Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 18 (reporter Ji Ye, Wang Yong) the third meeting of the coordination committee of the International Olympic Committee Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics closed on the 18th in Shougang office area of Beijing Winter Olympic organizing committee. Little Samaranch, vice president of the International Olympic Committee and chairman of the coordination committee, said that he was “very confident” in the preparation of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and expected this event to become the most intelligent Winter Olympics in history.
At the press conference on that day, Zhang Jiandong, vice mayor of Beijing and executive vice chairman of Beijing Winter Olympic organizing committee, introduced: “This is the third meeting of the coordination committee of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games of the International Olympic Committee, it is also the first time to enter the Beijing cycle. The scale of this meeting was particularly large, with 42 foreign representatives participating. Apart from the members of the coordination committee, all seven presidents and secretaries-general of the winter individual sports federation participated at the same time, giving us good suggestions, it fully reflects their emphasis on Beijing Winter Olympics.”
It is reported that during the two-day meeting, experts from the coordination committee visited the competition venues and non-competition venues in Beijing competition areas such as the National Speed Skating Museum, the National Swimming Center, and Beijing Winter Olympic village, listen to the theme statement and hold nine special conferences. Experts give full play to their professional advantages and focus on venues and infrastructure construction, event organization, publicity and promotion, market development, in-depth exchanges were held on sports service and many constructive suggestions were put forward.
Little Samaranch said: “We are very happy to see the remarkable progress made by Beijing in the preparation of the event. We are very confident in the preparation work, I am also very glad to hear that some ideas of Beijing 2022 have become a reality, instead of waiting until 2022.”
He gave an example: “Beijing successfully held a summer Olympics conference in 2008. Now, one of the most representative venues ‘Water Cube’ will become ‘Ice Cube ‘, there are also many Summer Olympic venues that will be rebuilt and put into use in the Winter Olympics. On the other hand, after the successful Olympic bid, the number of people participating in ice and snow sports in China has greatly increased. Zhangjiakou, as a competition area, has also become a new tourist city due to the preparation of the Winter Olympics.”
Little Samaranch stressed: “Large scale is not necessarily better, and spending more money is not necessarily better. We want to let the world know that Beijing 2022 is making full use of resources efficiently. I hope Beijing Winter Olympics will become a smart Winter Olympics. This not only saves money, but also saves all other resources, such as saving natural resources, being more sustainable, making full use of heritage and being more efficient.”
Zhang Jiandong introduced the progress made in the preparation of Beijing Winter Olympics since the second meeting of the coordination committee. He said: “The Winter Olympics has entered the ‘Beijing cycle’, especially 16 months from the first test in February 202020. the preparation time is very urgent and the task is very heavy. We will actively implement the Olympic Agenda 2020 and the new norms, continue to strengthen communication and cooperation with the coordination committee and other aspects, and do all preparations with high quality and efficiency.”