The IOC can sleep soundly, with a smile on his face, without fear of being woken up by thunder. In China, host country of the 2022 Winter Games, everything is going well. Not a shadow of a problem. A dream. The IOC Coordination Commission concluded its two-day visit to Beijing on Tuesday June 13. One day inspecting the sites, another devoted to presentations. In the end, an overall impression summed up in one word: happiness.
Alexander Zhukov, the chairman of the coordination commission, declared himself “very happy” as he lowered the curtain on his team's visit, the second since Beijing was awarded the 2022 Winter Games. The Russian is happy. The IOC too. For a Winter Games in a city like Beijing, as winter-free as it is possible to be, nothing was a foregone conclusion.
With less than 5 years to go until the event, the Chinese are not afraid to post a schedule that will make the entire Olympic movement green with envy. They announce that the main sites and secondary facilities will be ready by the end of 2019 at the latest. Ambitious. But Alexander Zhukov is willing to take their word for it. “This visit gave me complete confidence that this mission will be carried out,” explained the Russian. I can't wait to return for our next visit next year. »
Monday June 12, on the first day of their visit, the members of the coordination commission discovered four of the Games sites, all located in Beijing: the new speed skating enclosure, the only competition facility to be built from a blank page; the Capital indoor stadium; Wukesong Arena, where the men's basketball tournament at the 2008 Summer Games was held; and finally the Shougang Industry Park, where the headquarters of the organizing committee is currently located.
The next day, Tuesday June 13, they stayed indoors, in the cool, to listen to presentations from the Chinese on half a dozen sectors of preparation, including marketing, site design and equipment construction.
Clearly, the Chinese message has reached its target. Alexander Zhukov does not hold back his words: “It is very impressive how the Chinese have planned to recycle the facilities from the 2008 Summer Games, while planning a long-term legacy that benefits the people. » The current headquarters of the organizing committee will thus be transformed into a public space after the end of the Paralympic Games.
Very recently installed by the country's authorities as president of the organizing committee, Cai Qi assured as one takes an oath: the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, “fully supports the work of the organizing committee. » The opposite would have been a surprise.
The sequel promises to be of the same caliber. The official logos for the 2022 Games will be revealed before the end of 2017. The marketing program, launched with great fanfare at the end of last February, will pick up speed. The first official partners of the Games should be known quickly. At the same time, China will present the broad outlines of its plan for detecting and training future talents in winter disciplines.
The next visit to China by the Beijing 2022 Games Coordination Commission is planned for next year. It is not difficult to imagine that the tone will be the same. Happiness. Strong and durable.
