You almost want to feel sorry for the Chinese Olympic architects. No nature reserve is being destroyed for the big air ski jump in Shougang, but rather an old industrial wasteland is being used. And yet there is great excitement.
What happened? A brand new big air ski jump was built for the ski freestyle and snowboard competitions at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Big air ski jump in the middle of the industrial area
But the ski jump is not somewhere charmingly leaning against a rural mountainside, of which China has many, many, but on the site of a disused steelworks in Shougang. The images that went around the world today are actually a little disturbing. Against the murky backdrop of three tall, weathered cooling towers, you can see a gigantic artificial snow-covered ramp that undulates downwards from the highest point on steel frames and has a violent kicker in the middle for spectacular jumps with skis or snowboards. From other perspectives, further industrial facilities can be seen, high silo towers and factory halls. But also unwelcoming high-rise residential buildings.
Shougang, it's not just an old steelworks, it's a whole industrial area. A truly dystopian impression. And quite absurd. Even though it is well known that only artificial snow is used at the Games in Beijing, the outdoor facilities at the Winter Olympics are usually located in beautiful, snow-covered areas. Beijing is a notable exception. But a big air ski jump, the epitome of modern winter sports, in the middle of a dirty brown industrial area?
A case for Mimikama
Okay, the first impression is actually that there is an Olympic ski jump in the middle of Homer Simpson's nuclear power plant, as joked on Twitter. You haven't seen anything like this before. It's no wonder our mailbox was overflowing today. What's going on there? Are the photos real? A classic case of the Mimikama fact check.
No fake
In short: the pictures are real. The competitions are ongoing and the television images are clear. The Daily Mail reports that Olympic officials wanted to use Shougang as an example to showcase the transformation of a brownfield site into a cultural and leisure site.
Urban Sustainability ( HERE ). At some point, romantic weddings will take place here in the cooling tower ( HERE ). According to the IOC, the Big Air ski jump is the first permanent ramp in the world and the only facility for snow sports in Beijing. And it should remain standing after the games and be used as a training facility ( HERE ).
To what extent it is sustainable to permanently cover the ski jump with artificial snow remains to be seen. If you want to have some fun, enter the hashtags #Shougang and #BigAir on Twitter.
Still manipulated!
Nevertheless, the bottom of the two photos was manipulated.
We cannot say with certainty whether there is an intention behind the manipulation because we do not know who published the image. In the photo below, the saturation has been reduced.
This means that the colors are weaker and the image becomes grayish. This is particularly clearly visible in the ORF logo in the picture. This logo is basically red. It has become gray due to the reduced saturation. The effect of this: the picture looks dreary!
And so the entire scene seems even sadder. Interestingly, the PR photo of the ski jump has the opposite effect! Colors are staged brightly, lights shine, the surroundings are faded out. We recognize that framing can also take place in this form.
Looks like this in the PR photo pic.twitter.com/bwmg2WIyGM
— Emil Goldberg (@emil_goldberg) February 8, 2022
Who sits in a glass house
The question, of course, is how appropriate the astonishment or possible outrage at this scene is.
Our Central European mindset naturally has a romanticized image of a ski jump in the middle of a forested area on a mountain. But we mustn't forget: These things didn't grow on their own! Hills are cleared for jumps and diving platforms. And it's not the first time that the Winter Olympics have come under criticism for this .
That could also be of interest
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )