Visitors look at a model of the terrain in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, the venue for many of the snow and ice-based events at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Zou Hong / China Daily

Although the 2022 Winter Olympic Games are still more than five years away, the Chinese capital has already started preparing to co-host the event, Sun Xiaochen reports.

As Rio de Janeiro prepares for the start of the 2016 Summer Olympics in just five days, Beijing is looking ahead and laying the groundwork for the 2022 Winter Olympics by drafting preparatory guidelines for the coming six years.

In the year since they were awarded the Games, Beijing and co-host Zhangjiakou in Hebei province have been busy designing venues, training staff and building up infrastructure for the winter sports extravaganza.

"All the planning and preparatory work has been broken down into 102 projects with specific deadlines that cover every aspect of the Games. We've made an early start, so hopefully we can finish ahead of schedule," said Han Zirong, secretary-general of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Reusing venues

Beijing's commitment to making full use of existing facilities, as highlighted in its successful bid, has given the city an edge in terms of delivering a sustainable and relatively low-cost Games.

According to the city's plan, all ice-based events, such as speedskating, hockey and curling, will be held at five venues, four of which were built for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Only a new National Speed Skating Oval will be built as a permanent venue for speedskating events.

Most of the snow-based events will be staged at refurbished facilities around the Genting Ski Resort in Zhang-jiakou, while the remainder, including alpine skiing and bobsleigh, will be held at temporary venues in Yanqing county in northwest Beijing.

For the new National Speed Skating Oval, the most expensive venue for Beijing 2022, the organizing committee has selected 12 designs from 66 that were submitted to an international architectural design contest launched in June.

On July 22, the 12 designers pitched their work to the organizing committee and conducted field studies into the proposed location, the site of the field hockey and archery events at Beijing 2008.

In November, a panel of judges will narrow the field to three designs, and finally the one judged the most practical will be selected for construction, which is expected to begin early next year, according to the committee's department of planning, construction and sustainability.

"Reusing a 2008 Summer Games site for the 2022 venue accords with Beijing's promise to host the Winter Olympics in a sustainable, frugal way," said Gui Lin, an official with the department.

Last month, officials and experts from the World Curling Federation and International Ski Federation visited the proposed venues for curling and snowboarding at the National Aquatics Center in Beijing and at the Genting resort, offering advice on planning, refurbishing, constructing and operating venues that have high technical requirements, Gui said.

Pan Zhiwei, an official with the organizing committee's international liaison department, said the advice offered will help ensure the success of the Games: "Our smooth communications with the International Olympic Committee and all the winter sports federations have helped make up for our lack of expertise in those areas."

Gui said the designs for new venues and renovation plans will be finalized at the end of the year and all construction is scheduled to be finished by September 2019, when warm-up events will be used to test the facilities.

Construction has already started on a high-speed railway link to connect downtown Beijing with Yanqing and Zhang-jiakou, and the first test runs are expected in 2019, she added.

Observational visits

As China's summer Olympians prepare for their Rio 2016 campaign, about 80 members of the Beijing 2022 organizing committee are also packing for trips to the Games. The visits, which are part of the IOC's knowledge-transfer Observer Program, will allow the committee members valuable insights into the operation of a major sporting event.

Assisted by the IOC, the 80 employees will travel to Rio in three batches, taking turns to attend more than 120 activities, including site visits, briefings and roundtable symposiums on subjects ranging from venue operation to transportation support and sustainability.

Yan Cheng, director of the organizing committee's human resources department, said the trips will provide experience of the scope, scale and complexity of running an Olympic Games.

"The knowledge and expertise of previous host cities and the firsthand experience gained during the trips will allow us to develop plans that are not just based on our own contexts, but also on standard international practice and the lessons the IOC has learned from past Games," he said.

Since the Beijing 2022 organizing committee, chaired by Beijing Party chief Guo Jinlong, was established in December, more than 170 of its executives and employees have been hired to work in nine departments and two operations centers in Zhangjiakou and Yanqing.

The committee plans to expand its current structure to 28 departments before the Games begin, and is hiring foreign and domestic experts, training local staff, recruiting volunteers and signing contracts to build a highly qualified operational team, said Yan.

In addition, a new structure that soars over the north end of the Olympic Park has been named the Beijing Olympic Tower. It has been endorsed by the IOC, which also authorized the city to place the five-ring Olympic symbol on top of the tower to symbolize its commitment to promoting the movement's spirit.

Speaking in June, at the inauguration ceremony for the Beijing Olympic Tower, IOC President Thomas Bach said Beijing is capable of successfully hosting the Winter Olympics.

"Learning from history, I am sure that in 2022 our Chinese friends will even be able to exceed the high benchmark they set in 2008. In terms of sustainability, legacy and feasibility, the organization committee is laying the foundations for the success of the 2022 Winter Olympics," he said.

Contact the writer at sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn