Olympics Begin in One Week: Canada Among Those Getting an Early Start

In exactly one week, athletes from around the world will be competing at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

Canadian athletes and media personnel have started to make their way to Beijing in preparation for the games and the excitement can be seen on social media. The safety of those involved in the games is still a concern after it was confirmed that there have been over 70 positive cases among Olympic Personnel.

It is exciting that the Olympics are one week away but there is still the reality of the pandemic. The last thing anyone wants is a positive test that takes them out of competition.

There are still seven days until the games open on February 4. Lucky for some, competition starts on Feb. 2. According to the Beijing calendar, Team Canada will begin its Olympics on February 3, the second day of Pre-Olympic competition. However, due to the time difference with Beijing, Canadians watching won’t have to wait that long.

Beijing is 16 hours ahead of the Pacific Time Zone, 15 hours ahead of the Mountain Time Zone, 14 hours ahead of the Central Time Zone, 13 hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone, 12 hours ahead of the Atlantic Time Zone and 11.5 hours ahead of the Newfoundland Time Zone.

Note: Times will be posted in the Eastern (ET) and Pacific (PT) time zones.

First up for Canada on the schedule is Curling as our Mixed Doubles team of defending gold medalist John Morris and 2018 Olympian Rachel Homan take on Great Britain on Feb. 2, at 8:05 p.m. EST/5:05 p.m PST. It will be followed by Women’s Hockey at 11:10 p.m EST/8:10 p.m PST.

For those staying up all night, Moguls Qualification for the women begins at 5:00 a.m ET/ 2:00 a.m PT, on Feb. 3, followed by the men an hour and 45 minutes later. That will lead to a second Mixed Doubles Curling match against Norway at 7:05 a.m. ET/4:05 p.m. PT, to conclude the second day of Pre-Olympic competition.

Follow @deanmatheos and @CanOlyBlog on Twitter for updates.