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Female athletes' participation in the Olympic Games has increased over the years, however, they are still underrepresented or not covered in global media. Prior literature about gender studies and sport reveals that female athletes were often described through stereotypes, or other linguistic features minimizing their achievements, or focusing on their physical appearance rather than their sports abilities. The present study adopts textual analysis to examine how female athletes were represented during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games in two Italian leading newspapers. The findings show that there have been positive changes in the portrayal of women in sports, but this may be influenced by the increased nationalism during these mega events. The Italian media are more open to gender equality, and adopt different strategies to describe female athletes, nonetheless, some very limited negative cases are still found. The press tended to emphasize some main themes: female athletes as heroines of the nation, friendship, rivalries and conflicts, and athletes' private lives. This demonstrates that the Italian newspapers are now more focused on non-sports related stories, to make the articles more interesting in terms of entertainment and emotional stories, to attract more readership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the span of four years from 2018 to 2022, three consecutive Olympic Games were held in East Asia – namely PyeongChang 2018 in South Korea, Tokyo 2020 in Japan and Beijing 2022 in China. Given the geographic concentration of global multi-sports mega-events in the Far East, this period has been referred to as the 'East Asian era' of the Olympic Games. This introduction to the special issue outlines two major themes of the changes during the East Asian era: (1) the shift of economic and geopolitical power from the West to the East; and (2) the changes and challenges offered by the Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms and the COVID-19 pandemic within East Asia. After that, each contribution will be introduced and briefly described. Overall, by collecting contributions focusing on the 2018–2022 Olympic Games, this special issue critically analyses the state of play in the formations of dominant and emerging discourses during the East Asia era and offers its implications for a broader understanding of the continuity and changes to the economic, political, social, cultural and ecological dimensions of the Olympic Movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Olympics are a media behemoth. Much media coverage of the Games is straight-up sports fare delivered in the predictable rhythms of victory and defeat. However, with the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, US media outlets offered significant coverage exploring the political and human-rights concerns. This paper identifies and analyzes the predominant frames that US media outlets employed when covering the Beijing Olympics. The empirical data for this study derive from the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post, the four most-circulated newspapers in the country. The timeframe includes the lead-up to the Games, the actual Olympics, and the aftermath. This systematic content analysis—which examines both hard news and opinion journalism—also engages in indexing analysis: tracking who journalists turn to for insight and comment and how this affects the discourse bandwidth and the emergence of predominant frames. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examines the extent to which mega sport events play a role in connecting people from different countries, using the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics as its case study. The analysis examines social connection (on Twitter) between Chinese and Russians and whether these connections are more likely to occur among the followers of the @Beijing2022 Twitter account, if compared with Twitter users in these countries who do not follow this account. The choice of the Russians and the Chinese also stems from their countries' united front against those Western countries whose diplomats boycotted the games. The analysis reveals that, in cases where two people follow @Beijing2022, the likelihood of there being a connection between them increases by 8%, as compared with those people who do not follow this account, while controlling for other relevant variables. The findings indicate that mega sport events which take place under a boycott have the ability to be enhancers of international social connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether it is the Summer Olympics or the Winter Olympics, in order to resolve potential sports disputes, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) sets up a special ad hoc tribunal in the host city of the Olympic Games. Although CAS ad hoc rules have many similarities with ordinary procedures, they are different in terms of the legal basis, legal remedies, and certain procedural rules. During the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics (Beijing 2022), the CAS Ad Hoc Division and the CAS Anti-Doping Division heard a total of seven cases. These cases involve issues such as provisional suspension of games, protection of minors, unreasonable delays in test results, cancellation of award ceremonies, and the timing of disputes. the CAS Ad Hoc Division decisions on the above issues can be regarded as the latest developments in the application of international sports arbitration rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing research on the impacts of mega-sports events, comparative studies of the value perceptions of residents in host and non-host cities are rare. Residents' perceptions are effective indicators of their behavioral intentions, which are crucial for the success of events and for the place marketing of hosting cities. To fill this gap, this study constructed a model linking residents' expected impacts, perceived value and behavioral intentions for mega-sports events. Informed by Social Exchange Theory, this study employed Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to analyze 1527 valid questionnaires collected in mainland China (412 in host cities, 1115 in non-host cities). The results reveal that non-host-city residents