Next week is the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, the first city to host both a Winter and Summer Games. Go back to 2008 and the story the IOC was telling was one of engagement and the power of the Olympics to open up China to the West. By contrast, the run up to this event has been dominated by human rights violations in Hong Kong, the appalling treatment of Uighur Muslims and the fate of tennis player Peng Shuai. 

The intervening 14 years has seen many false narratives, as organisations from across the sports business seek to build sustainable and profitable businesses in China, with the promise of selling their sport to the 1.4billion people in the country.

Mark Dreyer moved to Beijing to cover the 2008 games and has stayed ever since, so he’s had an up close view of the many twists and turns in the relationship, through the boom and bust of President Xi’s football strategy to the NBA’s media blackout and the on-off story of China’s World Cup 2032 World Cup bid. 

Dreyer has written a book about it all, called Sporting Superpower: An Insider’s View on China’s Quest To Be The Best, which we reference in the conversation. 

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