Winter sports in China have recovered from the backlash of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, and things are slow in particular in Zhangjiakou and Beijing, the two venues for the 2022 Winter Olympics Shape.

In the run-up to the games, the whole country developed an increasing enthusiasm for skiing. In central Beijing, locals had the chance to try their hand at skiing, biathlon and curling at a special event last month.

The President of China, Xi Jinping, was not spared the tension either and spent two days visiting the preparatory work for the Winter Games in the two host cities.

As a long-time winter sports fan, Xi met athletes, coaches, representatives of the operations team and construction workers in the competition area in Zhangjiakou in the north Chinese province of Hebei.

He arrived in the city last Tuesday on the recently put into service Beijing-Zhangjiakou bullet train. The new railway line is intended to shorten the travel time between the two Olympic cities from over three hours to just 47 minutes.

Xi recommends further promotion of the Chinese winter sports industry

During his visit to the Yanqing District of Beijing on Monday, Xi underlined the important role the Olympic Games played in the further development of winter sports in China.

The widespread participation in the sport forms the basis for building a nation of top athletes, said the Chinese president at the National Alpine Skiing Center.

He recommended the further development of Chinese winter sports, especially snow sports, as well as greater support for winter sports among 300 million people. He also expressed his hope that hosting the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing would also contribute to the achievement of the goal of making China a world power in the sports scene.

At the Capital Gymnasium, athletes and coaches from the Chinese national figure skating and short-track speed skating teams explained their preparations for Beijing 2022 to the president and expressed their confidence in the prospect of winning gold medals.

President Xi was very pleased that preparations for Beijing 2022 are in full swing and that the athletes' training is showing obvious results. He is very confident that the winter sports spectacle will be a complete success in 2022.

The figure skating and short track speed skating events take place in the Capital Gymnasium, while the alpine skiing competitions are held in the National Alpine Skiing Center.

The Winter Games will take place at a total of 25 venues for competitions and other events in Beijing and Zhangjiakou.

According to the Olympic Park Management Committee, the Winter Olympics village is expected to be completed by June this year.

The source language in which the original text is published is the official and authorized version. Translations will be included for a better understanding. Only the language version that was originally published is legally valid. You should therefore compare the translations with the original language version of the publication.

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Source: businesswire.com

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