SCIO briefing on overall progress in preparations for Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 1, 2021
CCTV:
I would like to ask about the overall progress of the ongoing "Experience Beijing" test events. In particular, how is the feedback from all parties? What's the goal of these test events? And what are the gaps between the current state and the Games-time standard? Thanks.
Zhang Jiandong:
Thanks for your attention. Before the Winter Olympics and Paralympics can officially start, a series of test events or test activities must take place. This is a requirement of the IOC and the IPC and is also standard practice for previous Games. The series of "Experience Beijing" test events started in October and will last until the end of December, including 10 international competitions, three training weeks and two domestic trials. With the coordinated efforts of all parties – especially the hard work of venue teams and the organizing committees of each competition zone – everything has followed a step-by-step process, and all events have gone smoothly as scheduled. Among these events, the Speed Skating China Open, the Asian Figure Skating Open, the Short Track Speed Skating World Cup and time trials in bobsled and skeleton were successfully concluded. The feedback from athletes, international technical officials and individual sports federations has been overwhelmingly positive in terms of venues and facilities, epidemic prevention and control measures, event organization, as well as operation support.
The Wheelchair Curling World Championship is now underway, and several other events will start soon, such as the Luge World Cup. Of course, the luge training week will be held first, followed by the World Cup. There will also be snowboarding and free-ski cross World Cup legs in Zhangjiakou Competition Zone, as well as Continental Cup events for ski jumping and Nordic combined. Preparations for the remaining events are well underway. These test events offer a final opportunity for a field test before the Olympic Winter Games. It is hugely important that everyone accumulates the necessary experience in Games-time epidemic prevention and operation so as to arrange for the smooth running of the Games as scheduled.
The test events are run by international individual sports organizations with special regulations, which results in different characteristics between the test events and the Olympic Winter Games. However, we have carried out comprehensive tests for the Games as scheduled to analyze every element of preparations, run the operating mechanisms and accumulate more experience.
The goals of the test events you just asked about mainly concern three aspects: first, anti-epidemic measures, fields and facilities; second, event organization and venue operation; third, event services and peripheral support, including the command and dispatch system. These are the priorities for the test events and the goals to be achieved. As such, we focus on the following tasks:
First, we conduct a thorough examination of anti-epidemic measures and ensure strict implementation of those measures. More than 2,000 overseas athletes, team officials, international technical officials and scoring professionals are participating in the test events. Therefore, we have implemented measures such as pre-departure prevention and control, vaccination, and nucleic acid testing for arrivals to China. In addition, a closed-loop management policy has been strictly enforced during these test events, using the same management method as the Olympic Winter Games. We will adhere to a system of "no overlapping of partitions, no crossing of streamlines, strict control of meetings, and no cross-boundary of personnel." These four phrases indicate that the closed-loop management within venues, especially in the design of streamlines, aims to mitigate interactions between people. We are dealing with these details to examine anti-epidemic measures.
Second, we work hard to organize the events and improve operational support capabilities. As I mentioned earlier, one of the main goals of the test events is to check whether the facilities and venue equipment can meet Games-time operation standards, including whether the quality of the ice surface and snow track can meet the requirements of individual sports organizations. The functionality of timing and scoring systems, TV broadcasts, sports shows, award presentations, interviews and doping tests are likewise interconnected. So the operation support for venues and facilities is another important aspect of our examination. Through such tests, we can discover as many existing problems and weak links as possible.
Third, we provide elaborate services to improve the participant experience. We have taken competitions and operations into consideration when providing athletes and various stakeholders with a better experience, especially under closed-loop management during the test events. In this regard, we have made arrangements to take care of participants and service staff, striving to provide comfortable, convenient and safe services, so as to ensure that problems and needs are heard, the progress of coordination and handling is followed up, and the resolution of problems are checked. Cai Qi, secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee has described this as the Olympic Winter Games version of "dealing with a complaint when receiving it," or handling complaints in a timely manner. The test events have employed that method, and staff at all venues have heeded the views of all participants to make further improvements.
In short, we have identified some problems that need to be further optimized and improved through the first few test events. We also conduct reviews and assessments every day to discover problems and solve them one-by-one, and continuously enhance our capacity to organize the Games. Please pay more attention and offer help. Thanks.
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