It's done. 18 days before the opening of the Beijing 2022 Games (February 4 to 20), the Chinese organizers put an end to the false suspense of the presence of the public on the competition sites on Monday January 17. They announced via a terse press release, lacking specific details, that tickets for the Olympic events would not be sold to the general public.
Just a few months after the Tokyo 2020 Games, the ticket office for the Beijing Winter Games will in turn remain at the project stage. It will never be launched. But, unlike the Japanese, the Chinese did not opt for closed doors. Not yet. They suggest, but deliberately remain very vague, that spectators will not be completely absent from the Winter Games. Those privileged will not be obliged to buy a ticket, they will be invited by the organizing committee.
« Given the current serious and complicated situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, and to ensure the safety of all participants and spectators, it was decided that tickets should no longer be sold but be part of an adapted program that invite groups of spectators to be present at venues during the Games, announced the organizing committee via a press release. Organizers expect these spectators to strictly adhere to COVID-19 measures before, during and after each event. »
At this stage, the Chinese are careful not to give figures or reveal their requirements regarding the presence of the public. It is therefore impossible to know whether the spectators will be a few hundred, or several thousand, in the stands or along the tracks. It is also impossible to know the nature of the invited groups.
At the Tokyo Games, the Japanese had provided an exemption to the closed door rule for certain groups of schoolchildren, but only in the stadiums of football tournaments played outside the capital. According to certain clues released in recent weeks by the Chinese press, school students could once again be among the rare categories of spectators invited to attend competitions. Political dignitaries, members of the Chinese Communist Party, should also benefit from invitations.
One thing is certain: the Chinese will not take the slightest risk. Spectators must have been vaccinated. They will also probably have to present a negative test.
Without yet turning into an outbreak of cases, the pandemic has been progressing for several weeks in China. Twenty million residents are currently confined in several cities across the country. A cluster was discovered last week in an after-school establishment in the port city of Tianjin, located less than an hour by train from Beijing. A first case of the Omicron variant was recorded on Saturday January 15 in the capital.
For the IOC, the news announced Monday January 17 by the Chinese organizers looks like a glass half full. Certainly, the Beijing Games will not be officially contested behind closed doors, a prospect that the Olympic body has been trying to rule out for several months. But the number of spectators that the Chinese will ultimately decide to accept on the sites could well prove to be far below the IOC's expectations.
The Chinese repeat it tirelessly: the health bubble installed since January 4 around the Olympic system will be safe, airtight and secure from the first to the last day. “ A place without comparison in the world“, confirmed Pierre Ducrey, the director of Olympic Games operations at the IOC, shortly after his arrival in Beijing. Unfortunately for the atmosphere, spectators will not be welcome. Except in very small numbers. And handpicked.
