Bassam Alshabhi, ski program supervisor of the Saudi Winter Sports Federation, has spoken highly of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China, especially its COVID-19 protocols, in an interview with China Media Group (CMG).

"Everything is well-prepared," Alshabhi said. "And the precautions were very, very strict. It's not that we're complaining about it. No, this is the way it should have been. And that's how it is supposed to be if you are trying to prevent such a virus that spreads that easy to the world. So I think they did a really good job in organizing COVID-19 precautions."

As a former skier, Alshabhi has been tasked with promoting the discipline in Saudi Arabia, where winter sports are not popular. He became the ski program supervisor when the country established its skiing team. Alshabhi has accompanied the team during training as well as competitions.

At the Beijing 2022, alpine skier Fayik Abdi became the first Saudi athlete to attend the Winter Olympics.

Alshabhi was also impressed by the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, in both the performance and the organizing work. He recalled the great help volunteers provided to the delegations and those who made sure that everything was in order. All of this showed how smooth the hosting of Beijing 2022 is.

According to the playbooks for the 2022 Winter Games, all participants will have to leave the closed loop within 48 hours after their competitions are over. As a result, Alshabhi won't be able to attend the closing ceremony on Sunday night. But he said the experience of Beijing 2022 has motivated him to attend future editions of the Olympics.

"Just experiencing this, I don't want to miss the next Olympics. I want to go there. This motivates me to go to the next Olympics. So, I can imagine how good it feels for the athlete to experience the whole thing. So, for me, I don't want to miss any other Olympics. I just want to be there and experience the energy, the communication with other countries. It just has been awesome."