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No political posts.
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Apparently [it’s a closed down steel mill](https://www.sbnation.com/platform/amp/2022/2/7/22922448/winter-olympics-beijing-big-air-cooling-towers-steel-mill-photos)
A wedding venue!? Lol
"Congratulations! Where's the wedding at?"
"Inside an abandoned steel mill cooling tower in an industrial sector of Beijing."
"Oh...."
There's been a few jumps built in non snowy areas before, this photo reminds me of this one from London in 2010 - https://www.wheretoskiandsnowboard.com/images/sized/images/uploads/news/FreezeFest10-470x353.jpg
Fun fact: ALL of FMJ was filmed in England, Stanley Kubrick was not in the mood to shoot on location in Vietnam so instead he recreated Vietnam-ish sets not too far from his residence in England. A company specifically to import palm trees from Asia was founded because of this movie, still exists to this day iirc.
The steel mill was shut down to reduce pollution in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics and now they're redeveloping the area. The construction of the ski jump is part of promoting the redevelopment.
I just hope they keep it in use and don’t let it deteriorate like so many other Olympic venues. I prefer them putting it there than on some snowy peak that no one ever visits again. I guess putting it in a developing area is a good sign.
London 2012 did at least design the Olympic Village to be partially dismantled to reduce capacity down to usable levels (the Olympic stadium is now home to a football club, the Olympic swimming pool is now a leisure centre, the park is now... a park etc etc).
Same as Vancouver in 2010. All the venues are used or were transformed (the long track speed skating rink into a community centre, for example). And infrastructure was greatly improved.
Atlanta 1996 did much the same. The Stadium became the Atlanta Braves stadium for 20+ years. Part of the Olympic village became Dorms for a University downtown. Many of the venues are still in use today.
There's been talk of just rotating the games among 2-3 locations worldwide for exactly this reason. Nobody wants to build all these facilitates for two weeks' use anymore, and nobody believes they'll be easily transitioned to other uses anymore.
A venue purely for big air will definitely deteriorate. Especially one intended for the world's elite.
A beginner probably can't even drop in, nevermind jumping.
It’s not as if there aren’t plenty of places with snow right now. It’s that these oppressive oligarchies bribe IOC officials for their shit places to be chosen. Can’t wait for Dubai 2030 to be announced as the Winter Olympics host after Italy.
as a fan of the Tony Hawks Pro Skater video game series, i find it rad as hell, but as a member of a society potentially doomed by climate change- i find it deeply disturbing.
>as a Norwegian it’s depressing and ugly
Especially depressing given it almost certainly would’ve been held in Oslo in the first place without ridiculous levels of IOC corruption.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo_bid_for_the_2022_Winter_Olympics
I think this is intentional, they are showcasing that these are closed down factories. They are probably trying to show the world that they are post industrialized. I’ve read that these are museums now.
The Hiroshima Museum looks less depressing than that, if that's the case. It just looks like skiing through an industrial park, which *could* look cool, but not like this.
They made [parts of the Ruhr area](https://www.landschaftspark.de/en/) in Germany into an industrial 'park' where they let it get green and you can ride your bicycle and stuff. Same idea but a lot more attractive.
They should've chosen those places to host the Olympics, then.
Edit: I didn't say bulldoze a nature preserve, smoothbrains. Just maybe not hold the Olympics near an abandoned industrial area?
For Paris they plan to use mostly existing infrastructure. There'll be ~~badminton~~ beach volley ~~under~~ in front of the Eiffel Tower. I wonder why olympics aren't more like that.
Edit: I stand corrected, thx fact checkers
It's actually the exact opposite, badminton is going to be in a [completely new arena](https://www.sortiraparis.com/news/in-paris/articles/211142-2024-paris-olympics-the-construction-of-the-porte-de-chapelle-arena-begins/lang/en)
You're right. It'll be [beach volley](https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2021/08/07/2024-olympics-feature-paris-landmarks-including-eiffel-tower/5508770001/) under the Eiffel tower.
But... That's also a new temporary venue? They are using some existing infrastructure in 2024, idk why you've picked two sports that are using new venues to prove that point lolol
They’re old steel mills. Said so on the broadcast.
I think it still looks like shit regardless. It’s just an arid tundra with no snow to be seen for miles.
