Winter Olympic Games Research Articles

The Challenges of Micro-Nowcasting and the Women’s Slope Style Event at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games

The Women’s Slope Style event of 11–12 February 2018 at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games posed considerable challenges to the competitors and decision-makers, requiring sub-kilometer and sub-minute weather predictions in complex terrain. The gusty wind conditions were unfair and unsafe as the competitors could not achieve sufficient speed to initiate or complete their jumps. The term micro-nowcasting is used here to reflect the extreme high-resolution nature of these science and service requirements. The World Meteorological Organization has conducted several research development and forecast demonstration projects to advance, accelerate and promote the art of nowcasting. Data from compact automatic weather stations, located along the field of play, reported every minute and were post-processed using time series, Hovmöller and wavelet transforms to succinctly present the information. The analyses revealed dominant frequencies of about 20 min, presumed to be associated with vortex shedding from the mountain ridges, but were unable to directly capture the gusts that affected the competitors. The systemic challenges from this and previous projects are reviewed. They include the lack of adequate scientific knowledge of microscale processes, gaps in modeling, the need for post-processing, forecast techniques, managing ever-changing service requirements and highlights the role of observations and the critical role of the forecaster. These challenges also apply to future high-resolution operational weather and warning services.

Study on Wind-Proof Effect and Stability of Windbreak Fence in Alpine Skiing Center

As a venue for the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, the National Alpine Skiing Center is located on Xiaohaitou Mountain in Beijing’s Yanqing district, where strong winds occur frequently. To reduce the impact of strong winds on the competition, windbreak fences have been installed in the ski area. To determine the effect and stability of the windbreak fences beside the ski slope of the alpine skiing center, the numerical simulation method was used to study the performance of 3.7 m, 4.7 m and 7.9 m high wind barriers. According to the actual meteorological conditions, two kinds of inlet wind speeds of 10 m/s and 33 m/s were set. The results show that the ambient wind speed is maximum only in a small area near the opening through the windbreak fence. When the ambient wind speed is 10 and 33 m/s, the wind speed in most drainage areas behind the barrier is below 5 and 15 m/s, respectively, which is significantly lower than the wind speed of incoming flow, and the wind protection effect is obvious. When the wind speed at the entrance height is 10 m and 33 m/s, the wind-proof effect is obvious. The wind-proof effect of 7.9 m high windproof bars is better than that of 3.7 and 4.7 m high windproof bars. The wind pressure at the top of the fence is the highest, and the wind pressure also increases when the wind speed increases. Under the action of maximum wind speed, the stability of a 7.9 m high storm fence is low.

Case study of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games: Implications for global mass gathering events amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study aimed to evaluate the public health countermeasures against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that are important for organizing mass gathering events (MGEs) during a pandemic and to identify the practices suitable for application at future MGEs. This study analyzed data from the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. The aforementioned analysis was conducted from the viewpoints of overseas stakeholders and Chinese residents. The comprehensive set of countermeasures established to prevent the transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic comprised the bubble strategy, the three-layer testing strategy (pre-departure testing, testing at the airport, and daily screening), the mandatory wearing of N95 masks, and mandatory vaccination. A total of 437 positive cases within the bubble were reported during the Games, of which 60.6% were detected through screening at the airport and 39.4% were detected through routine screening. Nearly, 92.0% of the positive cases were detected within 7 days of arrival in China, and 80.8% of the cases had already been identified before the Opening Ceremony of the Games. Outside the bubble, no Games stakeholders were infected and no spectator contracted COVID-19. The bubble strategy, the three-layer testing strategy, the mandatory wearing of N95 masks, and mandatory vaccination are promising countermeasures to prevent the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during MGEs. Public health countermeasures introduced during the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games were proven to be useful. The success in delivering and organizing the Games instills confidence and leaves a public health legacy for future MGEs amid the pandemic of COVID-19 or future emerging infectious diseases.

Intelligent Health Monitoring of Cable Network Structures Based on Fusion of Twin Simulation and Sensory Data

The precise and effective prognosis of safety risks is vital to ensure structural safety. This study proposed an intelligent method for the health monitoring of cable network structures, based on the fusion of twin simulation and sensory data. Firstly, the authors have established a framework that integrate simulation data with sensory data. The authors have established a high-fidelity twin model using genetic algorithm. The mechanical parameters of the structures were obtained based on the twin model. The key components of the structure are captured by using Bayesian probability formula and multiple mechanical parameters. The fusion mechanism of twin simulation and random forest (RF) was established to capture the key influencing factors. The coupling relationship between structural safety state and key factors was obtained, and the safety maintenance mechanism was finally formed. In view of the risk prognosis of the structure, the establishment method for the database of influencing factors and maintenance measures was formed. The authors used the Speed Skating Gymnasium of 2022 Winter Olympic Games (symmetric structure) as the case study for validating the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. The theoretical method formed in this study has been applied to the symmetric structure, which provides ideas for the safety maintenance of large symmetric structures. Meanwhile, this research method also provides a reference for the health monitoring of asymmetric structures.

