Beijing Snow a Concern for IOC

(ATR) The IOC Evaluation Commission acknowledges the Chinese capital’s vision to incorporate winter sports into people’s lives with the ultimate goal of improving overall fitness and health.

The commission visited Beijing March 24 to 28.

It notes that Beijing 2022 has offered a regional concept intended to develop a winter sports market and introduce snow sports to more than 300 million people in northern China.

Beijing’s Games Concept and three-zone plan are well received. The report underlines sufficient use of existing venues from 2008 and infrastructure in Beijing, as well as ongoing development and legacy goals in the mountain resort areas east of Zhangjiakou city and in Yanqing, where new venues will be developed. It advises that each zone is compact, with its own Olympic Village and minimal travel times.

As expected, the greatest concern of the commission related to Beijing’s bid is the region’s minimal annual snowfall and entire dependence on artificial snow to stage the Games.

In annexes to the IOC evaluation of the bid are photos of the two proposed mountain clusters depicting their significant lack of snow.

Beijing has proposed to stage the Games from February 4-20 to coincide with a national holiday that would provide a large pool of student volunteers. The proposed dates also coincide with the best period for climatic conditions.

Beijing 2022 agreed to consult with the IOC on the dates of the Games to avoid potential conflicts with other major international events. However, a later Paralympic Games start could have impacts on the field of play, especially for Alpine skiing, because of the possibility of warmer temperatures in mid-March.

Wang Anshun, the mayor of Beijing and president of the Beijing 2022 bid committee said: "The report and our dialogue with the IOC over recent weeks have been highly valuable given our commitment to review any areas where we can make additional improvements, building on our strong bid to ensure it is truly the best offer we can make to the Olympic movement."

The IOC Executive Board, as well as representatives from Almaty 2022 and Beijing 2022, will meet at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, June 7-10.

The two candidate cities will have the opportunity to present to the IOC members and the presidents and secretaries general of the International Olympic Winter Federations.

The host city for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games will be elected at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur following a final presentation by the cities to the full IOC membership on July 31.

Written by Brian Pinelli

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