Winter Olympics

Written by: Kate Pietruszkiewicz
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Today marks the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the 23rd one in history. The Olympic games are like a huge festival of sports, uniting athletes around the world to compete. In Beijing this year, there will be 91 countries represented by 2,871 eager men and women. The athletes come to participate in a variety of events; 109 exactly, that are divided into 15 disciplines, or groups. All of them - Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Bobsleigh, Cross-Country Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Ice-Hockey, Luge, Nordic Combined, Short Track Speed Skating, Skeleton, Ski Jumping, Snowboarding, and general Speed Skating - will be available to watch on the NBC channels from the opening ceremonies today, February 4th, until the closing ceremonies on the 20th.
 
While close to half of the athletes participating in the games this year are women, it wasn’t always that way. The first official Olympics were held in 1896 and when women got to compete at the next go around in Paris 1900, they only made up 2% of the 997 total athletes. Not only have they made a large leap just to participate, the girls have also proved themselves to be avid athletes in all of the sports offered, not just the 5 that were initially offered to their gender. As of the 1991 International Olympic Committee's statement, any sport added to the Games is added for both men and women.
 
There are many women to look out for in this year’s winter edition, so make sure to watch the sure-to-be exciting performances of Chloe Kim (Snowboarding), Maame Biney (Short Course Speed Skating), Alysa Liu (Figure Skating), Mikaela Shiffrin (Alpine Skiing), and Elana Meyers Taylor (Bobsledding). Look out for next Friday's update where we’ll go into some more important women in sports; the ones making their mark now as well as the trailblazers throughout history.

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“Winter Olympic Sports List | Olympics.com.” Olympics.com, 2022, olympics.com/en/sports/winter-olympics. Accessed 4 Feb.  2022.

‌“When Did Women First Compete in the Olympic Games.” International Olympic Committee, 23
Nov. 2021,   
olympics.com/ioc/faq/history-and-origin-of-the-games/when-did-women-first-compe
te-in-the-olympic-games#:~:text=Go-,When%20did%20women%20first%20compete%
20in%20the%20Olympic%20Games%3F,to%20gender%20equality%20in%20sport..
Accessed 4 Feb. 2022.