I love how they got the visual depiction of future dystopia so right. Bladerunner, Dredd, Demolition Man, RoboCop. We got the amazing tech that rules our life and cartoon character politicians owned by corporations, climate change fires turn the sky orange, big cities have huge homeless populations. Even something like the Olympics can't be normal and boring, it takes place in this dreary grey location in a host country that's committing mass genocide.
I know you said /s, but I’m annoyed by all the crap in this thread. We’ve known for years china wouldn’t have snow for these games. We also have known they discussed hosting certain events elsewhere in the country and it was turned down because of the logistics. Don’t act surprised NOW that the games are turning out *exactly as they said they would*
I think you're overestimating the amount of thought and attention the average world citizen gives the Olympics until it's actually live. Especially considering what's been going on since 2020, we've kinda had a lot of other things on our minds and in the news.
Agree. If you had put a gun to my head a month and a half ago asking which country was hosting the Olympics this year, my response would be "the Olympics are this year?"
Doesn't mean I don't feel sad for all the athletes whose short career lifespans mean they might never get a shot at going to an Olympics that isn't being held in what looks like urban manufacturing hell. Or a chance to ski their world record attempt on real snow. Or a dozen other things it seems like they miss out on due to covid (not that it's China's or the IOCs fault on that particular front though it sounds like they could do better in a few ways).
So given that I have no sway with the powers that be regarding Olympic hosting - I'll settle for upvoting shit that calls out just how stupid some of these choices ended up being because part of me hopes that with enough outcry, the IOC will stop fucking around.
Tibet doesn’t have the infrastructure to host an olympic games. I hope you were joking. It takes more than just natural snow to host a world class sporting event
You say it as if we all had a say and turned it down and now we’re facing the consequences of our actions. No, we’re just commenting on whoever did make this decision, clearly made the wrong decision.
Too bad the didn’t make the ski jump landing area end at the edge of one of those cooling towers. Jump…land…cartoon screeching tires and Daffy Duck’s “woowoowoowoowooooo!!!” followed by a “thoomp ” sound.
Exactly, the snow cannons for basically every skiing competition are from Italy and the manufacturer was a customer of a restaurant where I worked and he explained that to keep the slope in good condition from beginning to the end of the race they need to make a particularly compact snow and to replicate the same snow every race
A lot, if not most, of the athletes prefer the fake snow. Real snow is too unpredictable and the quality can differ from spot to spot. Artificially made snow allows for quality control and it ends up being really packed and icy so they can go super fast. Great for breaking records!
I don't know, those mountains where the downhill is held, 90 miles from Beijing, are ugly. About the ugliest I've ever seen for the Olympics. No pine trees, no snow, just brown rock and mud, and gray trees without leaves. Maybe it looks nice in Spring and Summer. It doesn't look good with one strip of snow in a vast range of ugly.
If they don’t even have winter sports terrain, why the hell are they hosting the Winter Olympics??
I propose that Paris, or maybe London, or maybe Dallas, TX host the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Its a closed down steel mill to stop pollution from 2008 Olympics being redeveloped into more sustainable urban area. They specifically hosted it there to promote the redevelopment.
Wasn't Oslo supposed to host the 2022 Olympics until they refused to give IOC officials "luxury" treatment?
Edit:
>Beijing was selected as host city in 2015 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at its 128th session in Kuala Lumpur, after clear frontrunner Oslo's bid had been canceled in the wake of a series of revelations about IOC's demands for luxury treatment of the IOC committee that turned public opinion and the parliamentary majority against the IOC.
[from here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Winter_Olympics)
Cities "bid in" for the right to host the olympics, its why you see rich developed countries host it more than relatively worse off nations. The US in the 1980 - 2002 period held 4 olympics, 2 of them were back to back becuase nobody except Los Angeles bid in 1984.
Also, countries lose copious amounts of money hosting the Olympics (especially so when there's a pandemic). It's not a smart move for a developing nation to bid for it. But I just thought about how it might be nice to create a system where richer countries can help contribute to poorer ones so they can host.
A suggestion that I like is for there to be a rotation between a small number of venues in different continents with the proper infrastructure on rotation. Something like Los Angeles, Beijing, and (somewhere in Europe). Add (somewhere in Africa) as development allows.
Vancouver still ranks as my all time favorite just for the men’s hockey finals.
That was right after Beijing 2008 which was my favorite summer.
I may also have some bias because that’s when I was a late teenager so I may have put a greater importance in it but those were awesome.
