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
China Daily:
My question goes to Mr. Yan from Hebei province. We all know that Zhangjiakou city in Hebei province, as a competition zone of the Olympic Winter Games, will host most of the snow competitions, and has both reconstructed and built new venue complexes such as the Genting and the Guyangshu clusters. As the international test events are just around the corner, we would like to learn about how the preparations are going for these venues? And what are the plans and arrangements for post-Games use of the newly-built venues? Thanks.
Yan Pengcheng:
Thanks for the media attention to the preparations of Zhangjiakou Competition Zone. Beijing and Zhangjiakou will co-host the 24th Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, which represents the trust in, and care for, Hebei province of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, bringing rare and significant development opportunities. The Hebei provincial Party committee and government will firmly implement the guiding principles of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on the Winter Olympics and will regard the smooth hosting of the Olympic Winter Games as a major political task, deploying various key tasks for event organization and bolstering it with efforts from the whole province.
As the journalist mentioned, Zhangjiakou, being one of the three competition zones for the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, will hold a majority of the snow events. In Zhangjiakou, athletes will compete for 51 gold medals of the Olympics Winter Games and 46 gold medals of the Paralympic Winter Games. We have built four competition venues and five non-competition venues in Zhangjiakou. The four competition venues are the National Ski Jumping Center, the National Cross-Country Skiing Center, the National Biathlon Center, and the Genting Snow Park. The five non-competition venues are the Winter Olympic Village, the Main Press Center, the International Broadcasting Center, the Awards Plaza, and the Uniform and Registration Sub-Center. The construction of venues with high standards and high quality constitutes a top priority in the preparation of the Winter Games. Here, I'd like to share with you some information from the following three aspects.
First, the venues in Zhangjiakou boast attractive highlights. All the venues here are concentrated in the core region of Taizicheng area in Chongli district. While building the venues, we earnestly followed the three concepts of athlete-orientation, sustainable development, and frugality in running the Games, adhered to the overall plan and international standards, organized top teams at home and abroad, and formulated a series of scientific plans for the construction of venues and support facilities. By doing this, we strive to develop high-quality, eco-friendly, and corruption-free projects with cultural appeal. We planned and designed the construction of major venues as a whole. For example, we built a three-kilometer-long circular path connecting the National Ski Jumping Center, the National Cross-Country Skiing Center, and the National Biathlon Center. The image of the circular path being covered with snow in winter has given it the nickname "Ice Jade Ring." The National Ski Jumping Center, nicknamed "Snow Ruyi," not only has the longest ski jumping track in the world but also perfectly resembles the shape of a "Ruyi," a traditional Chinese ornament symbolizing good luck. In this way, the center can showcase Chinese culture and tell Chinese stories to the world with its magnificent and elegant curves.
Second, the major venues have been awarded international certification. By the end of last year, Zhangjiakou competition zone had fulfilled all the construction tasks for 76 events. In August this year, the Winter Olympic Village became ready to receive dwellers. Not long ago, experts of sports unions and federations for winter events conducted the final inspection and awarded certifications to the competition venues and training tracks in Zhangjiakou competition zone. They gave full recognition to the quality of the venues and believed that all the venues had met the competition requirements. In particular, "Snow Ruyi," "Ice Jade Ring," and other landmark structures were spoken of highly by the International Olympic Committee and winter sports unions and federations, who held the opinion that the National Ski Jumping Center is currently a unique ski jumping venue with the most creative design in the world and is one of the world's most spectacular venues. They also believed that the Genting Snow Park is one of the world's best venues for snowboarding and freestyle skiing.
Third, we have considered and made arrangements for the post-Games use of the venues, an issue which has always been a focus of attention among all parties. In order to give full play to the post-Games functions of the Zhangjiakou venues, we have studied and developed special schemes. The overall consideration is to fully leverage the traffic and location advantages of the Taizicheng area where the venues are situated; take advantage of favorable conditions, including good climate; and actively promote the market-centered operation of the venues. By hosting various kinds of major sports events, carrying out extensive mass snow and ice cultural and sports activities, we aim to build Zhangjiakou competition zone into an integrated snow and ice entertainment center and summer resort that can operate 24/7 all year round.
For instance, after the Games, the Genting Snow Park will be developed into a mountain resort combining services in sports, conferences, leisure, and holiday activities, with a focus on snow and ice sports as well as mountain resort services. The National Ski Jumping Center will be transformed into a characteristic business tourism area, integrating high-end meetings and leisure experiences. The National Cross-Country Ski Center will be turned into a mountain park, where snow and ice cultural and sports activities are organized in both winter and summer. The National Biathlon Center will be built into a ski training and winter sports experience base suitable for young people, while serving as a site for specific national sports training and events holding.
We welcome friends from the media to visit the Zhangjiakou competition zone more for reporting and sightseeing. Thank you.
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