Beijing promises 'athletes-centered, sustainable and economical' 2022 Games

Beijing has promised to deliver an "athletes-centered, sustainable and economical" Winter Olympic Games if it wins the right to host the 2022 Games.

Beijing on Tuesday submitted its 2022 Winter Olympic Games official bid to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Chinese Olympic Committee president Liu Peng handed Beijing's Guarantees to the IOC executive director for the Olympic Games Christophe Dubi.

Beijing 2022 Bid Committee president and mayor of Beijing Wang Anshun presented the bidding report to Jacqueline Barrett, who is in charge of the IOC candidate cities relations.

In the report, Beijing stressed athletes will be put at the center of the Games.

"Athletes' convenience will be a primary criteria. Our service will be comprehensive and of high-level in training, competition, accommodation, transportation, catering, medical care and cultural communication," said Wang Anshun, adding that this will help athletes find their best shape.

If Beijing wins the hosting right, some of the 2022 venues will be set up in Zhangjiakou, a Hebei province city some 200 kilometers northwest of Beijing. Beijing is going to hold ice sports while snow events will be held in Zhangjiakou.

Wang said Beijing will make a meticulous budget plan to lower cost on the condition that the Games can be staged successfully.

"Beijing will lower the cost of staging the Games through thorough marketing, proper arrangement of venues and activities on the condition that the Games can be delivered successfully," he said.

According to the report, stadiums from the Beijing 2008 Olympics, including the national swimming center the Water Cube and the national indoor stadium, can serve as the 2022 venues along with several other existing stadiums after alteration.

New venues are planned to hold events like speedskating, biathlon, cross-country skiing and alpine skiing. They will become training bases, competition venues and be open to winter sports fans. The Olympic Village and media village will turn into hotels and condominiums.

"In the very beginning Beijing has had scientific planning for the Olympic legacies. The 2022 Games legacies will fit in the long-term project of the area," said Wang.

IOC president Thomas Bach said on Tuesday that Beijing's vision complied with IOC's reforms as both Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan handed in their reports.

"We are somehow in the middle of a procedure but we will in agreement with the two candidate cities already applying the first of the reforms which have been approved by the IOC members just very recently in Monaco," he said.

The IOC will send its Evaluation Commission to visit each city between February and March. The election of the 2022 host city by the IOC Session will take place in Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia on July 31, 2015.