Recently, the COVID-19 epidemic has brought huge challenges to the preparations for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games which have entered the readiness phase. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (Beijing 2022) acted swiftly and put in place strict prevention and control measures in a timely manner. It has done its utmost to ensure that the control and prevention of COVID-19 and the preparations for the Games were carried out efficiently in parallel and that all preparation tasks were completed on time and to high standards. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach praised that the preparations are well on track.
Beijing 2022 has adjusted its work plan in time to adapt to changes in situations, including the COVID-19 outbreak, and turned to video-conferencing software in order to get things done in collaboration with the IOC and other institutions. During this period, Beijing 2022 held a high-level video conference with the IOC in its Shougang Office located near the West Fifth Ring Road, and also attended a virtual meeting held by the IOC Executive Board. These arrangements helped advance the preparations for the Games.
A few days ago, the 2020 World Broadcaster Briefing originally scheduled to be held in Beijing was moved to Madrid. Representatives from the IOC, Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), and broadcasters around the world attended the briefing. Representatives from Beijing 2022 set up a parallel venue in Beijing to attend the briefing virtually. They reported progress in 11 functional areas (FAs) including Sport, Venues and Infrastructure, Press Operations, Rate Card, Arrivals and Departures, Transport, and Accreditation, and answered questions raised by representatives of broadcasters about six FAs including Communications, Security, Logistics, Finance, Ticketing, and Brand, Identity & Look of the Games. Xu Jicheng, Director of the Media Operations Department of Beijing 2022, said in an interview: “Although the meeting was moved to another place and held virtually, the content has not been affected. The meeting materials, topics, and issues that everyone cares about are well arranged.”
Despite the impact of the epidemic, Beijing 2022 has also pushed forward its marketing program in an orderly manner. They maintain close contact with the marketing team of the IOC and various stakeholders through video conferences and telephone conferences. Recently, Beijing 2022 has announced PwC and Suirui Group as official suppliers and updated the list of sponsors on the official website. It not only focuses on the marketing of the sponsors, but also responds flexibly in the fight against COVID-19. Beijing 2022 has also issued an announcement for the recruitment of official online education service providers as sponsors.
The construction of the Beijing Winter Olympic Village, the National Indoor Stadium, the National Speed Skating Oval and other venues of the Games has also resumed with strengthened COVID-19 prevention and control measures. Each construction site has put in place strict access control, regular sterilization, temperature screening, daily reporting procedures and dormitory rules. The number of workers allowed in the canteen at one time is restricted to avoid gathering of large number of people.
In preparation for the pre-homologation of the track this year, the ice making work at the National Sliding Center in the Yanqing zone continued during the Spring Festival. The construction contractors of the Yanqing zone have managed to raise materials needed for COVID-19 prevention and control. They require that workers wear face masks and have their temperatures taken every day, and that teams should try to stay apart from each other. They have also stepped up the daily cleaning and disinfection of offices, canteens, dormitories, and shuttles, and have strengthened the access control of the construction sites. Workers returning to Beijing will be kept under strict medical observation as required.
On March 10, the ice making for the track at the National Sliding Center, China's first bobsleigh, skeleton and luge track, was completed after 10 days' hard work. The track project marked a number of technological breakthroughs in China. In nearly four months, the construction team worked intensively and successfully completed a series of important procedures, including the quick installation of a 120,000-meter refrigeration and evaporation pipeline, the spraying of concrete on the main body of the track, the debugging of the refrigeration system, and ice making on the track, laying a solid foundation for the completion of the project by the end of this year.
The construction of the National Speed Skating Oval has also been resumed. Starting from January 29, the National Speed Skating Oval Project Department of Beijing Urban Construction Group has arranged round-the-clock temperature screening, real-name registration and disinfection for vehicles and personnel entering and leaving the construction site. It has also contacted suppliers from multiple channels to ensure the timely delivery of anti-epidemic materials. The construction site has put in place closed-off management in accordance with the city's requirements. Quarantine rooms and medical observation rooms have been set up in the living areas of employees and construction workers.
Russian expert Nikolay Belokrinkin has been actively working for the Games despite the epidemic. As the mountain operation manager of the first test event originally scheduled for February in Yanqing, he is responsible for the coordination of site construction, event preparation, and ski patrol during the event. Since the project started snow making last November, he has been working on the frontline of venues. Due to the impact of the epidemic, this test event was not held as scheduled. Nikolay quickly adjusted the focus of his work. Under his leadership, the team completed the recovery of equipment and wrote review and assessment reports. More than 190 staff members tasked with the preparations for the first test event participated in desktop exercises and summarized strengths and areas of improvements in a bid to get better prepared for upcoming test events.
With the resumption of the Games projects in Beijing and Yanqing zones, work also accelerated to get venue and supporting facility projects back on track in the Zhangjiakou zone. As of March 12, among 76 such projects in Zhangjiakou, 36 have been completed. Work restarted on five projects, including the National Ski Jumping Center in the Olympic core area of Taizicheng and the Olympic Village. The Taizicheng Town project in Chongli received the government's approval for resumption of construction on March 12. Other projects in the Zhangjiakou zone will be resumed before the end of April and are scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. During Games time, events of snowboard, freestyle skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic Combined, and biathlon will be held in the Zhangjiakou zone.
