Winter Olympic Games Research Articles

Design and mechanical performance analysis of V-joint of new steel structure

Aiming at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, a new type of steel-wood combination sunshade structure system was proposed, and its selection was analyzed. The related joint forms were studied, and the new joint forms were put forward. The mechanical performance of the new joint was analyzed through tests and finite element simulation.

1994 – a temporal and scalar exploration of a Norwegian climax

This article explores ‘1994’ as a cultural-historical ‘moment’ in order to tease out the layered manifestation of ‘Norway’ in a globalizing world. With offset in the oral testimonies, news coverage, reports, analysis and memories of people experiencing and contextualizing the two events of the Lillehammer Winter Olympics and the Norwegian referendum on membership in the EU, the article pursues their meaning along several temporalities and on multiple spatial scales. The argument is that ‘1994’ marked a symbolic climax and watershed moment for Norwegian (cultural) patriotism and the dispersion of what ‘Norway’ meant in a national, Nordic, European and global context. But the climax’s meaning were fragmented across time and space, and the monolithic moment has increasingly come to be filled with silences, anxieties and frustrations. Indeed, the Norwegian climax of 1994 dissolved in commercialism, mediatized fragmentation, Europeanization and globalization. The recognition that neither the ‘uniqueness’ of the ‘best Olympic Winter Games ever’ nor the ideational and historical significance of the Norwegian ‘no’ was received as intended by the sender, makes their temporal manifestations in the national context all the more significant: The simultaneous resurrection and burying of these twin events of the 1994-climax can thus be understood as a significant catalyst of Norway’s cultural and political myopia through a period of hasty, tumultuous and increasingly troublesome globalization.

IMAGE TRANSFER OF INTERNATIONAL SPORTING EVENTS TO HOST CITIES – OPPORTUNITIES AND LIMITS FOR BAKU

International sporting events such as the Summer or Winter Olympic Games as well as World Championships such as the FIFA World Cup are subject to the increasingly intensified globalization process. Moreover, they are often considered to be an important economic, social and cultural phenomenon, particularly for host countries and cities. In this regard, international sporting events may help to shape the image of host destinations while taking into account its individual characteristics [3].
 At the same time, geo-branding is a topical area of modern community marketing management strategies and increasingly important for developing countries.
 In fact, the image transfer of the sports events is often based on differences in a positive or negative effect from the use of athletes, sports teams, sports events, and sometimes sports infrastructure for the formation of long-term interest to the host city, for the formation and improvement of reputation and image. The held mega sports events, as a rule, does not form a full-fledged brand of the city, but only lays the foundations in the form of interest.

Urbanization effect of mega sporting events using sentinel-2 satellite images: The case of the pyeongchang olympics

This study attempts to understand the impact of mega sporting events on local economies by identifying and comparing the urbanization and economic effects of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games. However, for an accurate evaluation of the effects of hosting the Winter Olympics, it is necessary to consider not only the ripple effect on the local economy but also the increased potential for urban growth from the expansion of social overhead capital. This study calculates the urbanization index and land cover ratio using Sentinel-2 satellite images to examine the urbanization from infrastructure construction for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. It additionally analyzes the changes in land price and tax revenue during this period to understand the economic effects of the Olympics, and verifies the correlation between urbanization and economic indicators. The study is unique in that it analyzes the impact of a national event on local communities using satellite image data and presents a comprehensive methodology to understand urban sustainability by monitoring urban changes.

The Journey of Skiing: Starting from the Altay Region Extending to the Winter Olympic Games

The Journey of Skiing: Starting from the Altay Region Extending to the Winter Olympic Games

ПОВЕДЕНИЕ РЕДКОЗЕМЕЛЬНЫХ ЭЛЕМЕНТОВ В ПОЧВЕННО-РАСТИТЕЛЬНОМ ПОКРОВЕ УРБОЛАНДШАФТОВ г. СОЧИ

The geochemical regional specialization of the behavior of rare earth elements (REE) in the soils of Sochi, manifested in the predominance of REE of the middle group, has been established. The enrichment by the middle group of REE is inherited from the rocks (mainly clayey mudstones) of the territory. At the same time, the features of the distribution of REE, characteristic of natural soils, are not violated for soils formed under the conditions of technogenesis. This indicates that the pollution of urban soils is determined by a natural and technogenic factor. The sources of pollution are man-made sites and talus, which lack a soil-vegetation layer, including those recently formed during the preparation for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games and composed of the same material as the parent rocks, but significantly crushed and, accordingly, subject to active weathering. In mosses of the urban zone, in the eluvial landscape, the predominance of the middle group of REE is not observed. However, as we move down the slope, the REE distribution curve relative to the North American shale standardization becomes similar to the similar graph for soils and rocks. The relationship between the accumulation of elements in mosses, and in soils and underlying rocks is revealed when considering the features of fractionation of REE in mosses of the super-aquatic landscape.

