Beijing Winter Olympics Raise Number of Events to 109, Reaching Historical High

The number of gold medals in 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics has now been raised to 109, marking the highest number of gold medals in the history of Winter Olympics.

In total, Beijing Winter Olympics will set up 7 sports with 15 disciplines and altogether 109 events. It will include new activities such as women’s monobob (Olympic bobsleigh), Big Air freestyle skiing for men and women, as well as mixed team events in short track speed skating, ski jumping, ski aerials and snowboard cross.

According to USA Today, the addition of gold medals was combined with a reduction of the number of participants. There were altogether 2,933 athletes participating in the Pyeongchang Olympics, and there will be 41 fewer athletes for the Beijing Winter Olympics.

In 2014, the Sochi Winter Olympics set a total of 7 sports with 15 disciplines and altogether 98 events. During the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018, the number of sports and discplines remained the same, but the number of total events rose to 102. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is in line with the “Olympic 2020 Agenda” and the “New Regulations”, in that the number of sports and disciplines will remain the same.

The 7 international sports involved are biathlon, skiing, curling, skating, hockey, bobsleigh, and skeleton. Skating includes speed skating, short track speed skating and figure skating. The skiing includes cross-country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined, alpine skiing, freestyle skiing and snowboarding. Other disciplines are biathlon, bobsleigh, ice hockey and curling.

Cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating have been around at every Winter Olympics since 1924.

Five ice events will be held at the Olympic Green, the Capital Indoor Stadium and the Beijing Wukesong Sports Center. The Big Air snowboarding and freestyle skiing events will be held in a new area of urban development in Shijingshan District, a district in urban area of Beijing. Competitions for luge, bobsleigh and alpine skiing will be held in Yanqing District, northwest of urban area of Beijing. The curling competitions will be held in the National Aquatics Center, which is now transformed into the “Ice Cube”. All other skiing events will be held in Zhangjiakou city, Hebei Province, including freestyle skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, nordic combined and snowboarding.

Featured photo credit to olympic.cn