If you consider yourself to be a true sports fan, then you have to be someone who loves the Olympics. It is a nearly month-long event where athletes from all over the world compete against each other, in some of the most entertaining yet difficult events, with the dream being to win a gold medal in front of an adoring crowd, and millions, if not billions, of people watching on back home.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics certainly was entertaining but was crucially missing the fans in the stadiums. This is because Tokyo was in a state of emergency during the games, so supporters were kept away, having to cheer on from a safe distance. Despite this, it was still a great Olympics, as we saw a number of historic events, as well as some new ones, such as Skateboarding and BMXing.
While we, unfortunately, have to wait until 2024 until the Paris Olympics, thankfully it is only a few short months until the 2022 Winter Olympics begins. This time around it is being held in Beijing. Not usually a city associated with events such as snowboarding, ski jumping and bobsleigh, but thankfully the neighboring Hebei province has a lot of snow each year, so will be a perfect location for the games to be held.
Some of the other great events that occur during the Winter Olympics are curling, speed skating and the luge. Ice hockey is also a very popular event during the games, as those fans who would usually spend their time searching for NHL odds on their sports betting apps, will have to switch to looking at Winter Olympics odds for the duration of the tournament.
With so many events to cover, we’ll handpick just a few of the major ones to focus on, so you can be fully up to date with what to expect from the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Will Norway lead the way again this time out?
You always expect countries or nations that are either situated by a lot of mountains or are in parts of the world where it snows for large portions of the year, to do well in the Winter Olympics. That is why countries such as Brazil or Spain never really bother with it. This means that sometimes nations who don’t achieve much in other sporting events get their time to shine.
We can see that in the 2018 medal table, where Norway lead the way. They achieved an impressive 14 golds, 14 silvers and 11 bronzes, putting them ahead of Germany in second, and Canada in third. Given some of the big nations who participate in the games, such as Canada, Germany and the United States, who all put a lot of money into their Winter Olympics team, it is heartwarming to see a comparatively smaller nation such as Norway do so well. They will be hoping to repeat their successes at the 2022 games.
Who will come out on top in ice hockey?
One of the most hotly contested events in the whole Winter Olympics is in ice hockey. It is of course hugely popular in the United States and Canada, where 32 teams made up of the world’s best players compete against each other every year. However, the Winter Olympics separates teammates and pits them up against each other, to decide which nation is the best in the world.
The early years of the tournament were dominated by the Canadians, who won 6 of the first 7 gold medals. They have also performed excellently in recent years, winning gold in 2002, 2010 and 2014, then earning a bronze in the 2018 edition. Somewhat surprisingly, the United States haven’t won gold since 1980, so will be hoping to make amends for this in Beijing in February.
The current holders are the Olympic Athletes from Russia, who for all intents and purposes were a Russian team, but couldn’t be called that as Russia was banned from entering both the summer and winter games. We imagine Russia to be a strong contender this time around.
What else to look out for?
The bobsleigh is always a very fun event to watch, split between the two-man runs and the four-man runs. In Pyeongchang in 2018, it was Germany who really dominated, winning 3 gold and 1 silver, with Canada the only other nation to win a gold medal.
Elsewhere, ski jumping is one of the most highly anticipated events, mainly because of the almost unbelievable heights the jumpers are able to go from. 2018 saw Norway claim 2 gold medals, with Germany and Poland also picking up one each. It wouldn’t surprise us to see the Norwegians do well again at ski jumping in 2022, and thankfully there are only a few months to wait until all the action begins.