How China’s Xi Jinping Won the Ultimate Gold at the Winter Olympics

Xi Jinping visits the Olympic facilities before the Games start, declaring China is fully prepared to host the Olympics. Photo courtesy of Shen Hong.

The 2022 Beijing Olympics ended on February 20th with a triumph for China’s Xi Jinping after 17 days of intense athletic competition, daily COVID-19 testing, and strict quarantine of athletes who tested positive. Amidst the pandemic and diplomatic boycotts protesting human rights abuses, the authoritarian leader demonstrated to the world that China would dictate the Olympics on its own political, public health, and diplomatic terms.

Xi defied critics, using the opening ceremony and control of the domestic media to dismiss international condemnation over China’s human rights record. His government pressured international athletes to withhold their political opinions about China, ostensibly under cover of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules maintaining the apolitical “spirit” of the Games. Insisting on national unity, Chinese leaders chose a Uyghur athlete as a featured torchbearer to light the Olympic cauldron. Athletes who may have criticized the government largely stayed silent on political issues for fear of reprisal. While athletes are “free to express their opinions” during press conferences, “any behavior or speech that is against the Olympic spirit, especially against the Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment” said Yang Shu, deputy director-general of international relations for the Beijing Organizing Committee. 

The repression and misdirection of fact-based reporting in China follow a familiar pattern. In March of 2021, the Biden administration labeled the country’s treatment of the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang a genocide and in December the U.S. announced a diplomatic boycott of the Games. Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia soon followed suit. In response, Chinese officials criticized the U.S. for “hyping” a boycott “without even being invited to the Games” and the Chinese media projected a unified and confident nation. The Communist Party portrayed the persecution of the Uyghurs as “totally correct” and allegations of abuse as “the lie of the century.” The harsh crackdowns on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement were labeled in the Chinese media as “riots” instigated by “hostile foreign forces,” and the religious repression in Tibet as part of a “national rejuvenation” effort. The recent “disappearance” of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai after allegations of sexual assault against a former Communist Party official also led to an international outcry. But in China, her name suddenly vanished from Chinese social media platforms like thousands of other terms that could taint the Party’s reputation among its people. 

Some in the West believed diplomatic boycotts by the U.S. and allies, international criticism, and reduced sponsorship promotion would hinder the Games’ success. But these critics failed to realize that Xi, China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, did not need the world’s approval to stage a successful Games. China’s domestic audience is most important to the Party and Xi was in full control of the message there, with an assist from the IOC. Despite record-low Olympic viewership in the U.S. for network NBC, nearly 600 million people in China— about 40% of the population— watched the Olympics, and domestic sales for toys of the Olympic mascot soared. The executive director of the Winter Games said organizing the Games was “easy,” implicitly praising Xi and the government’s meticulous planning. At the closing ceremony, the IOC president praised China’s role, stating that “the positive legacy of these Olympic Games is ensured.”

Xi sidestepped a major embarrassment by the IOC by downplaying a doping controversy involving a teenage Russian figure skating prodigy. Chinese commentators merely remarked on the quality of the Russian skater’s performance and Chinese journalists completely avoided the subject when asking questions at press conferences. The Communist Party also clamped down on any alternate views with online censorship, including the Russian buildup of troops along Ukraine’s border during the Games.

China’s government successfully delivered a nearly virus-free Olympics. The government implemented its strict “zero-Covid” policy of lockdowns and quarantines, complete with Chinese staff in hazmat suits, despite complaints from quarantined athletes and high financial costs.  The Olympics operated in a “closed-loop” bubble accessible only to registered athletes and personnel. The Communist Party imposed these harsher virus regulations after overruling the IOC in negotiations, demonstrating the Chinese government’s ultimate say over Olympic operations. Covid cases spiked within the Olympic bubble as athletes arrived but fell precipitously within days.

The Games were historic for China: Beijing is the first city to host both a summer and winter Olympics. Chinese athletes won 15 medals, including nine gold, finishing one spot ahead of the United States in the medal count. While China’s triumph in sports, aided by breakout freestyle skiing star Eileen Gu, caused social media fervor and generated an outpouring of national pride, China did not need to win any medals for Xi to have counted the 2022 Games as a success. Xi was victorious before the first Olympic event even began.

When Xi advocated in 2015 for Beijing to host the Winter Olympics, he told the IOC that China would “deliver every promise we made.” Athletes were indeed greeted with blue skies, a stark contrast from five years ago when pollution in Beijing was so bad it was dubbed “Airpocalypse.” The government repurposed sites from the 2008 Games, including the architecturally striking Bird’s Nest Stadium, and built an impressive irrigation network that ensured outdoor events would take place on snow-covered mountains – even at the expense of precious water for farmers.

When China hosted the 2008 Summer Games under the slogan “One World, One Dream,” the country’s leadership was determined to showcase its power on the world stage. But the China of 2022 no longer needs to prove its strength. China’s powerhouse economy will soon displace that of the U.S. for largest in the world. The Communist Party’s legitimacy is tied domestically to sustaining China’s impressive growth, which includes raising living standards and providing jobs. And Xi has long since solidified his personal power within the Communist Party, abolishing presidential term limits in 2018 and surrounding himself with allies as he prepares this fall for an unprecedented third 5-year term in office.

The Olympics allowed Xi to showcase how China’s authoritarian government successfully stages a world event during a pandemic, forging ahead with the country’s own strict Covid policies and silencing dissenters. The U.S. and other Western governments were essentially reduced to watching from home. While the theme of the Games was “Together for a Shared Future,” the Olympics showed that Xi has his own vision for China’s future and the power to pursue it.

Kate Strong (Columbia College ‘24) is a staff writer at CPR with a focus on China’s foreign relations and U.S. constitutional law. She is a sophomore studying political science and East Asian languages and cultures and is on the pre-law track. Kate is also an editor at the Columbia Undergraduate Law Review and edits its semester print journal and articles for its current events division. You can find her playing intramural soccer with her friends, completing the daily New York Times crossword, or going on adventures to try new cuisines.