[Epoch Times, February 1, 2022]Recently, a foreign athlete stationed in the Beijing Winter Olympics Village posted a 10,000 yuan gift package prepared by the organizer in a video, including Samsung mobile phones worth 7,999 yuan, Samsung sports headphones, Olympic Games Customized rings and necklaces, etc., can be regarded as a great gift. According to mainland media reports, almost every foreign athlete exclaimed after opening the gift package. The reason for the exclamation should be that they did not expect to participate in an Olympic Games and receive such a gift.
In addition, the room facilities, smart beds, and abundant meals in the Winter Olympic Village have also been praised by foreign athletes. A Swedish athlete said: “I have never slept in such a smart bed in the Winter Olympic Village.” According to reports, this smart bed is equipped with adjustment functions, built-in sensors, massage, zero pressure, alarm clock push-up and other functions. Provide appropriate support for the spine in different scenarios such as posture and sitting posture. Quotes for smart beds online range from a few thousand to tens of thousands.
The routine sponsorship of some manufacturers is not excluded here, but the CCP authorities are obviously spending a lot of money to “please” athletes from all over the world. In addition to its great success and the psychological trouble of holding the Winter Olympics more than the previous ones, there is also an important reason for this. In the case of the poor reputation of the CCP and the diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics by many countries for various reasons, I hope that foreign athletes will not play in Extra “provocation” during the Olympics, such as speaking out on human rights issues, especially on the podium. I wonder how many foreign athletes who have accepted the lavish gifts understand the CCP’s intentions?
However, the focus of this article is not here, but to talk about the high cost of the Winter Olympics. Official estimates in Beijing put the number of athletes participating in the Winter Olympics at about 2,892. According to this figure, the expenditure on a single gift package is more than 20 million, and the expenditure on the smart bed is about several million to tens of millions. Of course, this does not include the expenditure of gifts prepared for accompanying officials, coaches, team doctors, media reporters, etc. of various countries. Although it is sponsored by a large company, it should only be part of it.
According to the practice of previous Olympic Games, athletes and related personnel from various countries, international referees, international sports officials, and invited individuals who come to China to participate in the Winter Olympics will eat, live (the Olympic Village), travel (competition venues), and even include them The transportation expenses such as round-trip air tickets are all paid for by the Chinese government. These costs are obviously enormous.
For the 2004 Greek Olympic Games, the official budget of about 5 billion US dollars was enough. As a result, due to the above reimbursement, Greece actually spent more than 15 billion US dollars. What about the Beijing Winter Olympics?
What is even more curious is what price the CCP paid for most of the international guests invited to come to Beijing at the risk of the epidemic? This figure should be in the tens of millions of dollars.
Not only is the expenditure on personnel innumerable, the Chinese authorities have also invested a lot of money in the construction and infrastructure of the Olympic venues. In addition to the renovation of the previous Beijing Olympic venues, the CCP authorities have also built the National Snowmobile and Sled Center, the National Alpine Ski Center, the Olympic Village, etc. in Yanqing District, northwest Beijing; for artificial snowmaking, snow-making machines, etc. and maintenance equipment have been purchased ; In order to ensure convenient transportation, the Ningyuan Airport in Zhangjiakou was renovated, and a new expressway was built, etc.
So, how much does the Beijing Winter Olympics cost? The CCP’s official budget is $3.9 billion, and it claims to be the lowest-cost Olympics in 20 years, but is undoubtedly lying again.
A netizen named “Youke” revealed that the 2008 Beijing Olympics cost a full 800 billion yuan, or more than 100 billion U.S. dollars. This year’s Winter Olympics are only a lot more. He said that the steel frame snowmobile track alone costs 18 billion yuan, and its expensiveness lies in the fact that the chemical drop and heating agent must be adjusted at any time according to the weather conditions at the time of the competition, so that it must be kept at minus ten degrees. After the Olympic Games, it was basically abolished. After all, the maintenance cost is sky-high.