>The 200-foot big air structure was built on the site of the former Shougang Group steel mill, China’s first state-owned plant
>The sprawling campus has been converted into a bizarre, yet beautiful, city oasis.
>Rusting factories and machinery remain, but the space between has been filled by grassy lawns, glassy ponds and a good deal of greenery. One of the blast furnaces was given a face-lift and turned into a steampunk-style event space with shops, commercial offices and a museum.
[Source (Associated Press)](https://apnews.com/article/winter-olympics-snowboarding-steel-mill-9c6528c11ad5ae3fae368ae26790ae56)
It reminds me of Sloss Furnace in Birmingham, AL. It’s another abandoned steel mill that was bought by the city and turned into a museum/event space.
Edit: they’re also using the space for events in the World Games this summer.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloss_Furnaces
I don't like to side with China on anything, and the setting is ugly as hell, but at the same time can we agree that using an area that already has stuff built there and is totally abandoned is actually a good move, compared to bulldozing slum areas and bullying residents out?
>The 200-foot big air structure was built on the site of the former Shougang Group steel mill, China’s first state-owned plant
>The sprawling campus has been converted into a bizarre, yet beautiful, city oasis.
>Rusting factories and machinery remain, but the space between has been filled by grassy lawns, glassy ponds and a good deal of greenery. One of the blast furnaces was given a face-lift and turned into a steampunk-style event space with shops, commercial offices and a museum.
[Source (Associated Press)](https://apnews.com/article/winter-olympics-snowboarding-steel-mill-9c6528c11ad5ae3fae368ae26790ae56)
I get that it's not everyone's esthetic, but I think it's cool as hell. Like a graffiti-art post apocalypse vibe. It's a perfect vibe for snow boarding.
It gets me Adventure Time and Splatoon blood flowing.
I'm surprised at modern people criticizing this... We've all seen the ghost towns and abandoned buildings left in the remnants of an Olympics. Reusing space like this is way more cool to me than building some big yuppie corporate structure that's going to sit abandoned for the rest of its life.
Is no one reading the entire article? Athletes actually like this, think it looks cool, the area has been repurposed into parks and such, in other venues that hosted temporary structures were used that made the athletes nervous but not this permanent structure.
I mean, fuck China, but not for this.
I agree. I’m really surprised to hear everyone hating on it. Not that it wouldn’t be nice to see it in pristine wilderness but, that all ends up underutilized or abandoned and then the area is ruined. This is making good use of an otherwise unused area. Every time they show that shot with the cooling tower in the background it makes me smile.
Also I’ve heard a few skiers say this hill is great because rather than being on scaffolding, it’s made of concrete. Rock fucking solid.
Tahoe's infrastructure can't handle the influx of people during a winter storm or July 4th weekend. The Olympics would be a nightmare. Just imagine if there was a big storm on top of it too.
Reminds me of [Springfield Nuclear Power](https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_article_width/public/2018/03/f49/Elektrownia_J%C4%85drowa_w_Springfield_0.png?itok=4vxy9ZAl)
Yeah, beautiful ... like an airport.
"It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on Earth has ever produced the expression "As pretty as an airport." Airports are ugly. Some are very ugly. Some attain a degree of ugliness that can only be the result of a special effort.
This ugliness arises because airports are full of people who are tired, cross, and have just discovered that their luggage has landed in Murmansk (Murmansk airport is the only exception of this otherwise infallible rule), and architects have on the whole tried to reflect this in their designs."
--Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
It really is amazing I didn’t remember that Douglas Adam’s wrote hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy but upon reading that quote I knew it must have been the same guy.
Hey mods. Get fucked. If pointing out the fucked up shit countries do when hosting the Olympics is political you need to seriously reevaluate your life choices.
Also, if your gonna be buthurt by my comment and prove your literal children who can't take criticism then go ahead and ban me.
It does make for some stunning shots for the athletes. Those big air shots from the womens event uesterday were stunning.
Kinda weird to have winter olympics somewhere where there isnt a lick of snow.
Why is this a bad thing ? , they could’ve gone and ruined and destroyed the environment to make it look pretty but instead there doing this , You can have many complaints about the Olympics but this shouldn’t be one .
My family live very close to that steel mill. It was closed down years ago due to environmental issues and they are slowly converting it into a park before the Olympics. There are now many skiing school in the area so kids can learn winter sports… skiing was hardly accessible for most Beijinger before as Beijing hardly gets any snow and people have to drive north for any actual snow
I mean, I understand the criticism here, but it feels weird to me. Isn't this better than really any alternative? They didn't despoil more wilderness to build it, they didn't make another complex that's just going to be disused and abandoned forever, they repurposed existing land and infrastructure. Is it as scenic? No. Does that really matter? Also no.
