An exclusive interview with Li Lingwei, chairman of the coordinating committee of the third Youth Olympic Games
“sending the games to the door” is the biggest highlight of this youth Olympic Games
this morning Beijing time, the third Youth Olympic Games closed in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. Li lingwei, a member of the international olympic committee and chairman of the coordination committee of the youth olympic games, said in an exclusive interview with our reporter that the biggest highlight of the youth olympic games in 2018 was the participation and interaction of the public, “it was completely ‘sending the games to your door ‘, send sports events to people’s homes.”
In Li Lingwei’s view, the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires has two outstanding points in attracting and encouraging people to participate and interact. First, the opening ceremony was held under obelisk, a landmark building in Buenos Aires. This was the first time in the history of the Olympic movement that the opening ceremony was held outside the stadium. Because of this, it provides great convenience for people to participate and watch. She said: “The opening ceremony attracted 220000 people, which played a positive role in the promotion and development of the Olympic movement.” Another highlight is the four venues of this youth Olympic Games-City Park, Green Park, Science and Technology Park and youth Olympic Park. These four parks are distributed in different locations in Buenos Aires, radiating people from different communities, and can drive and influence more local people to participate in and understand the Olympic movement and feel the Olympic spirit and culture. “The Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires took advantage of the existing conditions to connect the four venues to drive more people to participate and interact.” Li Lingwei said, “it is completely ‘sending the game to your door’, sending sports events to the people’s doorstep.” She said that the venue group setting of this youth Olympic Games actually allows local residents to see the competition nearby, which is more direct to popularize the Olympic movement and spread the Olympic knowledge. According to Li Lingwei, the chairman of the organizing committee of the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires said when evaluating the impact of this competition on local people that the sensational effect brought by this Youth Olympic Games has surpassed the traditional Argentine sports football, it is estimated that the number of local participants in the Youth Olympic Games is more than 1 million. This is already a very shocking figure for Buenos Aires, whose resident population is only a few million.
This year’s Youth Olympic Games took advantage of the existing conditions to run the competition frugally, but it has complete functions. Although there are also small flaws such as the water cut in Qingao village, they are not good at hiding. The organization of the whole event is of exemplary significance to the organization and undertaking of the Youth Olympic Games in the future. “Especially Qingao village and Qingao Park will be a great heritage, which have already changed the situation in the south of Buenos Aires.” Li Lingwei said, “the first time we came, when they told us with the drawings, there was nothing in that area, which was equivalent to the ‘slum ‘of Buenos Aires’, public security and various conditions are not the same as those in the core area of the city.” However, by holding the Youth Olympic Games, Youth Olympic Village, youth Olympic Park and other venues and facilities, the use after the game was considered in the planning, This will drive and accelerate the development of the southern part of the city of Buenos Aires. “To purchase the online application of Qingao village, the successful signing ratio is 1 in 10. And according to the chairman of the organizing committee, the surrounding open space has also attracted developers.” Li Lingwei said, “the venues of Qingao Park will leave a large legacy for the cultivation of Argentine competitive talents, which will be equivalent to their national competitive training base in the future. Moreover, they also solemnly promised with the International Olympic Committee that they would continue to be open to the public in the future. In other words, these venues and facilities can not only improve the national competitive sports level, but also have social value. These are better than the IOC’s expectations.”