Hosting the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games and wellbeing among Canadian youth

ABSTRACT Research question Although research traction is increasing, intangible social impacts are still difficult to measure and relatively under-researched compared to their tangible economic counterparts. Thus, the current study examines the question: what were the associations between hosting the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, social wellbeing (i.e. sense of belonging), and subjective wellbeing (i.e. life satisfaction) among Canadian youth? Research methods Using data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (n > 1,000,000), a time series analysis of youths’ (aged 12–19) reports of perceived sense of belonging to their community and perceived life satisfaction across four time points before and after the Vancouver Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games at the national, provincial, and regional levels was conducted. Research findings The number of youths who reported a strong sense of belonging to their community significantly increased in the host region of North Shore after the Games concluded (2011–2012 to 2013–2014). The number of youths who reported a strong sense of belonging to their community and high life satisfaction significantly increased from 2007–2008 (pre-event) to 2009–2010 in the host region of Richmond. Implications This study provides preliminary evidence that mega-sport events might positively affect wellbeing of youth living in regions that house venues for the event. The study also demonstrates the temporary nature of positive social impacts. Suggestions for how to help create situations where positive social impacts are more likely, and to help maintain the wellbeing benefits of mega-sport events for youth populations are offered.

Methodology for the Development and Use of the USALI Standard in International Practice

According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the tourism industry is one of the most dynamically developing sectors of the economy. It was expected that by 2020, the proportion of people employed in this area and the contribution of tourism to world GDP would amount to about 10%. The hotel industry in this sector is the most profitable and progressive. At that, the Russian hotel market volume lags significantly behind the world indicators and does not exceed one percent in the global hotel industry. The active development of the tourism industry, and as a result, the hospitality industry, has created conditions for the intense development of the hotel business in Russia. A significant impetus to this in recent years have been the 2016 Winter Olympic Games and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. However, even in the preparatory stages for these large-scale international events, many experts expressed concerns about the idleness of most of the built facilities, the downfall of many accommodations and catering enterprises, and the decline of infrastructure after completion of these sporting events. These circumstances determine the objective need to find and implement mechanisms for effective management of hotel enterprises based on the study of international experience and Russian best practices in the hotel business.

Canadian Government Involvement in Calgary’s Failed 1968 Winter Olympic Bid

In the early 1960s the Canadian government in Ottawa saw international events, including major sporting events, as a way to bolster Canada’s position globally. To support Calgary’s bid for the 1968 Olympic Winter Games, the Canadian federal government formed an interdepartmental committee to work with the Calgary Olympic Development Association to try to improve the Canadian city’s chance of winning the Olympic Games. The inclusion of sites within Banff National Park for some of the proposed competition venues required federal government involvement, but John Diefenbaker and Lester Pearson’s governments became even more involved in the bid process than was typical at the time because of the importance with which they viewed the Olympic Games to their broader public diplomacy efforts. The extensive work to support Calgary’s (ultimately unsuccessful) 1968 Olympic Winter Games bid foreshadowed the importance of federal government involvement in the bidding stages and not just their involvement in the organizing of the Olympic Games themselves.

Assessing previous land-vegetation productivity relationships on mountainous areas hosting coming Winter Olympics Games in 2022