Half-Power Prediction and Its Application on the Energy Management Strategy for Fuel Cell City Bus

The fuel cell hybrid powertrain is a potential power supply system for fuel cell vehicles. The underlying problem is that the fuel cell vehicles encounter exhaustive hydrogen consumption. To effectively manage hydrogen consumption, the aim is to propose fuel cell city bus power and control system. The underlying idea is to determine the target power of fuel cell through simulation study on fuel cell and battery energy management strategy and road test verifications. A half-power prediction energy management strategy is implemented to predict the target power of the fuel cell in the current time step based on the demand power of the vehicle and the state of charge (SOC) of the battery in the previous time steps. This offers better understanding of the correlation between fuel cell power and vehicle drive cycle for enabling effective power supply management. The research results show that the half-power prediction energy management strategy effectively reduces the hydrogen consumption of the vehicle by 7.1% and the number of battery cycle by 6.0%, compared to the stepped management strategy of battery SOC. When applied to a 12-m fuel cell city bus—F12, specially designed and manufactured for the Winter Olympic Games in 2022—the fuel economy of 3.7 kg/100 km is achieved in urban road conditions. This study lays a foundation for providing the powertrain configuration and energy management strategy of fuel cell city bus.

Effects of six weeks of sub-plateau cold environment training on physical functioning and athletic ability in elite parallel giant slalom snowboard athletes.

Hypoxic and cold environments have been shown to improve the function and performance of athletes. However, it is unclear whether the combination of subalpine conditions and cold temperatures may have a greater effect. The present study aims to investigate the effects of 6 weeks of training in a sub-plateau cold environment on the physical function and athletic ability of elite parallel giant slalom snowboard athletes. Nine elite athletes (four males and five females) participated in the study. The athletes underwent 6 weeks of high intensity ski-specific technical training (150 min/session, six times/week) and medium-intensity physical training (120 min/session, six times/week) prior to the Beijing 2021 Winter Olympic Games test competition. The physiological and biochemical parameters were collected from elbow venous blood samples after each 2-week session to assess the athletes' physical functional status. The athletes' athletic ability was evaluated by measuring their maximal oxygen uptake, Wingate 30 s anaerobic capacity, 30 m sprint run, and race performance. Measurements were taken before and after participating in the training program for six weeks. The repeated measure ANOVA was used to test the overall differences of blood physiological and biochemical indicators. For indicators with significant time main effects, post-hoc tests were conducted using the least significant difference (LSD) method. The paired-samples t-test was used to analyze changes in athletic ability indicators before and after training. (1) There was a significant overall time effect for red blood cells (RBC) and white blood cells (WBC) in males; there was also a significant effect on the percentage of lymphocytes (LY%), serum testosterone (T), and testosterone to cortisol ratio (T/C) in females (p<0.001-0.015, ). In addition, a significant time effect was also found for blood urea(BU), serum creatine kinase (CK), and serum cortisol levels in both male and female athletes (p=0.001-0.029, ). (2) BU and CK levels in males and LY% in females were all significantly higher at week 6 (p=0.001-0.038), while WBC in males was significantly lower (p=0.030). T and T/C were significantly lower in females at week 2 compared to pre-training (p=0.007, 0.008, respectively), while cortisol (C) was significantly higher in males and females at weeks 2 and 4 (p (male)=0.015, 0.004, respectively; p (female)=0.024, 0.030, respectively). (3) There was a noticeable increase in relative maximal oxygen uptake, Wingate 30 s relative average anaerobic power, 30 m sprint run performance, and race performance in comparison to the pre-training measurements (p<0.001-0.027). Six weeks of sub-plateau cold environment training may improve physical functioning and promote aerobic and anaerobic capacity for parallel giant slalom snowboard athletes. Furthermore, male athletes had a greater improvement of physical functioning and athletic ability when trained in sub-plateau cold environments.

