would have a significant advantage over their Chinese counterparts on the slopes, and yet a skier named Liu Ji finished first at the Advantage Austria Ski Race at Zhangjiakou's Genting Secret Garden Resort in Hebei held over the weekend of February 18-19.

It was the first time that a Chinese racer had won at the competition, which has been held in China for the past eight years and is considered "a networking platform for the Austrian-Chinese winter sports community," according to the China Daily. The event attracted 110 racers from not only China but across the globe, and these days the number of Chinese competitors has outgrown that of Austrians.

Such shifts bode well for the 2022 Winter Olympics. After all, the Chinese are by no means known for their winter sports enthusiasm, performing far better at the summer Games in the past. But a major push to develop Zhangjiakou's skiing facilities, along with Austrians coming to Beijing and not only lose skiing competitions but also invest in the emerging market, are all signs of a dramatic change in dynamics. As the China Daily put it: "Austria, having a long tradition of winter sports, was one of the first countries to develop ski resorts, technologies related to winter sports and a winter sports industry," before going on to quote Zhan Weiping, vice chairman of the Austria-China Friendship Association, about how a growing number of Austrian skiing and skating companies are investing in the Chinese market.

Austria’s neighboring Hungary, meanwhile, is showing far less Olympic fervor. Even as Austria is looking for a piece of the 2022 Winter Olympics – which came down to only Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan, after other locales pulled out because of the costliness of hosting such an event, among other reasons – Budapest, Hungary's capital, has opted out of hosting the 2024 Summer Games. Sporting News attributes that bowing out to “lukewarm public support” before adding that Rome and Hamburg also cut their bids short beforehand.  

“The city's withdrawal followed a troubling recent trend for the Olympic movement” the article went on to say, adding that the Olympics have “seen increasing reluctance from governments to follow through on the lengthy and expensive bidding and hosting process.”  Paris and Los Angeles are still in the running for 2024 (the latter putting forth a bid after the United States Olympic Committee's primary choice, Boston, dropped out).

Such waning support leaves one to wonder why Beijing was so enthusiastic to host the 2022 Winter Games. Hopefully whichever city that wins the 2024 bid can help turn this trend around and drive up public excitement, before the whole thing careens downhill quicker than an Austrian (or Chinese, for that matter) skier.

While support from world's governments may be dipping in enthusiasm for the event, there's no fear of China's ski industry losing excitement for the big business that can come from snow. A recent whitepaper has revealed that as of December 2016 there were 646 snowports in China, compared to just nine 20 years ago, and over 15 million individual trips made to the slopes which is up 20.8 percent over 2015. The revenue reaped from those domestic winter holidays amounted to 3.9 trillion yuan. It is predicted that China’s ski industry will be worth 1 trillion yuan by 2025 with an estimated 300 million holidaymakers.

READ: Volleyball Players Will Swap Sand for Snow at 2022 Games

Meanwhile, China's minor skiing victory over Austrian counterparts at the recent race is being overshadowed by Japan's alpine skiing showing at the Asian Winter Games in Sapporo. The gold and bronze medals went to Japanese skiers at that event, while a Korean managed to secure silver, though fifth also belonged to a Japanese skier, which aroundtherings.com says demonstrates "the host country's depth in the sport among fellow Asian countries." Surely Chinese Olympic coordinators are dreaming of similar dominance in 2022, though it looks like their athletes will need to keep on practicing in order to ensure they can take on their formidable Japanese counterparts. Maybe their Austrian pals can lend a few helpful hints.

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Photos: CNN