The event is becoming too rare not to be underlined in a thick line: for the Winter Games in Beijing in 2022, the Chinese have not deceived their world. Fifteen months after beating Almaty for the award of the Olympic event, and its Paralympic counterpart, the Chinese project still appears to be in compliance with the application file. Normal, certainly, but still very unusual.
The IOC Coordination Commission for the 2022 Games saw this firsthand at the start of the week. To the point of completing his first visit to China, Wednesday October 12, by distributing congratulations and good points to his hosts. The press release published by the IOC to mark the event sets the tone, even if it seems to forget in its French version that Beijing still calls itself Beijing. “Beijing 2022 is off to a great start,” it announces in the headline.
Alexander Zhukov, the future former president of the said commission, is not the least enthusiastic. “ Beijing 2022's vision to create a world-class winter sports center in a region with a population of 300 million is coming to fruition, analyzes the future former president of the Russian Olympic committee. This is a fantastic opportunity to have excellent facilities for skiing and other snow sports so close to a major city. » Three hundred million future winter sports enthusiasts, a commercial windfall which is already giving some partners in the Olympic movement antsy legs.
Over three days, the team of experts and IOC members visited the facilities in Beijing, where the ice events will take place, then put on gloves and hats to board the gondolas leading to the core of Beijing's sports venues. snow located in Zhangjiakou. In the meantime, she stopped at the bottom of the alpine and Nordic ski slopes in Yanqing.
At the heart of the discussions with the Beijing 2022 team, five very agreed topics: governance, sporting issues, venues and infrastructure, commercial aspects, communication and mobilization. No less enthusiastic comment from Juan Antonio Samarach Jr, the vice-president of the IOC, who will soon replace Alexander Zhkov at the head of the commission: “ We are satisfied with what we learned. Beijing 2022 is off to a fast start. The first preparations are well advanced"
So far, so good. The Chinese had promised a vision of their Games very impregnated with Agenda 2020. They are keeping their word. The IOC statement notes: “In line with the principles set out in the IOC Olympic Agenda 2020, the concept of the Beijing 2022 Games closely aligns with the long-term development goals of the Chinese capital and the neighboring province of Hebei. The Games, which will take advantage of a planned new high-speed rail link between the city and the mountains, have the stated aim of increasing the participation of winter sports and creating a new “sport, culture and tourism belt”. in northern China. »
Will they stick to their budget? In China, the question is of little interest. A form of opacity of which the IOC has never complained.
