IOC vice president Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. says he is impressed by what China has done in their preparation to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.
Samaranch, who came to Beijing to attend the Beijing Olympic Expo 2017, said China is fulfilling its commitment to the 2022 Olympics.
"As an IOC vice president, I think China's bid for the Winter Olympics has represented their best commitment, and that the Chinese government is creating an environment to attract more people to take part in winter sports," he said.
"Under the guidance of Chinese sports authorities and organizers, the preparation work is being carried out in an orderly fashion. China is not a traditional winter sports power, but we will see how much they will harvest from their efforts in the 2022 Olympics," he continued.
Samaranch said Japan has also made considerable efforts to prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games and is expected to perform well on home soil.
"I don't know how many medals they won last year in Rio, I am sure they will win much more in 2020 in Tokyo," he said.
Samaranch said IOC planned to award both the 2024 and 2028 editions of the Olympic Games simultaneously, but they need to get assent from Paris and Los Angeles, the two 2024 bid cities.
"We received bids for the 2024 Olympics from two cities, and we think these are two great candidates and both of their bids are excellent. It will be something beautiful if we have the chance to award 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games to these two great cities," he said.
"We need to hold more conversations with these two cities," said Samaranch. "If they agree to our proposal then we will put it to vote by our IOC members."
