CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Thursday, January 2, 2020 | 11 SPORTS YEAR IN REVIEW — WINTER OLYMPICS With many venues already in operation, 2022 organizers can reflect on a highly productive 2019 OLYMPIC VISION BECOMING REALITY By SUN XIAOCHEN lion people in winter sports and rec­ [email protected] reation in the build­up to 2022 and beyond. With venues taking shape and Landmark 2008 Olympics venue test events underway, China’s prepa­ the National Stadium, aka the Bird’s rations for the 2022 Winter Olym­ Nest, has switched into winter pics made huge strides in 2019 as mode, providing entry­level curling, organizers’ focus shifted from con­ skating and ice hockey activities for struction to operation. the public as part of the second The impressive progress is per­ “Meet in 2022” Ice and Snow Cultur­ haps best illustrated at the National al Festival. Aquatics Center, the 2008 Summer The renovated Bird’s Nest will Olympics venue known as the Water host the opening and closing cere­ Cube that has recently been trans­ monies for the 2022 Games. formed into an “Ice Cube” following China plans to build 650 skating a year­long renovation project. rinks and 800 ski resorts by 2022, up Now, four ice sheets lie over the from 334 and 738 respectively in center’s original main pool, which Top: The new Big Air ramp at Beijing’s Shougang Industrial Park lights up the night skyline. Left: Youngsters enjoy the fun of skating during June 2018, to help facilitate the mass has been filled by steel structures to the Ice and Snow Festival outside the National Stadium in Beijing on Dec 26. Right: Curlers compete in a junior tournament in the National winter sports promotion while stim­ host curling at the Winter Games. Aquatics Center, which has been transformed into a 2022 Winter Games venue. WEI XIAOHAO / CHINA DAILY AND XINHUA AND RAO QIANG / FOR CHINA DAILY ulating consumption in associated After staging a national junior businesses. curling tournament last month, the Beijing 2022’s readiness for com­ already applied via the official “It has been really inspiring for us center this week opened its Olym­ petition has also seen FIS World Our venue preparation has progressed online portal vol.beijing2022.cn, to see how the Beijing 2022 Winter pic­standard curling tracks to the Cup meets for freestyle skiing and efficiently over the past year, which has according to Yan Cheng, the orga­ Olympics have been a catalyst to cre­ public for experience sessions, mak­ snowboarding staged at the Big Air nizing committee’s human resour­ ating real interest in winter sports ing it one of the earliest completed ramp at the capital’s Shougang laid a solid foundation for organizing the ces director. participation in China,” FIS secre­ facilities for 2022. Industrial Park and the halfpipe Olympics to the highest possible standard.” The committee recruited 231 new tary­general Sarah Lewis told China All 13 competition venues will be slope in Zhangjiakou’s Chongli employees in 2019 to grow to its staff Daily during her visit to Beijing last ready by June this year, according to district. Liu Yumin, director of the planning, construction and sustainable to 705 in total; 175 of those were sent month. the 2022 organizing committee. Organizers said the smooth development department of the 2022 organizing committee to work on internship programs at “The work has been done in a very The Games will be held in three progress on venue construction and 14 international events for practical professional and intelligent way so zones, with downtown Beijing stag­ refurbishment has pushed the training over the past year, added the long­term legacy is already truly ing all ice sports, and the northwest ahead­of­schedule preparatory Games’ three competition zones. industry, and boost the ice and snow Yan. up and running even before the Yanqing district and co­host city work into a new phase, focused on Boasting a maximum speed of economy,” Yang Yang, chairwoman Games mascots — a panda in an Games, which means when the Zhangjiakou in Hebei province management and operation. 