LIGHTING THE WAY

China's successful staging of the Beijing Winter Olympics provided yet more proof that the country is realizing its goal of building a stronger sporting nation－at both elite and grassroots level.

A relative newcomer to most winter sports, China impressed the world at last month's Beijing Winter Olympics by bagging its best ever haul of 15 medals, including nine gold, to finish third in the medal standings, the highest since the country's Winter Games debut in 1980 at Lake Placid, New York.

The successes again highlighted China's ability to harness the Olympics into a driver of overall national sports development, having also done so by hosting the 2008 Summer Games.

The breakthrough performances, especially in the country's less-developed snow sports, contributed to China's goal of hosting excellent and extraordinary Games in a safe and streamlined manner amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, the promotion of winter sports at grassroots level resulted in 346 million Chinese people taking part in related exercise and leisure activities in the lead-up to the Games, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The mass initiative has built a lasting legacy that will benefit national fitness, physical education for young people, the sports industry and regional economic development for decades to come.

Guided and overseen by President Xi Jinping, efforts to develop China into a sporting powerhouse by 2050, as outlined in a State Council plan released in 2019, have paid dividends with the success of the Beijing Winter Olympics. The plan focuses on elite competition, improving the overall fitness of citizens, and building a robust sports industry.

According to the General Administration of Sport of China, the country has witnessed rapid improvements in winter sports infrastructure, equipment manufacturing and educational programs over the past seven years of preparations for the Winter Games.

A total of 654 standard ice rinks and 803 ski resorts were operating in China by the beginning of 2021, rising by 317 percent and 41 percent respectively since 2015, when Beijing and Zhangjiakou won the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

By the end of 2021, about 2,060 primary and secondary schools across China had included Olympic and Paralympic education, featuring winter sports, in their curricula.

The aim is for that number to reach 5,000 by 2025, according to the Beijing 2022 organizing committee.

In his speech at the Games closing ceremony on Feb 20, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach welcomed China as a winter sport country, stressing that with about one quarter of China's total population introduced to ice and snow sports, the global winter sports landscape has changed forever.

With sports participation now embraced in China as a lifestyle choice, international governing bodies have discovered new frontiers to expand their global presence.

"I think we have a phenomenal opportunity to make China a superpower in winter sports," Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski Federation, said during Beijing 2022.

"It will take work, it will take some help, which we are very happy to provide in coaching programs and bringing competitions here ...Like always when China wants to do something, it does it to perfection."

As part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation and representatives of China's winter sports governing body, local government and venue owners, the National Sliding Centre in northwest Beijing's Yanqing district will continue hosting a series of World Cup races and international training events over the next five years.

The continuation of top-level sliding sports at the first-of-its-kind track in China, coupled with post-Olympic operational plans for tourism, will boost economic development in the region, officials reckon.

"During the past six years, we have worked very closely with the various stakeholders to prepare not just the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 but also the post-Games use," Ivo Ferriani, IBSF president, said after signing the MoU with Chinese partners on the closing day of Beijing 2022.

"Our shared vision was to leave a strong legacy for this outstanding facility, which will serve for top elite-level sports and at the same time for tourism purposes."

The National Sliding Centre, which hosted bobsleigh, skeleton and luge at Beijing 2022, will open the lower and flatter section of its 1.9-kilometer track to the public for recreational use in May. The track experience will complement other activities such as sightseeing, hiking and mountain biking to attract tourists, according to property owner Beijing Enterprise Group Company Ltd.

The center's development as part of a regional plan to turn Yanqing into an all-year tourist destination, will leverage the Olympic venue and its proximity to the Great Wall to create more jobs and benefits for the local communities.

From 2015 to 2019, preparations for the Games drove a 35.2 percent growth in per capita disposable income in Yanqing, according to the district government.

"As such, the 2022 Winter Games is not only about a global sports gala but also about inspiring more and more people to take up sports in order to lead a healthy life," said Ren Hai, a sports sociology professor at Beijing Sport University.