In order to prevent land degradation in areas before hosting big events such as the Winter Olympic Games (WOG), developing strategic vegetation restoration plans is key. To evaluate four experimental areas with different degrees of human impacts located in the Chongli District, northern Hebei Province, China, where the coming WOG 2022 will take considering: i) the feedback mechanisms between vegetation and soil in the process of future vegetation restoration; ii) the vegetation productivity of land in different land-use types; iii) the management mode considering the sustainable development as the primary goal. To achieve these goals, we applied a minimum soil data set (MDS) to screen the most relevant indicators (soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), available phosphorus (AP), available potassium (AK), available nitrogen (AN), soil bulk density (BD), soil porosity (SP), pH, clay, silt, sand and gravel), and the nonlinear scoring method to establish a soil quality index (SQI). For this purpose, 400 soil samples (0–20 cm depth), the total biomass of one natural grassland (NG) and abandoned farmland (AF), and the growing stock of natural secondary forest (NF) and a larch plantation (LP). The results showed that the SQI can be established based on TN, silt, TP and gravel. Under LP and AF land-use type, vegetation showing a poor effect on the improvement of soil quality (SQIs were significantly lower than the NF and NG). It was also observed that above 1700 m, the growing stock of artificial vegetation exceeds the range of vegetation productivity (about 165 m3·h−1) that the land can carry under the LP. We concluded that the main reason is the excessive depletion of N and P after human impacts. On the other hand, the SQI of NF and NG were higher, which is due to the significant improvement of soil quality by the conservation of the vegetation, so that no longer limited by the spatial distribution law, also showing higher vegetation productivity of land at different altitudes. This demonstrates that it is key to develop effective restoration plans considering the soil-vegetation relationship status of the NF and NG land-use types in this area in the territories used by the activities of the WOG 2022.

Implementing a Sustainability Legacy Strategy: A Case Study of PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games

Given the growing need for hosts of sports mega-events to provide concrete plans for a sustainable sports mega-event at the bidding stage, it is perhaps surprising that there has not been more research on the actual implementation of the legacy plan in terms of sustainability. The main aim of this paper is to do just that: to analyse an empirical example of the implementation of the sustainability legacy plan for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Through an empirical analysis, the research methods used to collect the data are document analysis and semi-structured interviews with stakeholder sampling (16 documents and 10 interviewees). The paper uncovers the difficulties the PyeongChang Games encountered in achieving the sustainable legacy planned in the bid files through an evaluation of the implementation of PyeongChang’s legacy strategy in the context of South Korea. Part of the findings reveal that Gangwon Province and South Korea achieved their strategic goals set out in advance of the PyeongChang Olympics as an effective tool for promoting regional development. One of the main obstacles to the sustainability of the PyeongChang Olympics was the lack of a clear plan for the post-Games use of Olympics venues and conflicts of interest among stakeholders of the PyeongChang Winter Games.

Study on the application of solar power generation in gymnasiums

To accelerate the promotion of green and low-carbon development, the development of green buildings, new energy development into the “14th Five-Year” planning recommendations, in the global climate change, energy shortage situation, solar power generation as a clean and renewable energy, in today’s society has received more and more attention. Drived by China’s successful hosting of the 29th Summer Olympic Games in 2008 and its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in 2015, there has been a boom in the construction of sports venues and facilities across the country. Study on the present situation of the application of solar power in the stadium hall has carried on the system analysis and research.

A Study on the Analysis of Transmedia Storytelling in Mega Cultural Events-Based on the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games-

A Study on the Analysis of Transmedia Storytelling in Mega Cultural Events-Based on the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games-

The 1928 Olympic Winter Games in St Moritz: Tourism, Diplomacy and Domestic Politics

The 1928 Olympic Winter Games in St Moritz was the first international sports competition in Switzerland to bring together the country’s Olympic and sport circles, its hotel industry and local authorities. Doing so crystallized public and semi-public actions around an event capable of making or breaking Switzerland’s reputation as a tourist destination. In addition, the Swiss government, which did not directly initiate the project, ensured the event would serve the aims of its foreign policy by placing a foreign ministry representative on the organising committee. The involvement of these stakeholders meant that the games mainly affected three interconnected areas: tourism – hosting the Games was a way of fending off competition from other winter sports destinations; diplomacy – the event allowed the Foreign Ministry to bolster Switzerland’s image abroad; and domestic politics – obtaining and staging the Olympics led to the development of a strong sports lobby during the 1920s.

Роль спортивного туризма в развитии народной дипломатии Российской Федерации и стран Северной Европы

By the example of the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi and 2018 FIFA World Cup, the paper shows how sports tourism as an element of public diplomacy influences Russia’s relations with the North European countries. The study is based on an analysis of the foreign media publications dedicated to 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and 2018 FIFA World Cup. Scientific originality of the research lies in the fact that the author identifies the role of sports tourism as an element of public diplomacy. The paper argues that sports tourism acquires special importance due to a growing number of international sports events. Influence of intensive cooperation in sport on Russia’s relations with the North European countries is revealed by the example of the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi and 2018 FIFA World Cup. As a result, it is proved that cooperation in sport helped to overcome political tension and largely contributed to establishing friendly neighbourhood relations between Russia and the North European countries.