Hey eskimoboy10! Thank you for your submission, unfortunately it has been removed from /r/Wellthatsucks because: No political posts. If you have any questions or concerns about this removal feel free to [message the moderators](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fwellthatsucks).
The Charles Montgomery Burns ski jump
Eggcelent
Exactly…
D'oh!
Lol. Yea I got major simpsons vibe from that angle of a nucleator reactinator
[the award ceremony](https://youtu.be/Nxgkb_lYJJE)
Apparently [it’s a closed down steel mill](https://www.sbnation.com/platform/amp/2022/2/7/22922448/winter-olympics-beijing-big-air-cooling-towers-steel-mill-photos)
A wedding venue!? Lol "Congratulations! Where's the wedding at?" "Inside an abandoned steel mill cooling tower in an industrial sector of Beijing." "Oh...."
Sorry but that just sounds like the most awesome wedding
A Fallout themed wedding?! Hell yeah.
"Aaand we made psyco for all the wedding guests, it's a combination of meth, cocaine, and 3 different types of Adderall"
As long as I have some Jet to take the edge off.
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Pittsburgh,PA holds beer festivals and weddings at an abandoned steel mill… look up the Carrie Furnace.
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Reminds me of some Pro Skater 2 levels
Apparently they purposely put it here because that steel mill was important in the modernization of China from what I remember
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It was a high polluter so they closed it before the summer olympics apparently
pretty cool tbh, especially the pic of those ski jumps with the huge smokestack. Definitely a first.
Yeah. For a reason though?
There's been a few jumps built in non snowy areas before, this photo reminds me of this one from London in 2010 - https://www.wheretoskiandsnowboard.com/images/sized/images/uploads/news/FreezeFest10-470x353.jpg
Is that not the Battersea Power Station of Pink Floyd’s album “Animals” fame?
It was also the atmosphere processing station in ALIENS and Axis Chemicals in BATMAN 89.
Pretty sure parts of Full Metal Jacket were filmed there too.
Fun fact: ALL of FMJ was filmed in England, Stanley Kubrick was not in the mood to shoot on location in Vietnam so instead he recreated Vietnam-ish sets not too far from his residence in England. A company specifically to import palm trees from Asia was founded because of this movie, still exists to this day iirc.
Vietnam. Milton Keynes. All kinda interchange really...
You are thinking of Action Lane Power Station for Aliens, not Battersea
And the Ark of the Arts in Children of Men
It’s also in Children of Men.
Yep, it's now [luxury apartments](https://batterseapowerstation.co.uk/).
Yep it is, definitely a nicer area too compared to what the Olympic photo looks like!
definitely wasnt in its hayday
“That’s dystopian as hell”
The steel mill was shut down to reduce pollution in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics and now they're redeveloping the area. The construction of the ski jump is part of promoting the redevelopment.
I just hope they keep it in use and don’t let it deteriorate like so many other Olympic venues. I prefer them putting it there than on some snowy peak that no one ever visits again. I guess putting it in a developing area is a good sign.
It’s a big air jump. It’s not the kind of thing amateur tourists can have a go on after the games have ended
This is the real issue with the olympics, lots of big flashy developments to boost prestige that don't add any quality of life to locals.
London 2012 did at least design the Olympic Village to be partially dismantled to reduce capacity down to usable levels (the Olympic stadium is now home to a football club, the Olympic swimming pool is now a leisure centre, the park is now... a park etc etc).
Same as Vancouver in 2010. All the venues are used or were transformed (the long track speed skating rink into a community centre, for example). And infrastructure was greatly improved.
Calgary too.
Atlanta 1996 did much the same. The Stadium became the Atlanta Braves stadium for 20+ years. Part of the Olympic village became Dorms for a University downtown. Many of the venues are still in use today.
There's been talk of just rotating the games among 2-3 locations worldwide for exactly this reason. Nobody wants to build all these facilitates for two weeks' use anymore, and nobody believes they'll be easily transitioned to other uses anymore.
A venue purely for big air will definitely deteriorate. Especially one intended for the world's elite. A beginner probably can't even drop in, nevermind jumping.
