IOC panel visits Winter Games bid sites in Beijing
Print Edition
IOC evaluators began a five-day inspection tour of Beijing’s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics yesterday.
The International Olympic Committee inspection is a key test of Beijing’s status as a front-runner in the bid race against Almaty, Kazakhstan. Beijing is seeking to become the first city to host both the summer and winter games.
Beijing officials said the 19-member IOC evaluation commission’s visits to Beijing’s indoor sites for hockey, skating and curling, along with the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium used for the 2008 Summer Games, all went as planned. Later in the week, the commission will visit the proposed skiing and sliding venues further outside the city.
Beijing’s notorious air pollution is one big concern for bid organizers, however, and the benchmark PM2.5 air quality reading topped 150 around midday yesterday, more than six times what the World Health Organization considers safe.
Beijing plans to tackle the problem by closing factories and coal-fired power plants, and junking heavily polluting vehicles. Organizers say holding the Olympics will put added momentum behind those efforts.
Organizers say Beijing hosting the games would be a boon for winter sports globally by raising their profile in the world’s most populous nation. Although China’s interest in winter sports is relatively new, about 300 million Chinese live in areas with sufficient conditions for skiing and other winter pastimes.
Most of Beijing’s proposed venues and other facilities are left over from the 2008 Games, leading to significant cost savings in keeping with the IOC goals for a more frugal and sustainable games.
In all, Beijing plans to spend US$3.9 billion on infrastructure and operations, a small fraction of the US$51 billion spent by Russia on the 2014 Sochi Games
The IOC inspectors concluded a visit to Almaty last month, after which Kazakh organizers announced venue changes they say will save over US$500 million.
The IOC will select the host city on July 31 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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