The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing kick off this week with the opening ceremony on Friday, the official start date of the Games. (It should be noted that competitions will be conducted at that time, in curl, women’s ice hockey and freestyle skiing; the Olympics – Winter or Summer – are no longer easy. in 17 days.)
The opening ceremony is scheduled for 8pm in China – 7am Eastern Time and 4am Pacific Time – and takes place at the National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest. That’s the same stadium that was held Opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics, the last time China hosted the Olympics.
Although Bird’s Nest was built specifically to host events during the 2008 Olympics, no competitions will take place there this year. The stadium will also be the venue for the closing ceremony of the Olympics on 20 February. (It also hosted the closing ceremony in 2008.)
The opening ceremony was a spectacle full of pomp and circumstance, an opportunity for the host nations to introduce the world through elaborate songs, dances and visual effects. They provide an opportunity for countries to showcase their national pride and bravery to a global audience, something China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has been doing for years when he became the the most powerful leader of the country since Mao Zedong.
Report of the opening ceremony begins at 6:30 a.m. ET on NBC and will also be broadcast live on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock. NBC will rerun the ceremony on tape late in prime time at 8 p.m. Friday.
