The Washington PostThe Washington Post

Xi’s Games: Beijing Winter Olympics test China’s supreme leader

By Lily Kuo

03 Feb 2022 · 6 min read

In preparation for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Chinese President Xi Jinping has inspected the closets in athletes’ rooms, advised on decorations for the main skating rink (it should include more “Chinese elements”) and given instructions to party officials, volunteers and journalists (tell “good stories” about the Games).

Few leaders of Olympic host countries are as closely tied to the event’s success or failure as Xi, who oversaw the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics as vice president and in 2014 pushed his country’s bid for the Winter Games.

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