The Winter Olympics in Beijing officially begin this Friday. The opening ceremony marks the start of the sporting highlight in the lives of many athletes. Interested parties can follow the event live on TV or via stream.
Who is broadcasting the opening ceremony and when?
ZDF accompanies the opening ceremony live from Beijing for the public broadcasters from 1:00 p.m. The second will be broadcast from 12:10 p.m., Katrin Müller-Hohenstein (56) will then welcome the audience in the ARD and ZDF joint studio in Mainz. Nils Kaben (54) then comments on the opening ceremony from the National Stadium in Beijing. A free live stream is also available online via the ZDF media library.
At Eurosport, which starts its preliminary reporting at 12:30 p.m., the commentators Sigi Heinrich (68) and Birgit Nössing (39) from the “Bird’s Nest” in China’s capital report from 1:00 p.m. The expert duo Fabian Hambüchen (34) and Anni Friesinger-Postma (45) supports the two commentators. A Eurosport live stream can only be accessed via the Eurosport Player, which is subject to a fee. Thanks to a cooperation between the providers, customers of Joyn+ and DAZN also have access to the Eurosport streaming offer.
These are the German flag bearers
For the first time at the Winter Olympics, a flag-bearer duo will lead Germany into the stadium: five-time Olympic speed skating champion Claudia Pechstein (49) wears black, red and gold together with bobsleigh Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich (31) into the National Stadium in Beijing. While Pechstein speaks of an “i point on the career”, Friedrich says: “If you can carry the flag, it’s like being knighted among athletes.”
In addition, the China Olympics is more political than it has been for a long time. The organizers expect, among others, that Russian President Vladimir Putin (69), Egypt’s Head of State Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (67) and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (36) will attend the opening ceremony. Poland’s President Andrzej Duda (49), Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (51) and Prince Albert II of Monaco (63) are also expected in Beijing. At the same time, western democracies such as the USA, Great Britain, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands have announced a diplomatic boycott. They are not to be expected during the opening ceremony, nor are German diplomats who are officially not traveling to China because of the corona pandemic.
(elm/spot)