Winter Olympics Review in Beijing

(ATR) The IOC wraps up its latest project review of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics on Wednesday.

A group of about a dozen staff from the IOC are meeting with Beijing 2022 counterparts to go over the punchlist. Sport, marketing, villages, venues, communications, sustainability and legacy, the Paralympics are all on the program, ATR is told.

The IOC team is led by Juan Antonio Samaranch, chair of the IOC Coordination Commission and Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi. Craig Spence is representing the International Paralympics Committee.

Leading the Beijing side is Zhang Jiandong, vice mayor of Beijing and executive vice presidentof Beijing 2022.

So far preparations for the 2022 Games seem to be routine despite the novelty of China hosting its first Winter Olympics.

Last week the big-air snowboard venue was completed and is ready for test events in December.

The striking venue on the western outskirts of Beijing is 164 meters long, 60m at its highest. The National Speed Skating Oval is the other venue being built in Beijing for the Games. Venues from the 2008 Summer Olympics are also being used.

The new high speed railway from Beijing to the Zhangjiakou venue cluster is supposed to be finished this year. The journey will take about one hour. Skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined and biathlon are among the events in the mountain region north of Beijing.

Reported by Ed Hula.