Beijing welcomes the world with a snowy spectacle

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games are finally here! Since the selection in the summer of 2015 of Beijing and the surrounding area as the host site of the 2022 Winter Olympics, the international sporting community has been waiting with bated breath to see what aesthetics and special touches the Chinese capital will incorporate into its presentation of this year's Games.

Given the success of the 2008 rendition of the Summer Games in Beijing, the world's anticipation is certainly more than warranted. So what is everyone looking forward to? What's all the enthusiasm about?

Firstly, as with any athletic competition, the excitement is primarily about the sporting events and the incredible feats of the athletes. It's of course true that pride and patriotism get wrapped up into massive, worldwide events such as these. But for most people, the intrigue lies not in whatever global conflicts or disagreements may be present at the time but in the athletic prowess of the competitors.

And despite the fact that it's surely true that most of us will cheer on the athletes hailing from our home countries, it need not mean that we can't appreciate, respect and cheer on athletes from other nations. As a native of the USA, I'll be supporting the American athletes, but I'll also be rooting on those valiant competitors from China, as well as from Sweden, France, Chile and every other participating country.

Seeing athletes who've worked so hard for so many years finally achieve their Olympic dreams is a fulfilling experience for me and really is the essence of what the Olympic Games represent.

Another aspect of the Games, especially the Winter version, is that many of us might not be as familiar with some of the winter sports on display as we are with the events in the Summer Games. No one need be taught the rules of running a race, and most people are familiar with sports like basketball and swimming.

However, aside from avid winter sports enthusiasts, how many of us know what luge or skeleton is and the difference between the two? Can we explain the rules and strategies involved with curling or the biathlon?

I'd wager a guess that not too many can, and that's fine! We have a chance to learn about these events if we haven't in the past and appreciate the skill, precision and talent these athletes are displaying. It might even spark an interest in some of us to pick up a new wintertime hobby.

Of course, the most prominent component of the commencement of each Olympic Games is the opening ceremony. The performance for this year's Games was orchestrated by world-renowned director Zhang Yimou.

Zhang is famed for his award-winning filmography career and his extensive résumé of honors and accolades. Of course, however, of particular significance is his masterminding and choreographing of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Games.

I remember watching in awe as the spectacular show unfolded with the masses of performers moving in unison depicting the splendor of ancient China and its numerous accomplishments and the journey to becoming the country it is today.

This year's opening ceremony in many ways resembled the one from 14 years ago. From the impressively large group of performers working together to create impressive scenes of color and light, to the dazzling firework shows and coordination of lights and fluorescence, to the ceremony's location inside Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium, the display was pleasantly reminiscent of the spectacular show from 2008.

The differences were also readily apparent, with Zhang's representation of the 24 traditional Chinese solar terms depicting the changing of the seasons, which I interpret as representative of the transition from Beijing's hosting of the Summer Games to this year's Winter event.

Combined with the themes of ice and snow and the extravagant luminescence of the ceremony, complete with each participating country's name represented in a snowflake floating its way to the Olympic village, it's certainly got me more than ready to enjoy the upcoming competitions.

Let the Games begin!