IOC Critiques Beijing 2022 Venues -- On the Scene

(ATR) Day two of the IOC evaluation commission’s visit to Beijing included touring and assessing primary proposed venues in the Yanqing mountain cluster.

Led by Russian NOC president Alexander Zhukov, the commission ventured northwest of the capital city to the Ziaohaituo mountain region on a warm and sunny Wednesday afternoon. While in Yanqing, the team visited the proposed alpine skiing and bobsleigh/luge venues in addition to one of three Olympic villages and the site for the Yanqing Mountain Media Center.

According to Beijing 2022 vice president Zhang Jiandong, the IOC offered constructive critiques while approving the proposed venue sites, including the technical requirements for the alpine skiing track.

"Generally speaking, I think the IOC evaluation commission is satisfied," Zhang advised.

"The International Skiing Federation has very strict requirements for these facilities. For example, the vertical drop should be at 800 (meters) and for the length of the track it should be at 3,000 meters, no shorter, no longer."

"There are also strict requirements for the gradient of the slope, so it is very difficult for any city to find a suitable venue for the alpine sports," he said. "We know that at past Winter Games, other cities have encountered similar

problems."

Post-Games legacy was also discussed at Wednesday night’s media briefing at the Geshua New Century Hotel in Beijing. After the Games, the National Alpine Center is intended to be turned into a ski resort, while also continuing to host races and be utilized as a training site for Chinese skiers.

Legacy plans such as recreational sliding programs and competitions will be similar at the proposed National Sliding Center venue.

On Tuesday, the commission made trips to the Beijing cluster venues, including the two proposed ice hockey venues: the National Indoor Stadium and popular Wukesong Sports Center, which hosted basketball during the 2008 Games.

Wukesong, which has a larger seating capability and is home to the national champion Beijing Ducks basketball team in addition to welcoming world renowned musical artists like Beyonce and Avril Lavigne, has been slated for

women’s ice hockey. The National Indoor Stadium, home to gymnastics at the 2008 Games, is planned for men’s ice hockey.

However, reportedly the IOC has requested that Beijing organizers swap the venues for the men’s and womens’ hockey competitions.

"In term of the visit to the venues, I think the IOC evaluation commission may have different suggestions for us," Zhang said "In this process, we’ve had a good flow of exchange of ideas, but the whole visit has not been completed yet.

"Regarding the planning and design of the venues, we’ve adopted a very scientific approach and generally speaking I think the evaluation commission is satisfied," he said.

Prior to the Wednesday afternoon venue tour, the commission also listened to presentations in the areas of accommodations, transport, media operations, sports and regarding the Yanqing venues.

In the three zones for the Games: Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, there are 536 star-rated hotels. By 2022, there will be a total of 130,000 rooms meeting Olympic standards.

Also discussed on Wednesday was the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed rail link, which has already begun. According to Beijing organizers,it will be fully operational by early 2019 and is being delivered independently from the Games.

Travel time from Beijing to Zhangjiakou will be just 50 minutes and the high speed service will be free of charge for accredited Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games client groups, ticket-holding spectators and the Games-time

workforce

It was also advised that the IOC will have a choice of two Olympic family hotels in Beijing: The Beijing Hotel, which was the headquarter hotel during the 2008 Games, and the International Hotel, both of which are located in the downtown area.

Winter Sports 101

Zhang advised that Beijing 2022 has benefited from observation visits to various world championships staged by the winter sport federations this season.

"The bid committee of Beijing has sent our people to learn from the hosting and operational experiences from those cities. I led a delegation to Sweden to see the Nordic events," Zhang said.

"During those visits, we have arranged meetings with the IF officials, organizers, the operational and planning experts, and at these meetings we benefited from very good guidance for our hosting of the Games in Beijing."

Written by Brian Pinelli in Beijing

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