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IOC Evaluation Commission to visit Beijing and Zhangjiakou

Xinhua, March 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games Bid Committee said on Saturday that everything was ready to welcome the International Olympic Committee Evaluation Commission's visit to Beijing.

The IOC Evaluation Commission will arrive in the Chinese capital on Sunday for a 5-day inspection visit. Throughout the visit, the IOC Evaluation Commission members will be presented with the plans of the joint bid by Beijing and Zhangjiakou for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games and tour all the proposed venues and sites.

The 19-member IOC Evaluation Commission is chaired by Alexander Zhukov, IOC member and President of the Russian Olympic Committee. The EC comprises three other IOC members including Barry Maister from New Zealand, Adam Pengilly from Britain, and Tsunekazu Takeda from Japan. Representatives of national and regional Olympic committees, athletes, experts and representatives of the International Paralympic Committee are also in the group. The IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi and the IOC Head of Olympic Bid City Coordination Jacqueline Barrett will join the visit.

During the visit, the Beijing 2022 Bid Committee will brief the IOC EC members on detailed plans to host 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing and Zhangjiakou. The Evaluation Commission will conduct a field inspection to 19 competition and non-competition venues and supporting facilities, and at the same time assess the transportation system and all other infrastructural elements in the three Games zones of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou.

The Evaluation Commission visits of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games Bid Cities are the first after the IOC unanimously voted the Olympic Agenda 2020 at the end of last year, setting a strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement.

Wang Hui, Deputy Secretary-General and Director of Media and Communications of the Beijing 2022 Bid Committee, stated that the philosophy of being "athlete-centred, sustainable and economical" put forward by Beijing at the very beginning of the bidding process was perfectly aligned to and highly consistent with the principles of the Olympic Agenda 2020.

"While we welcome the delegation of the IOC Evaluation Commission in Beijing, we will demonstrate our desire to host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the benefits that Beijing as a host city will bring to the Olympic Movement, in line with the Olympic Agenda 2020 principles," said Wang.

"We have prepared for the Evaluation Commission visit in strict compliance with the IOC's requirements and we are working hard to leave a good impression on the Evaluation Commission."

After the visit, the IOC Evaluation Commission will complete an evaluation report based on the inspection of the two bid cities, Beijing and Almaty (Kazakhstan). The report will be used as an important basis for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Host City Election which will be held on July 31, 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Endi