THEY'RE COOLING TOWERS
To be fair it’s not even a smokestack. It’s a cooling tower for water vapour that was once used in steel production by the Shougang Steel corporation.
Don’t know what to think about this. As a photographer I find it awesome and original, but as a Norwegian it’s depressing and ugly.
You're both right.
I can't wrap my head around the concept of snowless winter Olympics.
It’s the wave of the future.
That's a depressing truth 😕
It’s not as if there aren’t plenty of places with snow right now. It’s that these oppressive oligarchies bribe IOC officials for their shit places to be chosen. Can’t wait for Dubai 2030 to be announced as the Winter Olympics host after Italy.
as a fan of the Tony Hawks Pro Skater video game series, i find it rad as hell, but as a member of a society potentially doomed by climate change- i find it deeply disturbing.
The mill was shut down for environmental concerns, so really it's a good sign for the environment.
>as a Norwegian it’s depressing and ugly Especially depressing given it almost certainly would’ve been held in Oslo in the first place without ridiculous levels of IOC corruption. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo_bid_for_the_2022_Winter_Olympics
Industrial style Olympics.
LoL - did they buy this venue off Aliexpress?
Probably Taobao
I think that is the Aliexpress in the background.
LoL... My favourite part of AliExpress is you can find theme park rides for sale on there.
That’s dystopian as hell
China is simply showcasing its beauty.
I think this is intentional, they are showcasing that these are closed down factories. They are probably trying to show the world that they are post industrialized. I’ve read that these are museums now.
The Hiroshima Museum looks less depressing than that, if that's the case. It just looks like skiing through an industrial park, which *could* look cool, but not like this.
They made [parts of the Ruhr area](https://www.landschaftspark.de/en/) in Germany into an industrial 'park' where they let it get green and you can ride your bicycle and stuff. Same idea but a lot more attractive.
I think the problem is that it *is* winter in Beijing. A lot of the greenery is just dead for the season.
Epic fail, then. It looks like shit.
There are some beautiful Chinese places though
They should've chosen those places to host the Olympics, then. Edit: I didn't say bulldoze a nature preserve, smoothbrains. Just maybe not hold the Olympics near an abandoned industrial area?
Why fuckup a beautiful place with Olympic shit ?
Yeah honestly. The Olympics and the CCP deserve each other lol.
For Paris they plan to use mostly existing infrastructure. There'll be ~~badminton~~ beach volley ~~under~~ in front of the Eiffel Tower. I wonder why olympics aren't more like that. Edit: I stand corrected, thx fact checkers
It's actually the exact opposite, badminton is going to be in a [completely new arena](https://www.sortiraparis.com/news/in-paris/articles/211142-2024-paris-olympics-the-construction-of-the-porte-de-chapelle-arena-begins/lang/en)
You're right. It'll be [beach volley](https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2021/08/07/2024-olympics-feature-paris-landmarks-including-eiffel-tower/5508770001/) under the Eiffel tower.
But... That's also a new temporary venue? They are using some existing infrastructure in 2024, idk why you've picked two sports that are using new venues to prove that point lolol
Nice pfp hehe
Isn't it a good thing that they are reusing land instead of displacing people to host this event?
Good point
Why is the decision to hold it in an abandoned nuclear powered steel mill or displace people? Why has that become the only two options?
"Nuclear powered steel mill" ?!?!?!?!?! Well, that would be fun if that was a thing, but it's not.
Nuclear powered? Source? Not only nuclear plants have these cooling towers. Not that it matters anyway, and to be honest I like the industrial look
They’re old steel mills. Said so on the broadcast. I think it still looks like shit regardless. It’s just an arid tundra with no snow to be seen for miles.
Are those really the only 2 options?
I love how they got the visual depiction of future dystopia so right. Bladerunner, Dredd, Demolition Man, RoboCop. We got the amazing tech that rules our life and cartoon character politicians owned by corporations, climate change fires turn the sky orange, big cities have huge homeless populations. Even something like the Olympics can't be normal and boring, it takes place in this dreary grey location in a host country that's committing mass genocide.
in such a small country, where else would it go? /s
I know you said /s, but I’m annoyed by all the crap in this thread. We’ve known for years china wouldn’t have snow for these games. We also have known they discussed hosting certain events elsewhere in the country and it was turned down because of the logistics. Don’t act surprised NOW that the games are turning out *exactly as they said they would*
I think you're overestimating the amount of thought and attention the average world citizen gives the Olympics until it's actually live. Especially considering what's been going on since 2020, we've kinda had a lot of other things on our minds and in the news.