When the hoteliers were organizing the winter Olympic games. Beyond the local networks in St. Moritz in 1928

After an almost continuous growth since 1850, with the First World War, the tourism sector, in Switzerland as elsewhere in the West, faced its first real crisis and had its actors to develop more refined strategies for the first time to “attract” customers and "retain" those who were already there. In this context, it should be noted that the hoteliers of St. Moritz, along with broader tourism networks, took advantage of a unique historical configuration between the two world wars to improve the reputation of the resort and enlarge its offer, both in the winter season with skiing and other disciplines like bobsleigh, but also in the summer season, especially following the opening of traffic to cars in the canton of Graubünden in 1925. In our article, we seek to analyze the involvement of hoteliers in the organization of the 1928 Olympic Games, both to understand the ‘local’ network behind the organization of a major sporting event and to take an innovative look at the development of tourism in the inter-war period. We based our analysis on municipal archives (political authorities, tourist office, hotel infrastructures, ski club), never really used in historical work on the winter Olympics.

Characteristics of PM2.5 and secondary inorganic pollution formation during the heating season of 2021 in Beijing

Water-soluble inorganic ions (WSIIs) were measured online in Beijing during the heating season of 2021, during which Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games were hosted. The characteristics of PM2.5 and water-soluble inorganic ions were investigated in general, as well as during the clean period, polluted period, and Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games periods. It was found that most of the polluted episodes occurred under conditions of low wind speed, temperature inversion, and high relative humidity. The total mass concentration of water-soluble inorganic ions during the polluted period and the clean period accounted for 38.2% and 61.4% of the PM2.5 mass concentration, respectively. Both the sulfur oxidation ratio (SOR) and nitrogen oxidation ratio (NOR) showed a strong relationship with relative humidity. During the polluted period, the concentrations of secondary aerosols such as sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium (SNA) increased significantly. Secondary transformation was enhanced compared with that in the clean period. A polluted process after a snowfall event was selected to explore the mechanism of sulfate and nitrate formation under high relative humidity. The results would be beneficial to understanding the causes of pollution and helping the government to formulate effective measures to control air pollution in winter.

Olympic Truce during the Nagano Olympics: Between Diplomacy and Public Diplomacy of the International Olympic Committee

The activities undertaken by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to realize the Olympic Truce initiative during the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano in 1998 offer a great opportunity to analyze how the IOC leadership communicated with the UN officials and political leaders of states. These endeavors included an attempt to secure vast support for the Olympic Truce resolution during the Nagano Olympics in the UN General Assembly (GA) and an attempt to secure the observance of the Olympic Truce in the light of the situation in Iraq and its conflict with the UN over the weapon of mass destruction inspections. In reference to both goals, specific patterns included communication through the intermediation of Olympic officials and communication directly by the IOC leadership. The Olympic Truce exemplifies how an international non-governmental organization, in pursuit of realizing its public diplomacy goals, engages in activities typical for traditional diplomacy.

A Study of Ecological Metaphors in the Winter Olympic Games’ Promotional Film “Countdown: Beginning of Spring”

A Study of Ecological Metaphors in the Winter Olympic Games’ Promotional Film “Countdown: Beginning of Spring”

Leveraging Benefits from Winter Olympic Games, Beijing 2022 through Leveraging Strategies

As a mega sports event, the Winter Olympic Game plays an important role in the social, economic and cultural development of the host country, including the improvement of local infrastructure and the holding of future events. Due to the impact of the world pandemic, there was the possibility of events being postponed or canceled, and the stakeholders of mega sports events had been affected to varying degrees. Theoretical analysis and case study are used as research methods in this paper to conduct a qualitative analysis of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics so as to leverage the benefits of this mega event. This paper evaluates the impact of the world pandemic on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics through a series of academic literature and case studies, as well as how the stakeholders of the event can deal with these challenges, and provide a feasible plan for the next mega sport event. The implementation of the strategy of attracting tourists through ecological restoration and legacy strategies includes the use of heritage to reduce the cost of events, to attract tourists, and to extend the length of stay of tourists, so as to achieve event leverage.

Explanation of the Support for Hokkaido Sapporo 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and Arguments against Them

Explanation of the Support for Hokkaido Sapporo 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and Arguments against Them

Multi-modal Discourse Analysis of the Opening Ceremony of Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games

Multi-modal Discourse Analysis of the Opening Ceremony of Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games

Effects of a closed-loop system against SARS-CoV-2 at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games: a descriptive and modeling study.

To assess the efficacy of the epidemic prevention measures of the "closed-loop" system adopted by the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games (BOWG). We retrospectively collected and analyzed information, including age, sex, nationality, vaccination status, date of diagnosis, and date of entry, from 280 SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals identified during the BOWG. A susceptibility-exposed-infectious-remove model was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of epidemic prevention strategies on controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2 under different scenarios during the BOWG. Regarding SARS-CoV-2-positive cases, 97.9% were imported, and 96.4% were asymptomatic. The median age was 37 years (range: 29-47 years), and 73.9% were male, with the majority of cases being broadcasters and European attendees. Regarding vaccination status, 93.5% were fully vaccinated, and six cases were considered to have been infected in the closed-loop system during the BOWG. Assuming that the BOWG adopted a semi-closed-loop management system, the cumulative number of confirmed cases would be 1,137 for quick quarantine measures (3 d later) implemented and 5,530 for delayed quarantine measures (9 d later) implemented. This modeling revealed that stringent pandemic prevention measures and closed-loop management effectively controlled the spread of SARS-CoV-2 during the BOWG. Imported cases are considered the main risk factor for SARS-CoV-2 transmission during mass gatherings, but a comprehensive closed-loop system could minimize transmission among attendees and general personnel.