have more substantial expectations of impacts, perceptions of value, and behavioral intentions than host-city residents. Residents in Northeast China had the highest perceptions and behavioral intentions toward the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, implying that the geographical location of the non-host cities is an influencing factor. Researchers and practitioners should pay attention to those differences in research design and event planning to promote the sustainable development of mega-sports events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doping analysis with a fast‐turnaround‐time reporting of 24/48 h is a "traditional" requirement for major competitions such as the Olympic Games, which require tremendously increased allocation of resources, especially during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The "Closed‐Loop" concept and operation mode established by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (BOCOG) provided a relatively isolated environment to non‐Games‐related civilians. To maintain this system, more than 200 persons were included as supporting crew of the laboratory with massive logistic resources allocated. The National Anti‐Doping Laboratory in Beijing carried out the analysis mission of the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. During the Winter Olympics, 3165 samples were analyzed, whereas during the Paralympics, 679 samples were analyzed. The workforce accomplishing this work was composed of 36 domestic analysts, 20 international experts from other World Anti‐Doping Agency‐accredited laboratories, 61 university students with suitable majors, and 12 on‐site instrumental engineers. This article summarizes the achievements from the laboratory's preparation phase; in‐Game operational details such as instruments, methods, workforces, and facility; and the Quality Assurance measures to maintain the integrity and correctness of results reported to the Result Management Authority, with the effect of the pandemic and "Closed‐Loop" situation during the whole process highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Olympic Games are striking a balance between economic and ecological benefits. Taking the 5 ice event venues of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games as the research object, the CO 2 emissions under the 2018 PyeongChang Low-carbon scenario and 2022 Beijing Low-carbon scenario are compared. The empirical results show that, in terms of venue operation, the Beijing strategies can reduce CO 2 emissions by 715.7 t compared with the PyeongChang strategies. In terms of the refrigerant escape, Beijing's adoption of CO 2 refrigerant can reduce the emission of CO 2 by 1202.2 t compared with the R404 refrigerant used in PyeongChang. This paper confirms the progress of the Green Winter Olympic Games, and may provide implications for the future host countries as well as the cities which in the green transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether it is the Summer Olympics or the Winter Olympics, in order to resolve potential sports disputes, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) sets up a special ad hoc tribunal in the host city of the Olympic Games. Although CAS ad hoc rules have many similarities with ordinary procedures, they are different in terms of the legal basis, legal remedies, and certain procedural rules. During the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics (Beijing 2022), the CAS Ad Hoc Division and the CAS Anti-Doping Division heard a total of seven cases. These cases involve issues such as provisional suspension of games, protection of minors, unreasonable delays in test results, cancellation of award ceremonies, and the timing of disputes. the CAS Ad Hoc Division decisions on the above issues can be regarded as the latest developments in the application of international sports arbitration rules.

Human rights have become an increasingly important topic for mega sports events since the start of the 21st century, and the issue will undoubtedly make the headlines again in relation to Beijing hosting the XXIV Winter Olympic Games in February 2022 and Qatar hosting the Men's Football World Cup in November 2022. The present review shows that the modern Olympic Games' relationship with human rights has evolved in step with society's evolving conception of human rights. This evolution is clearly illustrated by the Olympic system's attitude toward human rights at four key periods, centred round the 1936 Olympics, the Games of the 1960s and 1970s, the Games in China (2008, 2014 and 2022) and future editions of the Games (from 2024). Each moment required the Olympic Games to consider human rights that it had rarely had to attend to before. Indeed, given society's increasing concern for human rights, the Olympic system and host countries will undoubtedly have to pay ever-greater attention to the issue when attributing and staging Olympic Games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The summer and winter Olympics share the five-ring logo. However, their social and political connotations differ. The Olympic Winter Games displays an aura of a game for the rich and powerful. A few aspiring nations intend to host this luxurious sporting festival in order to polish their international reputations as powerful actors in the global capitalist order. The cases of Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022 illustrate this pattern. Wallerstein's world-system theory is a useful conceptual tool to examine the context of each Olympics, the content of the Olympic ceremonies, the nature of athletic competitions, and the post-event political environment. Although the three nations have different historical backgrounds and different diplomatic aims, the winter Olympics provided the trio with an opportunity to construct an image of major global or regional power. Russian Olympic diplomacy in Sochi was impressive but its post-event aggression undercut its soft power exercise on the ice. South Korea acquired desired political outcomes by hosting the Olympic Winter Games and its peace campaign continued after the event. China has the potential to highlight its emerging world power status at Beijing 2022. Yet, increasing China scepticism in the West may impede its winter Olympic diplomacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]