A Cool 2022 Bid

by+Qiu+Yang+and+Xiao+Bian

On July 31， 2015， International Olympic Committee （IOC） President Thomas Bach announced “Beijing” with less-than-precise pronunciation in Kuala Lumpur， Malaysia. Beijing was named host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics， beating out Almaty， Kazakhstan. The successful bid will make Beijing the first city to ever host both the summer and winter Olympic Games.

Expected Victory

Wei Jizong predicted that bidding partners Beijing and Zhangjiakou would top Almaty from day one. At age 79， Wei has already organized three Olympic bids. In 1993， Wei served as secretary-general of Chinas Olympic Games Bidding Committee， presiding over the entire bidding process. In 2001， he was appointed director of financial affairs and marketing as well as English and French copyeditor during Chinas bidding for the 2008 Games. This time， he was specially invited to edit and revise Chinas presentation to the IOC.

Wei believes that compared with Almaty， Beijing and Zhangjiakou enjoy clear advantages. As a winter sports base of the former Soviet Union， Kazakhstan excels in ice and snow sports. “However， Almaty isnt as comprehensively strong，” opines Wei. “The city serves snow sports well， but its shortcoming is ice.” Wei helped Almaty host the 2011 Asian Winter Games， and had already been in the city more than a dozen times. “To host the Olympic winter games， Almaty would need to build at least two large indoor hockey rinks，” Wei adds. Kazakhstans world-class ice facilities are found in Astana， the capital. “Its a twohour flight from Almaty to Astana. And the two cities are not connected by rails.”

“One of Chinas advantages is that many of the people who worked on the 2008 Beijing Games are now experienced and exceptionally fit to serve the 2022 Games，” Wei remarks. “I dont mean that because we hosted the Summer Olympics， we are superior to Almaty. Its just that because we have people who have already worked on the Games， they can pass on their experience and train young people.”Of course， China also maintains an edge in terms of economic power.

A Tough Battle

Chinas presentation to IOC underwent countless tiny changes and eight major modifications from inception to final draft. Chinas final presentation aimed at precision and clarity after many rounds of polishing and changes. Wei and his colleagues strived to utilize concrete statistics and facts to illustrate what China has done， what China is going to do and how to do it in order to host the 2022 Games. They believed that only such a final presentation would prove enough to convince the committee.

On June 9， 2015， the Beijing Olympic Games Bidding Committee briefed IOC members for 90 minutes and then took their questions in Lausanne， Switzerland， prompting a stream of positive feedback from the IOC. “I am surprised that Beijing has made such a good preparation，” remarked Gian Franco Kasper， president of the International Ski Federation. Analysts believe that in the eyes of IOC， Beijing and Zhangjiakou are a safe and reliable choice for the 2022 Games. And Chinas promise to “attract 300 million more Chinese people to winter sports” will prove a boon for winter sports industry.

Many international renowned media outlets also spoke highly of Chinas win. Agency France-Press printed opinions that Beijings victory was due to IOCs trust in Chinas ability to successfully host the Winter Games. Japans Kyodo News Service noted that artificial snow-making， sufficient water storage and the forthcoming BeijingZhangjiakou high speed rail will guarantee a successful 2022 Games in China.

The successful bid is only the beginning. Before the 2022 Games commence， Beijing and Zhangjiakou still have a lot of work to do， including construction of venues， supporting facilities， roads and transportation， as well as ecological development. In the next a few years， Zhangjiakous transit network of expressways， railways， and airlines will be improved， in an attempt to guarantee the 2022 Gamessmooth transit. The Beijing-Zhangjiakou high speed rail， which has already attracted massive attention， will begin construction this year. According to plans， the 174-kilometer high speed rail will open in four and a half years. After its completion， travel time between Beijing and Zhangjiakou will drop to 50 minutes. Moreover， although Beijings various venues are already capable of hosting the ice sports events， the city still needs to build an additional speed-skating rink. To better accommodate the needs of the Winter Games， the National Aquatics Center （dubbed the “Water Cube”） will be renovated into the “Ice Cube” by 2016. Its pool will be retrofitted for temporary transformation into an ice rink， enabling usage for both winter and summer sports.

Win-Win

Nowadays， not many cities can organize the resources to host a successful Olympic Games. In 2014， the IOC changed its bidding system to make the process more like an “invitation” than open bid- ding. Bidding for the 2022 Olympic Games started on October 3， 2012. Only six candidates emerged at first： Beijing， Almaty， Stockholm （Sweden）， Krakow （Poland）， Oslo （Norway）， and Lviv （Ukraine）.

Six dropped to two after the withdrawals of four European countries. “Actually， Beijings bid was already a favorite of the IOC，” opines Wei.

Yang Lan， journalist， media proprietor and member of Chinas bidding committee， thinks that the Chinese mentality is changing. “A more mature and stronger China is taking the bidding like a cool cat，” quips Yang. “Before we won the 2008 Beijing Games in 2001， it was such a great sporting honor for the country to make that a reality. Today， Chinese people think of the Olympic Games in terms of the development of sports and tourism industries. And sports are becoming more consuming lifestyles for many. Thats the legacy the Olympic Games have already left on the country.”