2022: the year of the sportswash.
A city without snow and a state in the desert. Obvious places, really, to hold the Winter Olympics and football World Cup if you’re the IOC and FIFA. Welcome to 2022, the year of the sportswash.
The principal outdoor venues for Beijing 2022 are – on a good day – 90 minutes and two and a half hours’ drive respectively from the Forbidden City. The alpine skiing in Zhangshanying will rely almost entirely on artificial snow. But the IOC has no truck with those who believe winter sports should be held where snowfall is plentiful. After all, its 2014 Games were held in the subtropical seaside resort of Sochi.
Qatar has a population of 2.9 million, only a little over 300,000 of them native Qataris. Just as the Chinese have constructed snow resorts to welcome the world, so Qatar has built six stadiums for the World Cup and refurbished two others. Just one is fully demountable, although others will be trimmed in size to leave the tiny desert state – whose national team has never played in a World Cup – with seven world-class venues ranging in capacity from 20,000 to 40,000.
The snow in Beijing will look fantastic, as will the pitches in Qatar. Doubtless the quality of the sport will match the surroundings, although the November schedule for the football raises important questions about player welfare, as well as the knock-on effect on national club competitions halted for a swift run at the most important tournament in the game.