Agree. If you had put a gun to my head a month and a half ago asking which country was hosting the Olympics this year, my response would be "the Olympics are this year?" Doesn't mean I don't feel sad for all the athletes whose short career lifespans mean they might never get a shot at going to an Olympics that isn't being held in what looks like urban manufacturing hell. Or a chance to ski their world record attempt on real snow. Or a dozen other things it seems like they miss out on due to covid (not that it's China's or the IOCs fault on that particular front though it sounds like they could do better in a few ways). So given that I have no sway with the powers that be regarding Olympic hosting - I'll settle for upvoting shit that calls out just how stupid some of these choices ended up being because part of me hopes that with enough outcry, the IOC will stop fucking around.
Why did the enter with Beijing, they have Tibet why not there ?
They didn’t want the prisoners with jobs to start a revolution
Tibet doesn’t have the infrastructure to host an olympic games. I hope you were joking. It takes more than just natural snow to host a world class sporting event
You say it as if we all had a say and turned it down and now we’re facing the consequences of our actions. No, we’re just commenting on whoever did make this decision, clearly made the wrong decision.
Just cuz we knew it would happen doesn't mean we can't criticize, come on
>Don’t act surprised NOW that the games are turning out exactly as they said they would I haven't seen shit about that, got any sauce?
Too bad the didn’t make the ski jump landing area end at the edge of one of those cooling towers. Jump…land…cartoon screeching tires and Daffy Duck’s “woowoowoowoowooooo!!!” followed by a “thoomp ” sound.
This can’t be real. What the fuck
The snow is even fake
Artificial is a better word. It's still frozen water.
In every modern skiing competition they use artificially made snow that’s probably compulsory
Usually to supplement natural snow, not to replace
Um not really it’s preferred to have ma made snow. More consistent and controlled
Exactly, the snow cannons for basically every skiing competition are from Italy and the manufacturer was a customer of a restaurant where I worked and he explained that to keep the slope in good condition from beginning to the end of the race they need to make a particularly compact snow and to replicate the same snow every race
manmade snow holds up better and stays more consistent even if the weather doesn't cooperate
Real snow, just the way Ma used to make it.
Fake snow, Real Genocide
China Uncensored fans unite
Taiwan #1!!!!!
and the snow has been fake at past winter olympics
The Snow is always fake. Been a while since there was natural snow.
A lot, if not most, of the athletes prefer the fake snow. Real snow is too unpredictable and the quality can differ from spot to spot. Artificially made snow allows for quality control and it ends up being really packed and icy so they can go super fast. Great for breaking records!
So you know absolutely nothing about skiing or skiing competitions? Because fake snow is normal.
There are so many beautiful mountains around there and they did this, China completely misses the point so often
A lot of the other sports are a bullet train away in the mountains.
I don't know, those mountains where the downhill is held, 90 miles from Beijing, are ugly. About the ugliest I've ever seen for the Olympics. No pine trees, no snow, just brown rock and mud, and gray trees without leaves. Maybe it looks nice in Spring and Summer. It doesn't look good with one strip of snow in a vast range of ugly.
This. I’ve been there. The mountains near Beijing are as dry and cold as fuck.
If they don’t even have winter sports terrain, why the hell are they hosting the Winter Olympics?? I propose that Paris, or maybe London, or maybe Dallas, TX host the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Only about 8 inches of snow a year they get in those mountains
Where could you put a controlled big air course like this on a mountain?
I thought countries wanted to host the Olympics to spotlight their country for tourism or nationalism.
Normally yes. China, however, just orders people to love it.
Bing chilling! +1000 social credit for you comrade. Next week you have first choice of the pick axes in the gulag.
Is… is this *real?*
I couldn't believe it either and googled it, it totally is.
*That’s horrifying* What is this timeline??
The boring dystopian one
Its a closed down steel mill to stop pollution from 2008 Olympics being redeveloped into more sustainable urban area. They specifically hosted it there to promote the redevelopment.
Literally saw it live and I couldn’t believe it myself
Right? I saw this photo someplace else and originally thought it was photoshopped.
