April
Taxpayer review into 2032 Games venues ‘blindsided’
An independent review into 2032 Games venues was supposed to deliver the ‘right’ infrastructure. But Queensland bureaucrats were working on rival plans.
- Liam Walsh and Michael Bleby
February 2023
Nine snatches Olympics from Seven in $305m cash deal
The blockbuster sports rights deal sees Nine become the official Olympics broadcaster for the next five games, including Brisbane 2032.
- Mark Di Stefano
April 2022
Shanghai tests the limits of Xi’s zero-COVID policy
The city of 26 million is dealing with rising cases of omicron but there are signs of growing public anger at the strict and costly lockdown.
- Thomas Hale, Andy Lin and Primrose Riordan
February 2022
Beijing’s four medals give winter athletes a shot at more funding
While the country has scored its highest-ever Olympic medal tally, the questions about how to allocate money to sports haven’t gone away.
- Michael Bleby
The foreign athletes winning gold for China
It serves China’s interests domestically to put talent that would prefer to work for China than the United States on a pedestal. But not one that is too high.
- Michael Smith
China has been showing off its digital yuan at the Olympics
Beijing’s trial run is a victory in the race among countries to create an electronic currency. But it also hands the Communist Party another surveillance tool.
- Joe Light
Russian skater can compete in Beijing but won’t receive medals
The decision has angered many who say honest athletes are suffering unjustly because of Kamila Valieva’s presence in the competition after failing a drug test.
- Juliet Macur, Andrew Keh, Daniel Victor and Tariq Panja
Winter Olympics medal tally hits record with skeleton silver
Brisbane-born Jaclyn Narracott was the first woman from outside Europe and North America to claim a medal in the sliding sport.
- Michael Bleby
Scotty James takes silver in men’s Olympic snowboard halfpipe final
Snowboarder Scotty James won Australia’s first silver medal of the Beijing Games in a hard-fought battle for first place with Japan’s Ayumu Hirano.
- Michael Bleby
- Opinion
- China relations
This is a turning point in Cold War 2.0
In 1972, Henry Kissinger triangulated Beijing against Moscow. Now Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are playing the same manoeuvre against the US.
- Stephen Roach
Peng Shuai watches as China tops Olympic medals table
Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai has denied she made sexual assault allegations.
- Julien Pretot and Krystal Hu
Queensland’s ‘game-changing’ facility gives Jakara Anthony moguls gold
Australia’s newest Olympic gold medallist says a new aerial ski training centre helped her perfect the trick that clinched her the top spot in Beijing.
- Michael Bleby
China, Russia accuse AUKUS pact of increasing arms race risk
China and Russia have used a meeting on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics to declare they may back each other on Ukraine and Taiwan.
- Michael Smith
Australia’s high-fliers are confident ahead of Beijing Games
Australia’s Olympic flag bearer Laura Peel dominated her sports at the last world championship event in January, but she realises she is carrying the weight of national expectations.
- Michael Bleby
Meet the Olympian trying to soar over the geopolitical divide
Can Eileen Gu avoid a wrong step as a dual Chinese-American citizen, supermodel, social influencer and Olympic skier?
- John Branch
How bone-dry Beijing created snow for the Winter Olympics
The host city of this year’s Winter Games has had to make millions of cubic metres of the white stuff, helped by a Finn who is the world’s top snowmaker.
- Updated
- Simon Willis
Recycled Bird’s Nest clouds Beijing’s Olympic bill
For all the organisers’ efforts – and in common with every other country – the cost of holding the Beijing Winter Olympics looks increasingly pricey.
- Michael Bleby
Shortened torch relay marks final countdown to Winter Games
Luo Zhihuan, the country’s first internationally competitive speed skater, ran the first leg.
China’s American-born Olympic star is playing it safe
Teenage freestyle skier Eileen Gu is the face of China’s efforts at the Winter Games, and she has no desire to talk politics.
- Ellen Huet
FBI chief: China ‘more brazen’ than ever before
Even as American foreign policy remains consumed by Russia-Ukraine tensions, the US continues to regard China as its biggest threat to long-term economic security.
- Eric Tucker