Australians lukewarm on the Beijing Winter Olympics

The Winter Olympics is set to begin on 4th February 2022 in Beijing, China, however almost two thirds of Australians (65%) are not interested in the Games.

Globally across 28 countries, a little over half (54%) said they are not interested in the Games and 24% said they were not interested in any Winter Olympics sports, while in Australia that figure rose to 36%.

Ahead of the Winter Games, Ipsos asked people around the world for their views on the event including the rules and conventions of the Games, the most popular sports, and awareness of the Paralympics.

Key Australian highlights found:

• Public opinion is divided over whether the Winter Olympics should go ahead as planned even if the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over yet, with 53% of Australians surveyed agreeing it should go ahead.
• A little over a third of Australians (35%) say they are interested in the Beijing Winter Olympics while 65% say they are not interested.
• Figure skating and ski jumping are the most popular events with 20% saying they are interested in following them, with figure skating much more popular among females (32% vs 9% of males). Snowboarding, an event where Australia has a strong history, including medals at the last Winter Olympics, is the next most popular sport (18%).
• There are low levels of awareness about the sports that will feature in the Paralympics: one in two (52%) say that they do not know, while between 5% and 18% correctly identified each of the six disciplines.
• Almost six in ten (58%) agree that ‘It is appropriate for athletes to take a public stand on political or social issues when performing at the Olympics’, although agreement is much lower among Australians aged 50-74 years (45%).
• Seven in ten (69%) agree that ‘If a country is officially barred from the Olympics for doping, its athletes not implicated in doping should still be allowed to perform under the banner of their Olympic committee instead of their country's banner’.

Ipsos Australia Director, David Elliott, said: “The findings of this latest survey are a little surprising in that our interest in the Winter Games is lower than what we saw for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics where 45% of Australians were interested in the Games, and for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, 41% were interested. While the difference between interest in the Summer and Winter Olympics likely reflects our tenuous relationship with winter style sports, it’s not clear why interest in these Games is lower than for the last Winter Olympics. Perhaps we are all preoccupied with what’s going on due to COVID and the Omicron wave or after two years into the pandemic we’re all deeply entrenched in the latest offering from our chosen streaming services or other big ticket regulars on free-to-air TV.”

Key Global Findings

• On average across all 28 countries, 46% say that they are interested in the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics. This rises to 84% in China and falls to 30% in Germany.
• Figure skating is the most popular event with 27% saying they are interested in following it. Ski jumping and ice hockey are the next top sports (18% select each).
• Public opinion is divided over whether the Olympics should go ahead as planned even if the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over yet.
• There are low levels of awareness about the sports that will feature in the Paralympics: one in two (50%) say that they do not know, while between 11% and 18% correctly identified each of the six disciplines.

On average across all 28 countries, a greater proportion say they are not interested (54%) in the Beijing Winter Olympics than are interested (46%). This is level with the public mood in the lead-up to the Tokyo Summer Olympics and slightly down on the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, when 51% said they were interested vs. 49% who said they were not.

Looking at specific sporting events, figure skating comes out on top in terms of public interest. The five sports that people around the world say they are most interested in following are:

1. Figure skating (27%)
2. Ski jumping (18%)
3. Ice hockey (18%)
4. Speed skating (15%)
5. Snowboarding (13%)

However, when presented the full list of winter sports, 24% worldwide said that they are not interested in any of them.

Another pandemic Olympics

It seems that people remain cautious about big international sporting events going ahead in a pandemic context. Only slightly more than half (52%) agree that the Winter Olympics should go ahead as planned, regardless of the COVID-19 situation.

Host nation China is where popular support for Beijing 2022 going ahead is highest (80%) while South Korea, the 2018 host, is where it is lowest (30%).

The Paralympics

Ipsos found a widespread lack of awareness around the sports that will be part of the Paralympics at Beijing 2022. When asked which six disciplines will feature, 50% of the public on average said that they do not know. Ice hockey is most frequently correctly identified (18%), followed by snowboarding (14%), curling (12%), alpine/downhill skiing and cross-country skiing (both 11%), and, finally, biathlon (10%).

Across all countries, 60% are satisfied with the level of coverage the Paralympics are given in the news and media outlets of their country. In the following countries, people are more likely to say that they do not think that the Paralympics gets enough coverage: Mexico, Great Britain, Malaysia, Turkey, and Colombia.

Attitudes to controversies

Ipsos also asked the public for their views on some more controversial issues related to the Olympics:

• A majority in all countries, and 69% on average globally, agree that athletes from countries that have been officially barred for doping should still be allowed to compete under their country’s Olympic banner – if they are not implicated in the doping. Agreement ranges from 61% in both Germany and Hungary to 78% in Saudi Arabia.
• 55% overall agree that it is appropriate for athletes to take a public stand on social or political issues when performing at the Olympics.
• A global country average of 57% agree that there is ‘too much nationalism on display’ at the Olympics. Agreement is highest in Saudi Arabia and Turkey (both 77%) and lowest in Sweden (35%).

About the study:

These are the results of a 28-country survey conducted by Ipsos on its Global Advisor online platform. Ipsos interviewed a total of 20,025 adults aged 18-74 in the United States, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa, and Turkey, and 16- 74 in 23 other markets between December 23rd 2021 – January 7th 2022.

The sample consists of approximately 1,000 individuals in each of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, mainland China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the U.S., and 500 individuals in each of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Hungary, India, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, and Turkey.

The samples in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the U.S. can be taken as representative of their general adult population under the age of 75.

The samples in Brazil, mainland China, Chile, Colombia, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey are more urban, more educated, and/or more affluent than the general population. The survey results for these countries should be viewed as reflecting the views of the more “connected” segment of their population.

The data is weighted so that each market’s sample composition best reflects the demographic profile of the adult population according to the most recent census data.

“The Global Country Average” reflects the average result for all the countries and markets where the survey was conducted. It has not been adjusted to the population size of each country or market and is not intended to suggest a total result.

Where results do not sum to 100 or the ‘difference’ appears to be +/-1 more/less than the actual, this may be due to rounding, multiple responses or the exclusion of “don't know” or not stated responses.

The precision of Ipsos online polls are calculated using a credibility interval with a poll of 1,000 accurate to +/- 3.5 percentage points and of 500 accurate to +/- 5.0 percentage points. For more information on the Ipsos use of credibility intervals, please visit the Ipsos website. The publication of these findings abides by local rules and regulations.