Xi inspects Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic venues

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Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a visit to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic venues on Friday, urging China’s capital city to make every effort for an “extraordinary” Winter Olympic Games.

Xi stressed that the preparation for the Winter Olympics is an important task for Beijing – both now and in the years ahead.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is briefed on master plans of the venues in three zones of the 2022 Olympics at Wukesong Cultural & Sports Center in Beijing on February 24, 2017. /Xinhua Photo

The 24th Winter Olympics will be held in Beijing and Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province from February 4 to 20, 2022. Having previously hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing will become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games.

During an inspection of Wukesong Cultural & Sports Center, where the ice hockey event of the Beijing Winter Olympics will be held, Xi was briefed on master plans of the venues in three zones: Beijing (the main urban area of Beijing), Yanqing (Yanqing district of Beijing) and Zhangjiakou (Chongli district of Zhangjiakou). Later, he watched a training session of youth ice hockey players.

Chinese President Xi Jinping watches a training session of youth ice hockey players at Wukesong Cultural & Sports Center in Beijing on February 24, 2017. /Xinhua Photo

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with youth ice hockey players at Wukesong Cultural & Sports Center in Beijing on February 24, 2017. /Xinhua Photo

Xi called on organizers of the Games to learn from advanced experience overseas in the planning, design and construction of venues, which should be able to hold different kinds of events after the Olympics.

The Chinese president also took a tour around Capital Indoor Stadium – the venue for short track speed skating and figure skating events for the Games. Xi shook hands with Chinese athletes who had returned from the eighth Asian Winter Games in Japanese city of Sapporo.

“I watched your competition on TV. It’s brilliant,” Xi told Wu Dajing, the gold medalist of the 500-meter short track speed skating event in Sapporo.

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Chinese athletes returning from the Sapporo Asian Winter Games at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on February 24, 2017. /Xinhua Photo

The organizing committee for the 2022 Games was set up in December 2015. According to its work plan, construction of Olympic facilities will start this year, including construction of venues for biathlon, cross-country skiing, and ski jumping events. Also slated to begin is the renovation of Yunding Ski Field, the proposed venue for alpine skiing in Heibei province.

China is determined to seize the opportunity of the Winter Olympics to promote sports and improve health among the general public. As highlighted in Beijing’s bidding plan, the country is rolling out a national campaign to encourage 300 million people to participate in winter sports by 2022.

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