BEIJING: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has praised China’s promotional campaign ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 which has resulted in 300 million people across the country being made aware of winter sports, the country’s national news agency Xinhua reports.
Bach recently visited the Beijing 2022 competition zones here on Tuesday. He was impressed with the design concept of the National Ski Jumping Centre, the venue for ski jumping and Nordic combined. The S-type curve resembles the shape of Ruyi, a traditional Chinese ornamental object for luck, so it is also nicknamed ‘Snow Ruyi’.
On the top of the hills, Bach asked questions and provided suggestions for the venue constructions of the National Cross Country Centre and National Biathlon Centre.
“We can see the great progress, but what is even more important is we can see the plan raised by Chinese President Xi Jinping to make 300 million people familiar with winter sports obviously already works. We have met many children who love winter sports. We have seen athletes practicing winter sports. We have seen the halfpipe and other slopes which are already hosting the World Cups. The progress is really impressive,” Bach was quoted as saying to the newswire.
Beijing 2022 will utilise 24 competition and non-competition venues located in three competition clusters of downtown Beijing, Yanqing district and Zhangjiakou of Hebei province. According to official government statistics, more than 800 ski facilities have been built and about 50 million Chinese citizens have skied for at least once, influencing about 150 million to participate in winter sports directly or indirectly as of October 2018.
As the first host city to fully benefit from the Olympic Agenda 2020, the organizers of Beijing 2022 has made great strides in incorporating the agenda as part of the preparation process to deliver a ‘Green Olympics’. The venue construction includes the transplanting of trees in the mountains above 800 meters above sea level. To better protect the trees, experts from Beijing Forestry University conducted an ecological background survey on this area and worked out a protective transplant plan.
At the National Alpine Ski Center and National Sliding Center deep into the mountain, Bach encouraged engineers and builders to create architectures of its era.
“The organizing committee is doing excellent work. We see very thorough and detailed planning. We see all the schedules are respected so far. It’s the Chinese way. We are really very sure about the completion of the work at the right time and also the success of the Olympic Games,” Bach signed off.
