International Olympic Committee coordination commission chair Juan Antonio Samaranch lauds Beijing 2022′s final preparations and readiness with just over three months until the XXIV Winter Games open.
“There’s been extensive testing taking place in recent weeks in China at the Olympic and Paralympic venues - this is effectively the warm-up for next February’s Games and the feedback we’ve received from both athletes and International Federations has been very encouraging,” Samaranch said, upon the close of sixth and final Co-comm meeting, which entailed three days of virtual dialogue with Beijing 2022 organizers.
“The quality of the venues in particular has been praised, as well as the organizational support and on-ground operations being delivered in China.
“In addition to updates on Games preparations, these meetings also provided an opportunity to acknowledge the incredible amount of work being undertaken together to deliver safe Games,” said the longtime Spanish IOC member. “This was evident just recently when the IOC, IPC and Beijing 2022 united to collaborate on the production of the Playbooks.”
A summary of test events and activities was provided to the IOC Commission. Thus far, international competitions in speed skating, figure skating, short track speed skating, wheelchair curling, bobsleigh and skeleton all took place in October. In November, further international events for luge, freestyle skiing and snowboard are on the schedule, while ice hockey testing activities have also been planned.
Bobsleigh and skeleton athletes recently returned home from a three-week training block and exhibition races at China’s National Sliding Center in Yanqing. Many offered positive feedback of their experience and first visit to the new track.
United States bobsleigh pilot Codie Bascue was pleasantly surprised about how smoothly everything proceeded during his visit to the venue in Yanqing, which is located about 90 kilometers northwest of Beijing.
“We were going into a bubble and didn’t really know what to expect going over there, but they made it a nice experience for us there – didn’t really have too many complaints,” Bascue says. “The track is really cool, really unique. This giant wooden structure looks like a dragon or snake.”
The Chinese National Sliding Center is in close proximity to the future Olympic Village in Yanqing, which will house sliding athletes and alpine skiers in February. On this trip, the athletes were lodged in a hotel, roughly a 40-minute bus ride to the venue every day.
Athletes informed the Covid health and safety protocols were stricter than at any World Cup competition they’ve raced at during the pandemic.
“These were the tightest precautions that I’ve seen in our sport so far – most of the workers were in full hazmat suits and we were tested every day,” Bascue said. “We didn’t leave the facilities – the hotel and the track.”
Alpine skiers will not have the same opportunity as the sliders to see or compete at the new courses at the nearby National Alpine Ski Center. International test events for the world’s best male and female ski racers were cancelled in both February 2020 and 2021, due to China’s travel restrictions.
In February, the skiers will have to race at high speed on unknown tracks and terrain, including a downhill course with a maximum steepness of 69-percent, while dealing with unfamiliar weather and artificial snow conditions in a country that has never hosted a World Cup alpine event.
“No one knows the course – actually, I just know about the slope from word of mouth,” says PyeongChang 2018 Olympic downhill champion Sofia Goggia. “I heard that the slope is pretty steep, with blind rolls and it’s not that easy. I really don’t know more because you cannot judge a book from its cover.”
“You have to stay calm because nobody knows and it’s the same for everybody,” says Austrian downhiller Ramona Siebenhofer, looking ahead to what will be her second Olympics. “When you get information, you’re not even sure if it’s true because you just don’t know.”
In September, a cableway linking the village and various parts of the National Alpine Skiing Center, located just six kilometers apart, was completed, fully connected and capable of operation, according to the manufacturer Beijing Enterprises Group.
International Ski Federation president Johan Eliasch plans to travel to China toward the end of November or early December, to meet with colleagues at the Chinese Ski Federation and Beijing 2022 organizing committee.
Related to ongoing preparations for ice hockey, international federation leaders are still attempting to schedule exhibition games to assess and help guide the Chinese men’s national ice hockey team ahead of what are certain to be hugely lopsided and potentially embarrassing contests versus National Hockey League stars from the United States and Canada.
The construction of all permanent Beijing 2022 venue infrastructure is now finished, with temporary venue infrastructure installation nearing completion. The organizing committee now shifts focus towards operational delivery.
The Beijing Winter Games open on Feb. 4 and run through Feb. 20, preceding the Paralympic Winter Games, March 4-13.
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