Retracted: Multifactor Analysis and Intervention Study on Menstrual Disorders of Female Athletes in the Context of the Winter Olympic Games: A Case-Control Study Based on a Large Sample.

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.1155/2022/2985557.].

A Study on the Media Framework during Beijing Winter Olympic Games from a Comparative Perspective: Taking People’s Daily Online and CNN as Examples

Upon the conclusion of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the media coverage of this sports event of worldwide prestige has piled up as countless. However, the coverage of the Beijing Winter Olympics varies across countries, and it is up to different media to tailor and package the information to be delivered to the public according to their value standards, political tendencies, ideologies, etc. Based on a review of existing literature, this paper is devoted to the exploration of the underlying media framework of China and United States through a comparative study with a certain theoretical basis by taking their practices as examples to distinguish the choices made by these two countries on conducting both negative and positive reporting and their divergence in pursing either the “universal solidarity” or conflicts and divisions.

Research on the Development Path of Ice and Snow Sports Entering Campus under the Background of the Beijing Winter Olympics Games

Research on the Development Path of Ice and Snow Sports Entering Campus under the Background of the Beijing Winter Olympics Games

Establishment of International Sports Arbitration System in China: Realistic Needs, Conditions and Specific Paths

Due to the lack of legislation on international sports arbitration institutions and arbitration rules in China, international sports arbitration activities usually lack direct legal support. However, as China successfully hosted the Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games successively, Beijing has become the only “Double Olympic City” in the history of the Olympic Games, contributing to the development of international sports arbitration. China has the experience in handling and resolving international sports disputes, and has a stronger motivation to promote and establish better international sports arbitration rules. In 2022, relevant Chinese institutions and organizations have successively passed the new Sports Law (Sports Law), Organizational Rules of the China Sports Arbitration Commission (Draft for Comment) (Organizational Rules) and Rules of Sports Arbitration (Draft for Comment) (Arbitration Rules), and the Chinese Sports Arbitration Rules. This is undoubtedly important progress in the integration of China’s sports arbitration rules with international rules, but it is still worthy of our in-depth consideration in terms of the required conditions, specific paths and supporting systems for the development of international sports arbitration in China.

Hegemonic Gaze: Tyranny, Media Chauvinism and the Image of Women - Based on Chinese Mainstream Media’s News Coverage of Ailing Gu's Winter Olympics Victory

During the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, Chinese freeskier Ailing Gu received much media attention. Past literature and journalistic practice on the media and sport suggest that sport has been an area of absolute male hegemony since ancient times and that the media is constructed around hegemonic male values that help to reinforce ‘historical gender norms. This paper examines the construction of Ailing Gu’s image of the ‘other’ in the media frameworks and discourses based on news stories about her in the official and commercial media. The study finds that the deconstruction of Ailing Gu’s image as an athlete in the news coverage, which appears to reinforce the discourse of female athletes, still serves the ultimate goal of male domination and remains, in essence, a chauvinistic and hegemonic gaze.

PREVENÇÃO DE LESÕES ARTICULARES DO JOELHO NO TREINO DOS ESPORTES DE INVERNO

ABSTRACT Introduction: With the 2022 Winter Olympic Games launch, ice and snow sports have come into the spotlight, receiving government incentives to encourage their practice. Objective: Examine the causes of knee injury in skiers, proposing preventive measures for joint injury. Methods: The current situation of joint injury in skiers’ knees, joint movement in skiing, the cause of joint injury, and the prevention of joint injury were analyzed, and scientific prevention and corresponding treatment plan were developed according to the results of the analysis. Results: The injury rate among skiers is high. Ligament injury, tendon injury, and muscle strain are the three main types of injury. There are 57 mild injuries of various types to the knee joint - 53.27% of all injuries; 41 moderate injuries, representing 38.32% of all injuries; 9 serious injuries, representing 8.41% of all injuries, with minor injuries. Conclusion: This article examines knee motion and the causes of knee injury in skiers and proposes preventive measures for joint injury. Level of evidence II; Therapeutic studies - investigation of treatment outcomes.