By: Caelyn Hippen

What are the Olympics?

The Olympics are an international sports event that takes place every 4 years. This year, the Olympics are taking place in Beijing. There are almost 3,000 competitors from 91 different countries. The Olympics have been a tradition for nearly 100 years. Another interesting thing about the 2022 Winter Olympics is that, in an attempt to increase gender equality, mixed events have become a core part of this year’s games.

What is the history of the Olympics?

The Olympic Games are a 16 day festival that originated in Ancient Greece as many as 3,000 years ago. The Olympics were then revived in 1896. The first modern Olympics had 280 athletes from 12 nations, in 43 events. The games were named for their location at Olympia, as the games were started to honor the gods. The Winter Olympics were later added.

How many events are there?

The 2022 Winter Olympics is expected to set a record with 109 events in 15 sports. The sports for this year’s games are: alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsled (the sport where 2 to 4 people slide down a track in a runner sled called a bobsled), cross-country skiing, curling (sport played on ice where athletes slide rocks made of granite closer to the target, known as the house), figure skating (watch Alysa Lui, she is team USA’s youngest athlete this year), freestyle skiing, hockey, luge, nordic combined, short track, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating.

What is the most popular sport in the Olympics?

This year, the most watched Olympic sport in the USA is figure skating. According to Google, skating overall has always been one of the most popular sports. In 2014, the most watched sports in the USA were figure skating and ice hockey. In 2018, ice skating overall was the most watched sport across the world. Figure skating has 5 events to watch – men’s individual, women’s individual, pairs, ice dancing, and the team event.

Are there new events this year?

The 2022 Winter Olympics will feature 7 new events. These events are: women’s monobob (this event is new this year for the women, in previous years this event has only been available for men), men and women’s big air skiing (sport where athletes ski down a ramp, fly into the air, and perform as many flips and spins as possible before reaching the ground), mixed team relay in short track speed skating, mixed team ski jumping, mixed team snowboard cross, and freestyle skiing mixed team aerials.