Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. (middle) runs into the Chinese short track speed skating coach Li Yan when visiting Xinhua's newsroom during PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games inFebruary, 2018. (Xinhua)
IOC vice president Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. says the Beijing 2022 Olympic venues will be landmarks for everyone taking part in winter sports.
Samaranch, who came to Beijing to attend the 4th IOC - Beijing 2022 Project Review, says he is impressed by the solid preparation of the Beijing Organizing Committee.
"They are very very proficient. They know what they are doing. They know what they have on their hands. Of course there are things we can learn together to do better," Samaranch said after Thursday's meeting.
During the two-day meeting the IOC and the Beijing Organizing Committee had discussions about constructions of venues and marketing.
The Vice-President also mentioned the importance of the "New Norm" to promote the Olympics more efficiently.
"We just presented and approved in the IOC Session a couple of months ago the 'New Norm', which is how to make the organization of the Olympic Games more efficient with less cost, and focusing on [it's] legacy. We'll be discussing that today, this afternoon...how to implement the 'New Norm' within the working plans already existing in Beijing," Samaranch said.
Samaranch believes Beijing 2022 venues will not only be landmarks for winter sports in the world, but also benefit local communities with a "win-win" legacy.
"We've been reviewing the venues. They are to the utmost standards of any international federation. So when they are built, they will be the best venues in their particular specialties in the world," Samaranch added.
Samaranch says that many millions of Chinese people and Asians are going be able to join the winter sports community through those facilities; it's a "win-win" for everyone.
"[About the] the budget, we keep insisting that the Games have to be done with less money, more intelligence," Samaranch said. "There is a lot of intelligence in this country. There are a lot of intelligent people in China. So we will manage to get that right in the budget."
