With fewer than 50 days till the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, the world’s attention is increasingly focused on Beijing, which will be the host to this great gathering of humankind.
Under the five Olympic rings, the universal sports language and spirit will bring together peace, solidarity, hope and courage to light the way for humankind to join hands in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and provide a stage for building a community with a shared future for humankind.
The Beijing Winter Olympic Games is about solidarity and friendship. The Olympic Charter states that the Olympic spirit requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. The Olympic Games, upholding this spirit, symbolises solidarity and friendship, and have long served as a useful platform for cultural exchanges and mutual learning among the different nations.
For some time now, people of vision in the international community who uphold solidarity and justice, have voiced strong support for the Beijing Winter Olympics and opposition to the politicisation of sport. According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach, the IOC organises the Games to unite the world, not to divide it; political intervention would only destroy and bring the Games to an end.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Russia opposes the politicisation of the Olympics and hopes the Beijing Games will bring festive joy in the name of sport and peace, and on behalf of athletes and sports fans.
American two-time Olympic Gold Medallist and World Cup alpine skier, Mikaela Pauline Shiffrin, said the Winter Olympics is not just about sport, “there is a whole different side of it, which I think is way more important. It’s the unity and that we actually bring the world together to feel some sort of camaraderie through sport and how powerful that actually is.”
Not long ago, the 76th UN General Assembly adopted by consensus the Beijing Winter Olympic Truce Resolution, stressing that the Beijing Winter Olympic Games will be an opportunity to demonstrate the precious value of human solidarity, resilience and international cooperation. The number of countries that sponsor the truce resolution reached a new high in recent years.
The hearts of the South African people are with the Chinese people. In a statement of the outcome of the central committee meeting, the South African Communist Party unequivocally condemned certain countries for politicising sport and creating division and confrontation. Ambassador Anil Sooklal, deputy director-general of Department of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa stressed that “the forthcoming Winter Olympic Games is a shining beacon of hope to the international community, and we are looking forward to a great festival of humanity in the form of sport”.
At present, while the Covid-19 pandemic is still raging across the globe, the Omicron variant begins to spread. The global situation has proved time and again that sowing division and undermining multilateralism will only bring disaster to humankind. Time and reality will prove that no boycott will stop the athletes’ pursuit of excellence, no manipulation will hinder the success of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and no noise will slow the march of humankind towards the future.
The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will spark our common aspiration for peace and development, and highlight human solidarity and cooperation.
Source: eNCA
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