President Xi Jinping visits the Capital Gymnasium in Beijing’s Haidian district, on Jan 18, during an inspection of preparatory work for the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Xi also visited the National Alpine Skiing Center and the National Sliding Center in Yanqing district. (YAO DAWEI / XINHUA)
It is important to practice frugality and prevent corruption so that the nation will host a Winter Olympics that is as pure as the ice and snow, President Xi Jinping urged.
The Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, slated for February 2022, are a major landmark that needs coordinated and careful preparations, he told a meeting in Beijing on Jan 20.
Xi said “simplicity, safety and excellence” should be prioritized in the Games’ preparation.
On Jan 18 and 19, he inspected competition venues in the capital and Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, the Games’ co-host.
Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, highlighted the importance of adhering to the new development philosophy and ensuring a green, shared, open and clean process in hosting the Games.
People involved should conduct sound preparatory work with a greater sense of responsibility, mission and urgency, he said. Meticulous efforts in all aspects are needed.
It is important to ensure that the Games are hosted in a simple, safe and wonderful manner and diffuse various risks across the board, he said, adding that the risks of the pandemic must be minimized.
Despite the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, China has already delivered on its pledge to complete all competition venues by the end of 2020, with other facilities set to be completed by July.
Saying that the Games’ preparation has entered a critical period, Xi outlined preparatory work in six aspects and urged their sound implementation.
He called for steps to refine the venues and facilities, and ensure that noncompetition venues will be completed on schedule, with targeted measures to add necessary facilities for quarantine, isolation and emergency response in various venues.
He highlighted the need to establish an efficient and forceful command system for the operations of the events to improve the capacity for command and dispatch across different regions and fields.
It is important to move forward with services and logistics work for the event based on the same standard for the three competition areas and ensure that services such as accommodations, dining, transportation, healthcare and security are offered at a high standard, he said.
Coordination and cooperation with international sports organizations, including the International Olympic Committee, must be stepped up so that the various measures of pandemic containment are strictly implemented, he said.
To raise China’s level of winter sports, Xi urged stronger policy guidance and support to encourage more youth participation in snow and ice sports, and more public enthusiasm for ice rinks and ski resorts.
He called for continuous efforts to coordinate the development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and to work toward more favorable outcomes in transportation, environment, industries and public services.
The president also urged more proactive steps to plan the use of the venues afterward, including measures to accelerate the development of a Beijing-Zhangjiakou tourism belt for sports culture.
The Beijing organizing committee must better assume its responsibility, faithfully carry out various regulations and mechanisms and conduct stricter budget control to reduce the costs of hosting the event, he said.
Earlier during his inspection tour, Xi stressed the importance of enabling greater public participation in winter sports, so as to promote winter sports as part of a broader push to develop the nation.
The foundation of building a sporting powerhouse lies in mass-participation sports and China’s hosting of the Games should entail a higher national level of winter sports, especially snow sports, said the president.
Xi visited the Capital Gymnasium — the venue for skating events — in Beijing’s Haidian district, where he spoke with athletes and coaches of China’s national figure skating and short-track speed-skating teams.
They briefed Xi on their preparations for the Games and expressed confidence in giving the best performances.
Xi said the CPC Central Committee attaches great importance to the preparatory work for the Winter Games, and that the Party and the people have offered tremendous support.
He said he was pleased to learn that the preparatory work is proceeding smoothly and the athletes’ training is paying off.
During a visit to the National Alpine Skiing Center in Yanqing district, Xi learned about the operation of the venue and the training of the athletes. He cheered on the athletes after they chanted morale-boosting words in unison as he departed from the skiing center.
During his visit to the National Ski Jumping Center, Xi watched demonstration jumps by athletes and praised their performances.
The coaching staff reported to Xi that an intelligent decision support system is used in training to capture key indicators including takeoff angle, postures, speed and jump distance. The staff also noted that the wind tunnel lab enables much greater efficiency in training.
Acknowledging their application of technology, Xi emphasized that winter sports can only be developed through technological innovations, the same path the country has been taking in order to achieve a socialist modern China.
Xi underscored the importance of independent innovation and on drawing experience from cutting-edge technologies and training methods the world over.
“I believe, through our efforts, we will be able to achieve fruitful results at the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games next year,” Xi said.
On Jan 19, Xi took the high-speed railway from Beijing to Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, the co-host city of the event.
The president inspected the Taizicheng railway station as well as several skiing venues for the Games and spoke with athletes, coaches, representatives of facility operation teams and construction workers.
The Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed rail went into operation on Dec 30, 2019, slashing the travel time between the host cities of Beijing 2022 to less than one hour.
The International Olympic Committee said in a statement last month that the Ninth Olympic Summit, attended by leading representatives of the Olympic Movement, expressed its full commitment to and confidence in the 2022 Games.
The IOC noted that technical preparations for the Games are “going extremely well” despite challenges due to COVID-related restrictions.
The athletes’ village for Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, located at the foot of Xiaohaituo Mountain in Beijing’s Yanqing district, completed construction at the end of last year.
The village, which will be renovated into a tourist resort after the Games, has seen great efforts in biodiversity and wildlife conservation during its construction.
Xie Qichao, project manager of China Construction First Group Corp Ltd, said the company had made a comprehensive survey of tree species, quantity and locations in the construction area, and covered those trees with protective nets. The company also made sure to water and fertilize the trees during construction while controlling insects.
For trees that could not be preserved on site during the construction, the company transplanted these to a special plot for protection. Those trees were moved and replanted after construction was completed, Xie said.
According to the company, a total of 313 trees were protected during construction.
The company has also set up many wood cabins for squirrels, pheasants and wild birds near the construction site to protect wildlife.
In line with the “Green Olympics” initiative, the venues of the Beijing 2022 Games are applying more green technologies to reduce energy consumption as well as the impact on the environment.
Beijing has introduced carbon dioxide refrigerants for ice-making, the least toxic and most eco-friendly natural refrigerants, in a bid to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“The speed skating venues during the past Winter Olympics all used freon refrigerants for ice-making, but the new refrigerants made of natural carbon dioxide can help reduce carbon emissions to nearly zero,” said Gui Lin, an official with the Planning and Construction Department of the Beijing 2022 organizing committee, BOCOG.
The Shougang Ski Jumping Platform, a venue of the Beijing Winter Olympics, is expected to consume 100,000 kWh of electricity during the snowboarding and freestyle skiing competitions of the Games next year.
“The amount is equal to one month’s consumption by 500 three-member households, but all the electricity will come from clean and renewable energy,” said Xu Yan, who was in charge of venue construction.
This will be the first time in the history of the Olympics that all the venues will be wholly powered by green energy. It has been made possible by a flexible DC power grid bringing the capital city electricity generated from the rich wind and solar resources in Zhangjiakou, the co-host city.
Xinhua and Liu Yukun in Beijing contributed to this story.
