UP221: Inside Beijing

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. Every episode of Unofficial Partner can be found by using the big podcast providers, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via your favourite podcast app. The weekly Unofficial Partner newsletter is read by thousands of people across the sports business every Thursday, to join them subscribe via unofficialpartner.comUnofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.