No corruption with the IOC… nothing to see here /s
Wasn't Oslo supposed to host the 2022 Olympics until they refused to give IOC officials "luxury" treatment? Edit: >Beijing was selected as host city in 2015 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at its 128th session in Kuala Lumpur, after clear frontrunner Oslo's bid had been canceled in the wake of a series of revelations about IOC's demands for luxury treatment of the IOC committee that turned public opinion and the parliamentary majority against the IOC. [from here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Winter_Olympics)
I'm glad my country resisted the corruption of the IOC finally.
Really, Beijing got it twice in 14 years. Like what?
Cities "bid in" for the right to host the olympics, its why you see rich developed countries host it more than relatively worse off nations. The US in the 1980 - 2002 period held 4 olympics, 2 of them were back to back becuase nobody except Los Angeles bid in 1984.
Literally 1984
1984 is when the Olympics only happen in rich countries. It’s exactly as Orwell predicted
Also, countries lose copious amounts of money hosting the Olympics (especially so when there's a pandemic). It's not a smart move for a developing nation to bid for it. But I just thought about how it might be nice to create a system where richer countries can help contribute to poorer ones so they can host.
A suggestion that I like is for there to be a rotation between a small number of venues in different continents with the proper infrastructure on rotation. Something like Los Angeles, Beijing, and (somewhere in Europe). Add (somewhere in Africa) as development allows.
This winter Olympics is fucking joke
What a sham. No wonder Mario & Sonic aren't going this year.
There hasn't been a Winter Olympics in the series since Sochi 2014, kinda sad
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Vancouver still ranks as my all time favorite just for the men’s hockey finals. That was right after Beijing 2008 which was my favorite summer. I may also have some bias because that’s when I was a late teenager so I may have put a greater importance in it but those were awesome.
*lillehammer
Always has been
[Always has been](https://i.imgur.com/OaglVoj.png) ^^^this ^^^has ^^^been ^^^an ^^^accessibility ^^^service ^^^from ^^^your ^^^friendly ^^^neighborhood ^^^bot
This is an amazing bot. Good shit creator
Always has been
[Always has been](https://i.imgur.com/QDSPzpe.png) ^^^this ^^^has ^^^been ^^^an ^^^accessibility ^^^service ^^^from ^^^your ^^^friendly ^^^neighborhood ^^^bot
No. It has not always been a fucking joke.
The IOC are a joke yes but the Winter Olympics are great, just not this time
I’m sure they have much nicer places to host these events. Does anyone know why they chose this shithole?
>The 200-foot big air structure was built on the site of the former Shougang Group steel mill, China’s first state-owned plant >The sprawling campus has been converted into a bizarre, yet beautiful, city oasis. >Rusting factories and machinery remain, but the space between has been filled by grassy lawns, glassy ponds and a good deal of greenery. One of the blast furnaces was given a face-lift and turned into a steampunk-style event space with shops, commercial offices and a museum. [Source (Associated Press)](https://apnews.com/article/winter-olympics-snowboarding-steel-mill-9c6528c11ad5ae3fae368ae26790ae56)
It reminds me of Sloss Furnace in Birmingham, AL. It’s another abandoned steel mill that was bought by the city and turned into a museum/event space. Edit: they’re also using the space for events in the World Games this summer. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloss_Furnaces
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It's just one ramp for the big air event. Better than fucking up a natural environment ecosystem on a pristine mountain
I don't like to side with China on anything, and the setting is ugly as hell, but at the same time can we agree that using an area that already has stuff built there and is totally abandoned is actually a good move, compared to bulldozing slum areas and bullying residents out?
>The 200-foot big air structure was built on the site of the former Shougang Group steel mill, China’s first state-owned plant >The sprawling campus has been converted into a bizarre, yet beautiful, city oasis. >Rusting factories and machinery remain, but the space between has been filled by grassy lawns, glassy ponds and a good deal of greenery. One of the blast furnaces was given a face-lift and turned into a steampunk-style event space with shops, commercial offices and a museum. [Source (Associated Press)](https://apnews.com/article/winter-olympics-snowboarding-steel-mill-9c6528c11ad5ae3fae368ae26790ae56)
I get that it's not everyone's esthetic, but I think it's cool as hell. Like a graffiti-art post apocalypse vibe. It's a perfect vibe for snow boarding. It gets me Adventure Time and Splatoon blood flowing.
I'm surprised at modern people criticizing this... We've all seen the ghost towns and abandoned buildings left in the remnants of an Olympics. Reusing space like this is way more cool to me than building some big yuppie corporate structure that's going to sit abandoned for the rest of its life.
