2008 Olympics legacy guarantees sustainability of 2022 Winter Games: Beijing mayor

Wang Anshun, the city mayor and president of the Beijing 2022 bid committee

Kuala Lumpur, July 30 The Beijing 2022 Winter Games delegation has underlined the bid's full alignment with the principles of the Olympic Agenda 2020 and stressed sustainability as one of the key pillars of the Game's plans.

Since the very inception of the bid, Beijing 2022 made its priority to design Games that would be athlete-centred, sustainable and economical and would both support the delivery of Olympic Agenda 2020 and broader regional development plans in China, Xinhua reported on Thursday.

In this way, Beijing 2022 will take full advantage of both the tremendous Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games legacy including existing competition venues, infrastructure and people with deep operational experience and having a clear vision of how the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games are integrated into China's existing regional economic development plans.

A key element of the country's existing plans is the development of a winter sports industry and meeting a growing demand for recreational activity and sport.

Beijing 2022 will re-use 11 of 12 competition and non-competition facilities including four iconic venues -- National Stadium (also known as Bird's Nest), National Aquatics Center (also known as Water Cube), Wukesong MasterCard Center and the China National Convention Center (CNCC).

The 2008 Olympics left a pool of high-level professionals. As many as 10 million employees in areas as broad as venue design and construction, sports, marketing, hospitality, medical services, media operations, transport and many more, as well as 100,000 volunteers, offer the unique experience that exists: delivering the biggest world sports event ever.

"The opportunity to utilise the experience of many professionals with Olympic delivery experience for a common project will secure the smooth delivery of successful Games. Our human legacy is our biggest asset" said Wang Anshun, mayor of Beijing and president of the Beijing 2022 Bid Committee.

The National Strategy of Coordinated and Integrated Development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will create favourable conditions and lay a solid base for the bid for Beijing 2022, creating a win-win environment for future investment.

"We coordinated our vision of Beijing 2022 and the three Games Zones around the integrated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, a plan that was in the works long before the idea of hosting the Winter Games was conceived.

"This context, along with the solid infrastructural and human legacy of the Beijing 2008 Games, ensure that Beijing 2022 Games would be truly economical and sustainable," Wang added.