Beijing gears up for Winter Olympics

Sharing the experiences of South Korea's putting on the 2018 Winter Olympics, Beijing is gearing up to host the Winter Olympics in 2022 with ensuring that sustainability is high on the agenda.

Brainstorming on making future Olympics more sustainable was held during an International an Olympic Committee (IOC) debriefing at western Beijing's Shougang Industrial Park on Tuesday. The IOC's legacy-centered ``New Norm'', a 118-point proposal, has been the guiding principal for Beijing to prepare for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

About 600 attendees including IOC executives, local organizers, governmental officials and venue owners took part in the Beijing debriefing, which featured a summary of Pyeongchang's work hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics and breakout sessions focusing on operational issues that Beijing faces.

"With regard to sustainability, you only need to look around in this Shougang Park and then you realize the Chinese organizers take sustainability as a core issue for their organization," IOC President Thomas Bach said at the debriefing's closing press conference on Tuesday.

The industrial park is a former steel mill site transformed to house the headquarters of the Beijing 2022 organizing committee. It is an example of how Beijing is taking advantage of its experiences in putting on the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Beijing has pledged that all the venues built for 2022, especially those for snow events, will incorporate plans for their use after the Games. The reuse of existing venues coupled with support from the IOC in cost-effectiveness will help Beijing 2022 set a new benchmark for future Olympics, said Bach.

"In addition to our existing venues and facilities, we are working closely with the IOC and relevant international sports federations to address issues regarding the use of all the new facilities after 2022," said Chen Jining, mayor of Beijing and executive president of the Beijing 2022 organizing committee.

Beijing 2022 will use 26 competition and non-competition venues in three zones -- the Beijing downtown, northwestern Yanqing district and co-host Zhangjiakou, Hebei province. They are connected by a new high-speed railway to be completed at the end of 2019. In the downtown zone, where all the ice sports will be held, 11 of 13 venues are from the 2008 Summer Olympics, such as the Wukesong Arena for ice hockey and the Water Cube for curling.

The IOC believes that with the advantages on ready-made facilities, Beijing 2022 will be run on a reasonable budget.

"There is absolutely no doubt about (whether Beijing 2022 will be cost-effective)," said Christophe Dubi, IOC's executive director of Olympic Games. "We are still operating on the same budget as we had during the candidature."

According to Beijing's candidature file submitted to the IOC in 2015, the combined infrastructure and Games operational budgets for the 2022 Olympics total about $3.5 billion, a significantly smaller one compared to spending normally for a Summer Olympics.

Still, the challenges that Pyeongchang id facing to operate some of its new venues such as the Jeongseon Alpine Skiing center after the 2018 Games is giving Beijing a lesson, said Gunllia Lindberg, chairperson of the IOC coordination commission for Pyeongchang 2018.

"The advice for Beijing is that it should be decided early and to promote the winter sports, especially snow events, among the Chinese," she said.

From last November to March, Beijing 2022 sent 254 of its staff to observe and work side-by-side with their South Korean colleagues in the build-up to and during the Pyeongchang Olympic and Paralympic Games in key positions such as venue operation, event management and Games-related services.

Contact the writer at sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn