IOC President welcomed to China by COC President
Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) President Gao Zhidan welcomed IOC President Thomas Bach to Beijing on Friday. It is the IOC President’s first visit to the country since the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, which were organised successfully and safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The IOC President thanked the COC President again for the COC’s and China’s exceptional work to hold the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 under very difficult circumstances.
There is a great Beijing 2022 legacy for sport and society in China. The Olympic Winter Games gave a huge boost to international winter sport by having engaged 346 million Chinese people in winter sport. The IOC President and the COC President discussed the plans of a number of International Winter Sports Federations to make use of the Games’ venues by organising future World Cups and international competitions there. This will strengthen the legacy of these Games even further. The role of China as the host of many upcoming major international sports events was also mentioned, in particular the Asian Games later this year in Hangzhou (23 September to 8 October).
The two leaders also spoke about the forthcoming Olympic Games Paris 2024, the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 and the Olympic Games LA28. COC President Gao Zhidan informed the IOC President about the ongoing preparations of the Chinese team for these three editions of the Games, to which China plans to send strong teams.
In addition, the two leaders discussed the present geopolitical situation and its impact on sport. In this context, the COC President reaffirmed his full support for the position taken by the Olympic Summit in December 2022 with regard to the participation of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport in international competitions as individual, neutral athletes, and the recent IOC recommendations in this respect.
The IOC President reaffirmed to the COC President that the IOC will continue and strengthen its cooperation with the COC in the future.