In addition, the temperature of the short track speed skating surface of the Capital Gymnasium is minus five degrees during the day, but for figure skating at night, the temperature must be guaranteed to be minus ten degrees. Because the chemical composition of the ice surface is different, foreign equipment must be used to freeze the ice under the guidance of foreign experts every day. The cost of each foreign expert is 30,000 US dollars per day. In addition, the ten ski resorts rely entirely on artificial snowmaking, and the snow-making vehicles are from Germany and the United States. Hundreds of foreign experts and operators have been working for more than a month, and the cost per person per day is not less than 30,000 US dollars.
The data disclosed by “Yoke” netizens is indeed amazing. It seems that tens of billions of RMB will be spent on each track alone, and 3.9 billion US dollars may not be able to stop.
According to the analysis of “Business Insider” on January 30, Beijing spent about 442.9 million US dollars to build a snowmobile sled center and an alpine skiing center in Yanqing; invested 5.18 billion US dollars to build 50 projects related to Olympic venues, one of which is to The third Olympic Village with a capacity of 2,640 people, which has 4 competition venues; the National Speed Skating Stadium is expected to spend about 186.6 million US dollars to build the “Ice Ribbon”; the Ningyuan Airport in Zhangjiakou has been renovated and invested in $15.02 billion to build new highways; another estimated $773.5 million was spent on building the Beijing Winter Olympics subway line, Beijing spent $9.2 billion on driverless bullet trains, and more. Of course, there are some hidden costs that are not included, such as artificially fired artillery shells for snowfall, artificial snowmaking, etc.
A foreign media investigation found that the Beijing Winter Olympics cost at least US$38.5 billion, ten times the figure claimed by the Chinese Communist Party. And according to the estimates of “Youke” netizens, this is also seriously underestimated, and it is likely to reach hundreds of billions of dollars.
Ironically, after the Tokyo Olympics, mainland media published a lot of mockery of the Japanese government’s overspending. For example, in “The Olympic Games End, How Much Money Did Japan Lose?” The article reads: Japanese officials said the budget for hosting the East Olympics was US$15.4 billion, but Japanese government auditors said the actual total expenditure exceeded US$20 billion, almost three times less than the US$7.4 billion predicted in Tokyo’s original bid. times. This means that the total cost of the Games exceeds the $11.004 billion of the London Olympics, making it the most expensive Olympics on record.
The money could be used to build more than 360 hospitals with 300 beds in Japan, or build 1,540 elementary schools, or buy 50 jumbo jets. All but $6.7 billion came from Japanese taxpayers. In addition, Tokyo hosts raised a record $3.3 billion from domestic sponsors. But many sponsors complained before the game that their money was wasted without spectators.
In contrast, the Beijing Winter Olympics may become the most expensive Olympic Games in history. And it goes without saying that after the Beijing Winter Olympics, no mainland media will disclose the real expenditures of the Winter Olympics, let alone make “the money can be used to build more than 360 hospitals with 300 beds in Japan. , or build 1,540 primary schools, or buy 50 jumbo jets”, and even stated that “all the money comes from Chinese taxpayers” and sponsors’ complaints.
Whether the Beijing Winter Olympics cost more than hundreds of billions of dollars will remain a mystery as long as the CCP exists. In the eyes of the CCP, for the sake of its so-called face and to show the “prosperity” of the so-called great powers, these expenses are far more expensive than spending it on the 600 million Chinese with a monthly income of only 1,000 yuan to help them because of the epidemic. It is much better to use it on people who can’t afford the quarantine fee and flee back to their hometown, on the Chinese who can’t afford the sky-high medical bills, on education, medical care, people’s livelihood and other issues in impoverished areas. There is no doubt that such a regime is absolutely not what the Chinese people need. When more Chinese people know the truth and cast aside the CCP from their hearts, can the already precarious CCP survive?
Responsible editor: Pushan#