Latest news from Beijing 2022

In support of its Bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2022, Beijing 2022released a new video "Beijing, come on!" on 7 April featuring international and Chinese sportslegends and show business stars. The clip also includes videos that local citizens created insupport of the Bid showing them enjoying ice and snow sports and winter outdoor activities inBeijing and Zhangjiakou.

In case you missed the video or want to watch it again, please go on our YouTube channel!

The Bid also received support from Taekwondo Olympic medallist Hou Yuzhuo, saying she "feels proud" that her home city of Zhangjiakou is part of the Bid, andthe cast and crew of highly anticipated upcoming film "我要上头条" (I Wanna Make the Headlines), currently being shot isZhangjiakou, who will be dedicating their film to Beijing 2022.

Thank you everyone for the great support and inspiration this month!

RECENT NEWS

A bright future and passionate fans await winter sports in China as a recent report by RadioCanada revealed that 1 million Chinese have followed the National Hockey League’s matchesthis season on CCTV, almost as much as for CBC, Canada’s national public radio andtelevision broadcaster or RDS, the 24-hour sports channel.

On 13 April, Olympic speed skating champion, IOC Member, new Laureus Academy Memberand co-founder of the Feiyang Skating Centre, Yang Yang visited a Laureus Sport for GoodProject prior to the Laureus World Sports Awards 2015 and met Special Olympics athletes atthe Feiyang Skating Centre in Shanghai, China.

Yang Yang said: "It was an honour to meet with Special Olympics athletes today in Shanghai,they’re an inspiration to us all and it was great to see them enjoying their sport out on the ice.Laureus has a rich history of working hand in hand with Special Olympics around the worldand I’m delighted to support the organisation here in my home country. This is also anextremely exciting time for my sport in this country with the Chinese Olympic Committeebidding to bring the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games to Beijing andZhangjiakou."

The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation has worked with the Special Olympics in China since2003, demonstrating a long term and sustainable commitment to projects in China. The projectwill highlight Special Olympics work with young people with intellectual disabilities.

A commitment that would only be reinforced if China were to host the 2022 Olympic andParalympic Winter Games in Beijing and Zhangjiakou, as the Games would provide anoutstanding opportunity to further promote Paralympic winter sports and give 85 million peopleliving with impairment in China the chance to take part in sports in an accessible environmentall-year-round.

Another amazing sporting performance by Chen Penbin, China's very own Forrest Gump, whojust started running a series of 100 marathons in 100 days in an effort to promote and supportBeijing 2022!

In total he will run 4,219.5 kilometers, a distance which equals to about 1/5 of the total length ofthe Great Wall (21,196 kilometers)! Good luck Penbin, we all stand behind you!

On 10 April the Festival Croisements - the renowned French cultural festival in China - openedits doors to the public with the exhibition "Light" in Beijing's 798 Art Zone. To mark its 10thanniversary and celebrate the long-standing relationship between France and China, theFestival will host until 10 July a number of events across 20 cities in China in variousdisciplines such as visual arts, architecture and design, new media, classic and contemporarymusic, dance, theater, cinema and literature.

The story behind the Beijing 2022 logo: it is modeled after "dōng", the Chinese word for"winter"!

From 6-12 April, Beijing was thrilled to host the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's WorldChampionship Division 1, Group B at the Capital Indoor Stadium, one of the proposed venuesfor the Beijing 2022 Games.

During the tournament, spectators witnessed some amazing performances by Team Chinaincluding its 5-2 victory against North Korea and its 7-3 win against Hungary.

"If someone were to ask for the recipe for "becoming Olympic", I would say that the firstprerequisite is to be joyful" said Pierre de Coubertin, French educator and historian, andfounder of the International Olympic Committee…precisely what Beijing 2022 has in mind!

WHAT’S NEXT?

The 5th Beijing International Film Festival, which takes place from 16-23 April, will see around300 films from over 50 countries and regions played in cinemas, art institutions and collegesaround the Chinese capital. This includes traditional Chinese martial arts films such as DragonInn (1967), homages to Orson Welles, Ingrid Bergman and Audrey Hepburn with screenings ofmovies such as The Stranger (1946) and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) but also the legendaryGodfather trilogy as well as award winning films, including Birdman (2014) and Still Alice(2014).

This year’s Festival will be even more exciting than the previous editions as French directorand producer Luc Besson will be chairing the jury this year which alsoincludes American writer-producer Robert Mark Kamen, South Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk,Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, Russia's Fyodor Bondarchuk, Peter Chan from HongKong and Chinese actress Zhou Xun. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is also set to attendthe event.

If you’re in Beijing and fancy seeing a movie, you can find out more about the screenings here.

The Beijing 2022 Bid Committee will be attending the SportAccord Convention (19-24 April) inSochi, Russia. This will be the occasion for the Beijing 2022 delegation to learn from theexperience of the Host City of the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and to cometogether with representatives of the global Olympic and sports family to discuss the future ofsport.

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only