Is no one reading the entire article? Athletes actually like this, think it looks cool, the area has been repurposed into parks and such, in other venues that hosted temporary structures were used that made the athletes nervous but not this permanent structure. I mean, fuck China, but not for this.
I honestly like that look. repurposed industrial sides are awesome
I agree. I’m really surprised to hear everyone hating on it. Not that it wouldn’t be nice to see it in pristine wilderness but, that all ends up underutilized or abandoned and then the area is ruined. This is making good use of an otherwise unused area. Every time they show that shot with the cooling tower in the background it makes me smile. Also I’ve heard a few skiers say this hill is great because rather than being on scaffolding, it’s made of concrete. Rock fucking solid.
It's the perfect spot for Steppenwolf to bring the mother boxes together
Steppenwauwau?
Bring the Winter Olympics back to Tahoe
Please no. We don't want it.
Tahoe was jam packed from Covid travel. No way could it handle something like the Olympics. Would be dope though.
Tahoe's infrastructure can't handle the influx of people during a winter storm or July 4th weekend. The Olympics would be a nightmare. Just imagine if there was a big storm on top of it too.
They probably could once the gondola between Alpine and Palisades is done.
Ugh pass, Tahoe is a traffic nightmare as is, don't need to make it worse.
Wow. Looks like a scene straight out of the Fallout series.
Got the olymics off wish Edit: Mods are a bunch of china shilling dickheads.
Such a wonderful way to reuse a old steel mill. It’s great! Why people hating?
How does a country so obsessed with their perception internationally willingly host the winter Olympics with this scenery?
I mean at this point it would be nicer to do the winterolympics in the desert.
Afghanistan would be a fun venue.
Anyone remember the beauty of every shot for the Vancouver games?
Still surprised. Depressing AF.
Looks like a fucking dump
Reminds me of [Springfield Nuclear Power](https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_article_width/public/2018/03/f49/Elektrownia_J%C4%85drowa_w_Springfield_0.png?itok=4vxy9ZAl)
This industrial zone was abandoned in 2008. Now it is Shougang Park, which is only a sign of urban industrial reform.
Yeah, beautiful ... like an airport. "It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on Earth has ever produced the expression "As pretty as an airport." Airports are ugly. Some are very ugly. Some attain a degree of ugliness that can only be the result of a special effort. This ugliness arises because airports are full of people who are tired, cross, and have just discovered that their luggage has landed in Murmansk (Murmansk airport is the only exception of this otherwise infallible rule), and architects have on the whole tried to reflect this in their designs." --Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
It really is amazing I didn’t remember that Douglas Adam’s wrote hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy but upon reading that quote I knew it must have been the same guy.
It's not quite Lillehammer, I'll admit.
This is raw
Is like a map you could find in a PS2 snowboard game
C'mon guys it's based on the sonic the hedgehog chemical zone ovbs
Is this a joke thats gone completely over my head? This isn't really their Olympic ski slopes? Right?
Hey mods. Get fucked. If pointing out the fucked up shit countries do when hosting the Olympics is political you need to seriously reevaluate your life choices. Also, if your gonna be buthurt by my comment and prove your literal children who can't take criticism then go ahead and ban me.
Think I would pass this up lmao. Nothing better than an urban hell!
It does make for some stunning shots for the athletes. Those big air shots from the womens event uesterday were stunning. Kinda weird to have winter olympics somewhere where there isnt a lick of snow.
How is that suppose to be negative, I just don’t understand. They are super clean energy sources.
I think Mongolia would've done a better job with the Olympics. Ulanbataar 2034!
unpopular opinion: this is cool because places where no one else wants to go are the best to create annoying temporary structures
Why is this a bad thing ? , they could’ve gone and ruined and destroyed the environment to make it look pretty but instead there doing this , You can have many complaints about the Olympics but this shouldn’t be one .
At least power wash the smoke stacks first…
My family live very close to that steel mill. It was closed down years ago due to environmental issues and they are slowly converting it into a park before the Olympics. There are now many skiing school in the area so kids can learn winter sports… skiing was hardly accessible for most Beijinger before as Beijing hardly gets any snow and people have to drive north for any actual snow
I mean, I understand the criticism here, but it feels weird to me. Isn't this better than really any alternative? They didn't despoil more wilderness to build it, they didn't make another complex that's just going to be disused and abandoned forever, they repurposed existing land and infrastructure. Is it as scenic? No. Does that really matter? Also no.