Beijing's 2022 Games taking shape this year

Beijing has stepped up its preparation for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games with all the competition venues to be completed and mascots unveiled next year.

Though most of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics venues are idle in winter, a construction site on the north end of the Olympic Park is bustling with workers and machines busy preparing a large site for the new National Speed Skating Oval, a permanent venue that will be used for the 2022 Winter Games.

Soon, the foundation will be laid and the structure will begin to rise at the venue, dubbed the Ice Ribbon for its appearance. It will be completed by the end of 2019 for speed skating test events in 2020, according to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Games.