On 9 June 2015, China’s Vice Premier Liu Yandong reiterated Beijing 2022’s offer of anassured Games delivery and great prospects for winter sports during a presentation to the IOCat the 2022 Olympic Winter Games Candidate City Briefing in Lausanne.
In her address to IOC members Liu Yandong said: "Beijing 2022 offers the chance to stage theworld’s greatest winter sports event against a backdrop of spectacular Chinese landscape,history and culture. We will honour every commitment we made. We are a safe and reliablechoice."
An eight-member panel put forward a strong case for Beijing to the IOC members, explaininghow the Bid is embracing the Olympic Agenda 2020 principles through its concept ofathlete-centred, sustainable and economical Games, while offering much more: an opportunityto grow winter sports in one of the biggest markets in the world, as well as an enjoyableatmosphere of a big cosmopolitan city and an exceptional mountain setting at the foot of theGreat Wall.
On 10 June 2015, one day after delivering a successful presentation to the IOC, Beijing 2022welcomed its friends in the media to a display room that was modelled after a traditionalBeijing-style Siheyuan (courtyard) with authentic Chinese tea and colourful, intricate papercuttings hand-made in the style of Zhangjiakou’s Yu County. In addition to old traditions to beenjoyed, visitors were also able to enjoy some of Beijing’s high-tech offerings including takinga 4-D walk around the city’s Olympic Green and hopping on a model of China’s high-speedtrain to enjoy a 4-D ride along the stunning Great Wall.
On 8 June, Olympic Champion Zhou Yang joined China's national speed skating team,including the team’s head coach Li Yan and world champions Fan Kexin and Han Yutong, tocommemorate the opening of a Winter Olympics poems and art works exhibition at the historymuseum associated with Beijing Sport University.
Speaking about the team’s key objectives in the upcoming years, Li Yan said: "We're trainingfor PyeongChang 2018, but we also wish to see a Winter Olympics in Beijing!"
This month, Beijing 2022 was well represented at the China Pavilion during one of the mostimportant international events of the year, Expo Milano 2015, taking place from 1 May to 31October under the theme "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life". Two-time Olympic medallist,three-time FIS Freestyle World Ski Champion and Beijing 2022 Ambassador, Li Nina, was atthe China pavilion at the end of the "Beijing week" to help present our Bid to internationalvisitors!
Li Nina did not spare her energy this month as she also met with students at Beijing Languageand Culture University to share her favourite Olympic memories and talk about herinvolvement as Ambassador in Beijing’s bid for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic WinterGames. She said: "When it comes to preparing an environment that allows athletes tocompete in their best condition, few understand it at the level that the actual athletes do.Fortunately, the Beijing 2022 team understands this, which is why they have brought myself and fellow members of Team China on board since the very beginning to provide suggestions on how to provide a truly athlete-centered Winter Olympics."
On 1 June, the Beijing 2022 Bid Committee welcomed the first report from the IOC EvaluationCommission under the Olympic Agenda 2020 highlighting the assured Games delivery andhuge winter sport potential of Beijing 2022.
We are thankful to the IOC for recognizing the strengths of Beijing 2022, including:
- Assured delivery based on "strong use of existing host assets"
- Huge winter sports potential, with Beijing 2022 committed to spreading winter sportspassion throughout China
- Strong support base, with 92% of Chinese in support of hosting the Games
We will remain focused on our objective until the very last minute!
Beijing 2022 did not forget the younger generations this month and celebrated theInternational Children’s Day on 1 June!
Beijing 2022 aims to capitalize on the Government’s successful programs "300 Million PeopleWinter Sports Plan" and "One Million Youth on Ice and Snow Programme" and enhance theirlegacies by launching educational activities around the Olympic values and winter sportsknowledge in over 300,000 educational institutions from primary schools to universities acrossChina, producing special educational materials and launching an online Olympic WinterGames education resources platform, supported by social media and webinar channels.
It is hard to translate Beijing’s uniqueness into words, but this month photographers around thecity did a great job capturing images of our great city, whose skyline ranks among the "25 BestSkylines in the World" according to Business Insider!
We also particularly enjoyed watching this amazing time lapse of Beijing courtesy of localcommunity activity organizers The Hutong! Hope you will too!
On 29 May, key members of Beijing Public Transportation Group, the organisation in charge ofmanaging the city’s public transport system, unveiled in Beijing’s historic Qianmen district aspecial group of five 18-meter-long Beijing 2022 electric buses. Containing batteries that onlyrequire 10 minutes to be recharged, these buses showcase Beijing 2022’s commitment tosustainability including through the provision of clean and green transportation across the cityto both local residents and international visitors.
Our Bid received again support of Chinese celebrities this month with the release of Beijing2022 official songs: Jackie Chan and other Chinese celebrities helped write and record the 10official songs in support of Beijing 2022, including Jackie's own "Wake Up Winter".These songs all testify to China's dream of hosting a Winter Olympics, with titles such as"Wish", "Come Ski on the Great Wall", and "Pursuing a Dream of Snow"!
DID YOU KNOW?
China now has 80 full-size hockey rinks and 120 smaller ones; the country aims to upthis number to 500 over the next 5 years. In the past 2 years, 15 new rinks were builtin Beijing alone allowing 1,700 children to be involved in minor hockey when 5 yearsago there were only 100.
The city of Zhangjiakou initiated a series of ice and snow sports campaigns for thepublic, including the Chongli International Skiing Festival, and engaged over 100,000people in these activities.
Han Xiaopeng, who competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, was the firstman to win a Chinese Winter Olympic Games gold while short track speed skaterYang Yang won China's first women's gold medal during the Salt Lake City OlympicGames in 2002.
WHAT’S NEXT?
It seems like Beijing 2022 launched its campaign just yesterday! We are now only 45 daysaway from the Host City election on 31 July 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia…We guess timereally does fly by when you are having fun!
For further inquiries, please contact:
Beijing-2022@beijing-2022.cn
(Ms) LIN Jie – linjie@beijing-2022.cn – T +86.10.8220.9719
(Ms) MA Ning – maning@beijing-2022.cn –T +86.10.8220.9720
(Ms) FREYTAG-TRAUT Sarah – sfreytag-traut@webershandwick.com - T 33.1.47.59.38.96
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only
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