The European Contestation of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics: A Media Perspective

Although the Olympics were meant to play a crucial role in pushing forward the growth of winter sports in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and bolster domestic and international support for its management of COVID-19, they also served as an arena for contesting the selection of Beijing as an Olympic host. The media analysis of the European coverage of the Games suggests that the United States (US) diplomatic boycott and the contestation of Beijing’s approach toward human rights penetrated the European narrative of the 2022 Olympics. However, the decline in the coverage of these issues during sports performances shows that this contestation had a short lifespan.
Keywords: 2022 Olympics; soft power; contestation; boycott; media analysis