100 days to go: Stage is set for Beijing to write Olympic history

In a video news release of the IOC, Thomas Bach said: “The venues are already finished. Now, test events are underway with international participation. All that we’ve heard, so far, from the athletes is that they are excited about the state-of-the-art venues. So the stage is set for Beijing to write Olympic history as the first ever city to organise both summer and the winter editions of the Olympic Games.”

Using today’s milestone to look beyond the Games, Bach continued: “There will be a winter sport before and after these Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. China has the ambitious goal, and so far what we can see - they will achieve this ambitious goal, to engage 300 million Chinese people in winter sport. Imagine what this means on a global scale? If you have 300 more million people participating in winter sports, this will be a huge legacy for global winter sports. It will also be very important for the legacy of the Olympic venues because, with this participation, the use of these venues after the Olympic Games is secured.”

The 100 days to go mark also provided the local Organising Committee with an opportunity to organise a number of activities as anticipation continues to accelerate ahead of the start of the Olympic Winter Games on 4 February.

Earlier today, Beijing 2022 revealed the uniforms for staff, technical officials and volunteers at a special ceremony held in the Chinese capital. This follows yesterday’s launch of the Olympic and Paralympic medals.

A number of digital activations are also being undertaken across both Olympic and Beijing 2022 platforms over the coming days, capitalising on the growing engagement in the winter Games.

In addition to today’s activities, interest is also being fuelled by a number of winter sports events taking place across the world.

This includes over 10 test events and training activities taking place in Beijing. International competitions for speed skating, figure skating, short track, wheelchair curling, bobsleigh and skeleton have all taken place in October at the Beijing 2022 venues. In November, further international events will take place for the sports of luge, skiing and snowboarding, while ice hockey testing activities have also been planned.

With 76 per cent of athlete quotas for Beijing 2022 still to be confirmed by mid-January – the next few months will prove crucial in determining the final participants of next year’s Winter Games.

The Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 will take place between 4 and 20 February while the Paralympic Winter Games will be held from 4 to 13 March.