Beijing Amazes IOC with Snow Charm

Beijing presented a panorama of the 2022 Winter Olympics to IOC chairman Bach and Chinese vice premier Liu Yandong in Lausanne on Wednesday, to showcase its amazing charm as a Winter Games host.

A high-tech sand-table display of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, the three areas jointly bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, presented the host city’s Winter Games blueprint.

The 2008 Olympic Games host will fully utilize its previous Olympics heritage, including the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube. The only new venue to be constructed in Beijing is a national oval, which has already been listed into China’s long-term winter sports development plan. The oval will be a top-level ice-sports center open to the public.

Yanqing will build two contest venues, and Zhangjiakou to build three ones, all of which will be transformed into world-class winter sports training bases and sports parks.

Beijing presented its ideas for holding the Games on Tuesday’s briefing to IOC — athlete-centered, sustainable and economical.

A virtual Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway experience assured the audience of the host city’s transportation efficiency.

Yang Lan, a famous TV host in China and member of the Beijing 2022 Olympics bidding delegation, said the high-speed railway will be completed in 2019, when the trip from downtown Beijing to Yanqing will be shortened to 20 minutes, while a 50-minute-long railway trip will take people to Zhangjiakou from Beijing.

The Beijing delegation also showcased China’s rapid development in winter sports. China won the first gold medal in the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games, and since then took home 12 gold medals and 53 medals in the Winter Games.