The test events for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics have been halfway through, and organizers said on Friday they are making valuable experiences and adjusting the preparations based on the phased results. 

Yao Hui, head of the Venue Management Department of the Organizing Committee for Beijing 2022 Winter Games, said that since early October, six international events and two training sessions had been held on arenas in Beijing's city proper and Yanqing District, and mainly for skating, figure skating, curling, and bobsled.

"We have accumulated very good experience in many fields like pandemic prevention and control, event management, services and venue operations," Yao said.

Huang Chun, director of the Epidemic Prevention and Control Office of the Committee, said that the current COVID-19 prevention and control guidelines released in late October had been proven effective in the closed loop.

He said that the priority of holding the games is to protect everyone involved, either athletes or working staff and people inside the loop will enjoy sufficient recreation facilities, cafes, and convenience stores.

"We are optimizing the measures and revising the guidelines, to include those parts we didn't think of into the second version," Huang said.

During the past month, the running, the operation, and the services in the ice venues involved in the testing are making the organizers for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games confident.

Yao Hui introduced that the ice surfaces, particularly the one in the "Ice Ribbon" (National Speed Skating Oval), the very first in the world made with the advanced carbon-dioxide cooling technology, won praises.

"After the Speed Skating China Open, there have been good responses. For examples, two athletes, one from the Netherlands and one from South Korea, had their personal best on the ice surface. This is one of our expectations," Yao said.

Yang Jinkui, head of the Paralympic Games Integration Department of the Committee, said that Kate Caithness, president of the World Curling Federation, highly thought of the Wheelchair Curling World Championship held in the "Ice Cube" (National Aquatics Center) in late October.

He said that the whole arrangement and accessible facilities are in line with Olympic standards and care for people with disabilities, and the senior, and those in need of emergency medical treatment.

"Soon, there will be a training session for all competition and non-competition venues to share their experiences and draw lessons," Yang said.

Liu Hui, general secretary of operations for the "Ice Cube", had a preview on this and saw some of the advanced technologies that the venue is using.

He said that besides for the advanced ice-making teams, there are also various robots for cleaning, disinfecting, and maintaining the venue based on 5G signals provided by China Unicom, one of the telecom giants in the country. 

Talking about the tasks ahead, Yao Hui, head of the Venue Management Department, said that each event is being tested one by one and they will think more about the real games when all competitions are held within just two weeks.

"We will continue to contact and communicate with all international winter sports federations to provide the best-quality services and conditions for global athletes to achieve high-level performances," said Yao.