BENEFITS FROM DOUBLE OLYMPICS
As the 2022 Olympics makes Beijing the world's first host city of both a Summer Games and a Winter Games, a group of Chinese people have also gained the opportunity to serve the Olympics twice.
15 years ago, at the age of 35, Li Jiulin was appointed as Chief Engineer of the construction of the Bird's Nest. At that time, no one had the experience in China to deal with such complicated structural steel construction. Li and his colleagues completed 13,520 construction drawings on the basis of 150 designs and eventually built the Bird's Nest.
Now Li is leading his team to build the National Speed Skating Oval, dubbed the "Ice Ribbon," the only new permanent ice-sports venue for the 2022 Games.
The 50-year-old is much more confident now than he was a decade ago because of the experience and technologies he has accumulated from the Bird's Nest project.
"Any architecture is a reflection of its era. The building of the Beijing National Stadium launched a new era in China's construction industry, and has drawn a variety of innovations, many of which have been upgraded in the following years and will be applied to the National Speed Skating Oval," added Li.
Beijing 2022 also gives new life to the old site of Shougang, once the burning heart of Beijing's industrial complex, whose entire steel-making complex was relocated out of Beijing in the run-up to the 2008 Games.
It is now not only home to the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games Organizing Committee, but also being transformed into big air snowboarding venues for the Games.
Beijing 2022 is also embracing Olympic Agenda 2020 by working more ly with the International Federations and former Games organizers on venue and sports delivery.
From November 2017 to March 2018, Beijing 2022 sent a total of 254 staff members to PyeongChang 2018 to get first-hand experience by working in key roles in the local organizing committee or joining in an observational capacity.
Since its launch in February 2017, Beijing 2022's marketing program has seen a great success. The eight official partners signed are Bank of China, Air China, Yili Group (dairy products), ANTA (sports apparel), China Unicom (telecommunication services), Shougang Group (urban regeneration services), CNPC (oil &gas), and Sinopec Group (oil &gas). Some of them were also official partners of Beijing 2008.
The organizers have adopted a series of new measures to attract sponsors. China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group), two global energy giants, became official oil &gas partners of the Games by sharing marketing rights in the oil &gas category. Chinese beer brands Tsingtao and Yanjing have also been named the official beers in a similar arrangement.
The emblems of the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, respectively named "Winter Dream" and "Flying High," were unveiled in the end of 2017. Beijing also issued a worldwide call for mascot designs and for opening ceremony proposals last year.
When the school year began in September last year, elementary and secondary school students across China were encouraged to create their own mascots for the Games in art classes.
PARTICIPATION IN All DISCIPLINES OF THE GAMES
"Sports set the stage for a stronger and more prosperous country," Chinese President Xi Jinping notably said.
The president also said that every individual's dream and the country's dream of becoming a strong sports power are ly linked with the Chinese Dream of the nation's great rejuvenation.
For Chinese athletes, the 2022 Winter Olympics is the best chance to realize their dreams.
Lacking an established tradition of winter sports, China had had no presence in around one-third of Winter Games disciplines by the time the country won the bid to host the 2022 Games.
After the country won nine medals, including one gold, in PyeongChang in 2018, a grand plan was put forward to have China compete in all 109 disciplines in 2022. The last time a host nation participated in all available disciplines at a Winter Olympics was the U.S. at Salt Lake City 2002, when only 78 disciplines were available.
"After the PyeongChang Games, we established national training teams in all 109 disciplines within a year," said Ni Huizhong, Director of the Winter Sports Administration Center of the General Administration of Sport of China.
By October 2018, Chinese national training teams contained a total of 4,004 people, in comparison to just 499 in 2014. Among them there are 3,257 athletes, up from 345 in 2014.
Chinese national training teams have expanded their selection pool by choosing suitable athletes from summer sports and schools of dancing and martial arts. Around 1,200 athletes entered the team through these channels.
To better serve China's national ice sports teams, four new training venues have been built in Shougang Industrial Park. These venues, commonly known as the "four ice rinks," were all converted from disused powerplants.
"Great changes have taken place in the Beijing Olympic cycle. This brand new training venue has been built for the 2022 Games. In the past, we had to travel around China and overseas to prepare for the Winter Olympics, and it was very tiring. But now we have top training facilities here at Shougang," said Ba Dexin, China's men's curling team captain.
Wu Dajing, the men's 500m short track speed skating Olympic champion and world record holder, is eager to challenge himself over longer distances.
"Everything we are going to do is for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. My dream is to win golds at home," the 24-year-old said. "I want to make breakthroughs not only in the 500 meters, but also in the 1,000 meters, 1,500 meters, 5,000 meters relay and 2,000 meters mixed relay."
Five-time Olympian figure skater Zhang Hao is still fighting on the rink.
"It's an once-in-a-lifetime chance. I am always ready for 2022," the 34-year-old said.
China has also sought to learn from other countries and regions with a rich history of winter sports.
The year of 2019 saw China and Finland inaugurate the China-Finland Year of Winter Sports, which will see China's cross-country skiers, biathletes and ice hockey players training in Finland, while ten Finnish coaches have come to China to share their training methods and philosophies.
300 MILLION PEOPLE INVOLVED IN WINTER SPORTS
To broaden the influence of the Beijing Games, China has plans to encourage 300 million people to take part in winter sports.
"We can see the great progress, but what is even more important is we can see the plan raised by Chinese President Xi Jinping to make 300 million people familiar with winter sports obviously already works. We have met many children who love winter sports. We have seen athletes practicing winter sports. We have seen the halfpipe and other slopes which are already hosting international competitions. The progress is really impressive," Bach said.
"Just think about the 300 million participants in winter sports. It is a remarkable contribution to the Olympics in itself," said Yang Yang, former IOC member and current Chair of the Athletes' Commission for Beijing 2022.
Yang's comment was echoed by Gilbert Felli, Senior IOC Consultant and former Olympic Games Executive Director.
"The 300 million plan's contribution towards the Olympic movement is clear. China is becoming an important winter sports nation," he said.
While China's northeastern provinces have long been the epicenter of the country's winter sports, increasing numbers of indoor ice and ski arenas are now being constructed in China's sub-tropical south. Ice rinks can even be found in shopping malls in Haikou, capital city of Hainan, China's southernmost province that boasts a tropical climate.
"Promoting 300 million people to participate in winter sports is not only your aim, but also the IOC's aim. The IOC and international winter sports federations will jointly support China," Chair of the IOC Coordination Commission for Beijing 2022 Juan Antonio Samaranch said.
