Bruno Cuaz, edited by Solène Delinger
The kick-off of the Winter Olympics will be given this Friday in Beijing. No less than 3,000 high-level athletes are expected and the events will take place on three sites, Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. In Yanqing, where it has not snowed a single flake, a ski resort has been created from scratch using artificial snow. A costly installation in water and energy, but which does not disturb the skiers.
D-2 before the start of the Beijing Olympics. 3,000 high-level athletes are expected and the events will take place on three sites, Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. In Yanqing, where it has not snowed a single flake, a ski resort has been created from scratch, with artificial snow. A costly installation in water and energy, but which does not disturb the skiers.
A “very special” snow
Strange tongues of snow come out of nowhere in a somewhat lunar landscape filled with vaguely Mediterranean vegetation… In Yanqing, the slopes are made entirely of artificial snow. And the Nice descender Matthieu Bailet has already tested them. “It’s a very special snow that I, personally, I had never skied”, he confides on Europe 1. “The other athletes find that it looks a bit like that of the previous Olympic Games”. It is above all the weather conditions, more than the artificial snow, which worries Matthieu Bailet.
The wind, a source of concern
Afterwards, the weather is often fine, it’s very cold and the little problem, which puts us in doubt, is the wind. There are some every day, a little stronger, a little less strong, and we know very well that in our sport, this is the most irregular and the least fair. But that’s part of the game too.”
A lottery descent is perhaps what awaits us on Sunday with the first big meeting in alpine skiing…