BC’s Mobile Medical Unit (MMU): One of Dr. Jack Taunton’s Olympic Legacies

This article outlines the important contributions that Dr. Jack Taunton made to get the Mobile Medical Unit (MMU) for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and keeping it in BC post-Games, where it has become an important health care asset and used throughout the province.

PyeongChang, Pyongyang, or Pyeonghwa (peace in Korean) olympic games? An exploration of partisan media and framing effects

ABSTRACT The PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games held in South Korea drew much political attention due to its potential to resolve the ongoing political and military tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula. Given the divisive South Korean public discourse on warming ties with the North, this study uses framing theory to compare the frames employed by two partisan South Korean newspapers to cover the mega sporting event. Our analyses reveal significant framing differences between conservative and liberal sources, suggesting their potential effect on citizen attitudes and beliefs about the role of the Olympics. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.

Windows of equity? Media review of Czech gender hegemony during the 2018 Winter Olympic Games

Background: Sport media coverage of women's participation has long been viewed as perpetuating hegemonic masculinity. Yet several authors have found recent coverage of mega, multi-sport events, such as the Summer Olympic Games, to be more equitable towards women, particularly when examined proportionally to participation. The Czech Republic for various reasons has traditionally been resistant to feminist ideology, marking its unique positioning in providing an equitable presentation of women's participation. Objective: To examine the influence of hegemonic masculinity in an Eastern European culture, portrayed through Czech online media coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Methods: Online media coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games was examined for gendered differences of Czech athletes. Analysis of number of articles, length of articles, type of sport, and whether the article was about domestic or foreign athletes, was evaluated over 17 days of media coverage on two dominant Czech sport media websites. Results were compared in relation to gender, participation rates and medal success. Results: A total of 860 articles were reviewed, with 49.7% favoring male athletes, and 38.6% female. Articles about female athletes were largely composed of reporting on female medal winners (medal winning: media coverage correlation .845, p < .001), while those on male athletes were predominantly from the cultural dominant sport of men's ice hockey (25.1%). Conclusions: The findings suggest that success is more important than perpetuations of hegemonic masculinity when men and women are competing in mega, multi-sport events. Implications of these findings are also provided in terms of type of media coverage and influences of equity in media coverage for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

Cold surge invading the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Competition Zones and the predictability in BCC‐AGCM model

AbstractThe 24th Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will be held at three competition zones in North China. The cold surge is considered as the most dominant weather affecting the game schedule by the Organizing Committee of Beijing Olympic Games. In this article, both the frequency of 124 cold surge cases invading the competition zones and the corresponding atmospheric circulation during the winters of 1985–2020 are first analyzed. The results show that the frequency has not been reduced by the global warming. On the contrary, it has been increasing slightly in recent decade. By verifying the forecast skill of temperature drop at the zones in Beijing Climate Center‐Atmospheric General Circulation Model (version 2.2), it is found that the average efficient forecast leading time with persistent temperature drop exceeding 1°C is about 7 days, but significant differences exist among the individual cases. The 20 best forecasts and the 20 worst forecasts were selected for further analysis. In the 20 worst forecasts, the cold surge processes cannot be forecasted even 1 day in advance. It is mainly due to the great deviation of the simulated circulation from the observation, especially the failure to forecast the enhancement of the Siberian High especially in its southeast part before the cold surge occurrence. While in the 20 best forecasts, the model can capture the cold surges 9 days before the occurrence, owing to its skill in forecasting the positive sea level pressure anomalies from the southern Barents Sea and the Kara Sea to eastern China. Above evaluations can provide useful information to the forecast of cold surge invading the competition zones beyond 1 week.

An evaluation of the sustainability of the Olympic Games

The Olympic Games claim to be exemplars of sustainability, aiming to inspire sustainable futures around the world. Yet no systematic evaluation of their sustainability exists. We develop and apply a model with nine indicators to evaluate the sustainability of the 16 editions of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games between 1992 and 2020, representing a total cost of more than US$70 billion. Our model shows that the overall sustainability of the Olympic Games is medium and that it has declined over time. Salt Lake City 2002 was the most sustainable Olympic Games in this period, whereas Sochi 2014 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 were the least sustainable. No Olympics, however, score in the top category of our model. Three actions should make Olympic hosting more sustainable: first, greatly reducing the size of the event; second, rotating the Olympics among the same cities; third, enforcing independent sustainability standards.