In news- Recently, the Indian diplomats have decided to boycott Beijing Winter Olympics after China made a Galwan PLA soldier torchbearer for the Olympics event.
About the boycott-
- It is India’s first ever political boycott of Olympic games.
- Diplomatic boycott means there will be no diplomatic or political presence, however athletes and sports officials will be sent.
- State broadcaster Doordarshan also announced it will not telecast the opening and closing ceremonies live, where India has one athlete, skier Arif Khan, participating.
- India had earlier expressed support for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, even as more than a dozen countries, led by the United States, had announced a boycott of the games.
About Winter Olympics-
- The Winter Olympic Games is a major international sporting event that occurs once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice.
- The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in Chamonix, France.
- The modern Olympic Games were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD.
- Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, leading to the first modern Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896.
- The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority.
- The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted on three continents by twelve countries.
- Until 1992, the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games were held in the same year, and in accordance with the 1986 decision by the IOC to place the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games on separate four-year cycles in alternating even-numbered years, the next Winter Olympic Games after 1992 were held in 1994.
- The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Beijing 2022, is an ongoing international winter multi-sport event that officially opened on 4 February 2022 and is taking place in Beijing, China, with some events in Yanqing and Chongli.
- In 2018, the winter Olympics was held in South Korea.
- The Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo will host the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Galwan Valley-
- The valley is strategically located between Ladakh in the west and Aksai Chin in the east, which is currently controlled by China as part of its Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
- The valley refers to the land that sits between steep mountains that buffet the Galwan River.
- The river has its source in Aksai Chin, on China’s side of the LAC, and it flows from the east to Ladakh, where it meets the Shyok river on India’s side of the LAC.
- At its western end are the Shyok river and the Darbuk-Shyok-Daulet Beg Oldie (DSDBO) road.
- Its eastern mouth lies not far from China’s vital Xinjiang Tibet road, now called the G219 highway.
- The LAC lies east of the confluence of the Galwan and Shyok rivers in the valley, up to which both India and China have been patrolling in recent years.
- It was in this place that in June 2020, the worst violence on the India-China border since 1967 claimed the lives of 20 Indian soldiers.
Source: The Hindu
