On Friday, Dec 14, athletes, government representatives, Beijing 2022 Organising Committee (BOCOG) members, and the press came together at Beijing's Water Cube for the official unveiling of the official 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games emblems.

The event got off to a slow start with an initial gong signaling to the only half-present crowd that the run of celebrities, songs, and presentations were about to begin. At that time, 50 or so child choir singers shuffled onto the stage but wouldn't be permitted to sing their unity-espousing song, accompanied by the world-renowned concert pianist Lang Lang, for another 40 minutes.

However, once the initial pomp finished, what followed was a quick succession of speeches, including a pre-recorded message from International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, reminding attendees that Beijing is on track to become the first ever city to host the summer and winter Olympic Games. Then it was the turn of Cai Qi, BOCOG president and Communist Party Secretary of Beijing, to drum up excitement before the final run of Spring Festival gala-type numbers.

The most notable of those performances was Jackie Chan's rousing "Wake Up Winter" alongside snowflake-twirling, sequined dancers. It also took gold for the most convincing live act, what with everyone else lip-synching their way through and a further reminder that when it comes to conveying an assertive appearance, China will leave nothing to chance.

Before the crowd had time to blast out grainy sights of Big Brother, the star-studded stage backdrop parted to give the audience what they'd been waiting for, the official 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics logo.

And here it is:

Said to have taken inspiration from the character 冬, winter, the colorful and lively ribbon-like lines of the emblem also outline the figure of a downhill skier; knees bent, poles horizontal, and head down.

The Paralympics logo is more vivid and is said to be based on the character for fly, 飞. The lower legs of the skier in the logo above have been replaced by two semicircles, representing a wheel in motion.

The logos were designed by Li Cunzhen, who also had a hand in creating the emblem for 2014's Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, and were chosen from 4,506 submissions from around the world, according to olympic.org.

To read all of our coverage in the run-up to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, click here.

​​​​​​Images: Tom Arnstein, olympic.org