Beijing Winter Olympics: A sigh of relief for the world

What you need to know:

Indeed, the fears were high that the Games would be postponed, as was the case of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
However, the fears finally vanished and the Games are now in place. This is a victorious situation which needs to be saluted by supporters of globalization and multilateralism

Five African countries, namely Eritrea, Ghana, Madagascar, Morocco and Nigeria, participated in the Games. This relatively low number is not by accident. The continent’s geographic location, with an average annual temperature of 25.7 degrees Celsius, lacks the climate for all winter sports contested outside. On the contrary, African countries have done relatively well in Summer Olympics, particularly in the middle- and long-distance running. In such events, they won over 400 medals but none at the Winter Olympics so far. This notwithstanding, it needs to be acknowledged that China has been at the forefront in facilitating sports development in Africa by provision of requisite infrastructure, such as the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Tanzania. Such provisions have heightened the sports and games spirit in Africa, and enabled its active and successful participation in regional and global events.