Sleepy mountain county eyes Winter Games glory
Print Edition
HIGH on a barren mountainside, a red flag marks the spot where China hopes ski jumpers will launch themselves to glory at the 2022 Winter Olympics. But hosting the Games would require a giant leap of its own.
For now, the bitterly cold valley is home to Taizicheng in Hebei Province, a sleepy community of about 100 houses where traditional Chinese music drifts on the biting wind. On the opposite hillside, where biathletes would race and shoot, peasants weighed down by loads of firewood are the only sign of life.
According to Beijing’s bid document, the site would see 30 gold medals decided in the nordic skiing events, and become the base for a bustling Olympic village, complete with a newly erected bullet train station.
Six months ahead of the International Olympic Committee making its decision, Beijing 2022 has emerged as the front-runner in the race after a string of European cities withdrew, leaving it facing off against only the Kazakhstan city of Almaty.
But China has few top-class facilities for outdoor events, little snow in the bid area, and even less of a tradition in winter sports. Only about 1 meter of snow falls annually in the mountains north of Beijing, leaving an average depth of 21 centimeters in Zhangjiakou, the city which includes Taizicheng, and just over 5 centimeters in Yanqing, suburban Beijing, where the alpine skiing events would be held. But officials have outlined a bold plan to carve world-class skiing facilities into mountainsides and weave a bullet train system through the rugged terrain.
According to the bid document, if Beijing wins a new resort will be built on Yanqing’s Xiaohaitou mountain, including a piste with a vertical drop of 830 meters, just scraping in over the International Ski Federation’s minimum for a top-class men’s downhill race.
It will have an elaborate artificial snow-making system and be a tourist destination “on a par with Tokyo’s Fuji,” said Beijing planning official Ma Jinghua.
Yanqing would also gain a bobsleigh track. There is virtually no bobsleigh infrastructure in China at present, nor does it have a national team. A total of 11 venues from Beijing’s 2008 Olympics would be put to use, including the Bird’s Nest stadium and the Water Cube.
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