Make good use of stadiums after Games

By Zhang Zhouxiang | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2022-03-13 19:21

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Ji Lijia of China, right, in action during Para snowboard men's cross SB-UL Finals at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, March 7, 2022. [Photo by Wei Xiaohao/chinadaily.com.cn]

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics has already come to an end, and the Winter Paralympics will close Sunday evening. Chinese athletes have made record achievements at both, but how will their stadiums be used after the grand events?

That question has already been taken into consideration in its design. The plan is to let the stadiums serve ordinary residents and boost their enthusiasm for ice and snow sports. Just like chief designer of the Zhangjiakou zone of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Zhang Li said, the stadiums served professional athletes as "superpersons", after which they will serve "ordinary persons".

For example, the professional ice race lanes for top athletes are not suitable for amateurs. Therefore the National Ski and Sleigh Center has kept lanes for young people to practice. It has also kept a lane for the public where the height gap has been reduced from 121 meters to about 40 so as to better ensure the safety of ordinary practitioners.

The National Ski Jumping Centre based in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province will continue being open to the public for skiing in winter and jogging in summer, so ordinary people can make use of them all throughout the year.

It has kept a multifunctional space on its peak, where audiences can walk and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Even exhibitions, forums and meetings can be held in the space behind it. There is also a standard football field with capacity for 6,000 spectators, and cultural exhibitions can be held there as well.

In order to attract audiences, the designers invented a "2.5-hour" theory, namely if it takes 2.5 hours for people to walk through the whole field, they will most likely make it a destination.

Time will tell whether they can achieve that goal. Snow and ice sports belong not only to talented professional athletes, but also to everyone interested in them. The goal of encouraging 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports has already been met, and that number will continue to grow thanks to initiatives like these.