350 kilometers per hour, the 174­km of the 2022 organizing committee’s ice suit named Bing Dwen Dwen for Games come around there is already staging all the snow events. “Our venue preparation has pro­ line slashes travel time between athletes commission, said on Mon­ the Olympics, and a lantern­like car­ more knowledge, interest and About 90 kilometers northwest of gressed efficiently over the past year, downtown Beijing and Zhangjiakou day, after being among the passen­ toon kid called Shuey Rhon Rhon excitement for winter sports. downtown, the newly built National which has laid a solid foundation for from over three hours to about 50 gers on the line’s first official train for the Paralympics — were also “There has been so much activity Alpine Skiing Center at Yanqing’s organizing the Olympics to the minutes. journey to Chongli. unveiled last year, kicking off a mar­ and engagement for winter sports in Xiaohaituo Mountain is also a hive highest possible standard,” said Liu Taizicheng Station is the line’s Other milestones for organizers keting blitz that is expected to yield this country. Winter sports will of activity these days, with organiz­ Yumin, director of the planning, final stop in Chongli, where the last year included the launch of a impressive revenues. become part of the daily routine of ers busy grooming the slopes in construction and sustainable devel­ 2022 venues for cross­country ski­ global recruitment campaign in ear­ While preparing for a “fantastic, the Chinese.” preparation for an International Ski opment department of the 2022 ing, biathlon and ski jumping are all ly December which is searching for extraordinary and excellent” This year, the 2022 organizing Federation World Cup meet on Feb organizing committee. in shuttle­bus range. around 27,000 volunteers for the Games, as underlined by the central committee will launch designs for 15­16, the first of 15 official test The productive year was capped “The high­speed railway will help Olympics and 12,000 for the Para­ government, the country is also the Games’ slogans and medals, events for the Olympics through by the opening on Monday of a high­ improve the efficiency of our work, lympics. sparing no effort to roll out a while theme songs and the route of early 2021. speed railway line connecting the promote China’s winter sports Over 600,000 applicants have national plan of involving 300 mil­ the torch relay will also be released. China’s medal momentum bodes well for 2022 targets By SUN XIAOCHEN medals at the past four legs (Salt the Chinese pair had to settle for sil­ tained their competitiveness this [email protected] Lake City, Montreal, Nagoya and ver at the 2018 Winter Olympics in season, highlighted by multiple Shanghai) on the International South Korea behind Germany’s Bru­ podium finishes in the 2019­20 With the Beijing Winter Olympics Skating Union’s 2019­20 World Cup no Massot and Aliona Savchenko. World Cup series. just two years away, Chinese ath­ series. The Chinese duo’s goal for Beijing Liu Jiayu and Cai Xuetong letes spared no effort over the past Wang, who won four golds at two 2022 is to top the podium and emu­ thrilled home fans by winning gold 12 months to build momentum for a Olympics (2006 and 2010), was late retired husband­and­wife pair and silver respectively at the Chong­ strong home performance in 2022. appointed in May as manager of a Zhao Hongbo and Shen Xue’s gold li leg of the snowboard halfpipe Impressive results on the ice and merged national speed skating team at the 2010 Games in Vancouver. World Cup series last month, while snow suggest China’s hopes of quali­ consisting of the short­ and long­ However, Zhao, now head coach Xu Mengtao and Qi Guangpu fying for all 109 events at the Games track squads, which had previously of China’s figure skating team, is claimed the women’s and men’s and beating its previous best gold­ been separate entities. endeavoring to keep expectations in titles at the freeski aerials World medal haul (five in Vancouver 2010) Wang’s arrival ended the 13­year Short­track speed skating star Fan Kexin in action. check. Cup meet in Changchun on the may not be too ambitious after all. tenure of her former coach Li Yan at “We are making progress, but we same weekend. Leading the charge is China’s tra­ the helm of the short­track team aft­ are far from becoming a major force Other notable breakthroughs for ditionally strong short­track speed er the squad finished the 2018­19 The resurgence of veterans Fan off from skating to get married and in the world with our men’s, wom­ Chinese athletes last year included skating team, which has contribut­ season without a single gold at Kexin and Han Tianyu, who claimed start a family. en’s and ice dancing skaters all 20­year­old speed skater Ning ed 10 out of 13 gold medals won by major events. golds in the women’s 500m and In figure skating, two­time world struggling to catch up with the Zhongyan’s victory in the long­track China since the country’s Winter A group of international experts, men’s 1000m respectively at the champion pair Sui Wenjing and world’s best,” he said. men’s 1500m at a World Cup event Olympics debut in 1980 at Lake including South Korea’s short­track World Cup’s Shanghai stop last Han Cong won their first ISU Grand Compared to the ice events, China in Kazakhstan on Dec 8, and female Placid, New York.