China launched a season of winter sport and cultural events

The Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games Bid Committee kicked off this week a season-long program of winter sport activities that will take place from December 2014 to July 2015 with the goal to promote winter sports, further spread Olympic values and encourage three hundred million people living in China to participate in winter sports. Sport activities will be supplemented by cultural events designed to warm up the atmosphere, raise excitement for China's bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games and bring the China’s Winter Olympic dream to life. 

Zhao Yinggang, Deputy Secretary General and Head of the Sports Department of the Beijing 2022 Bid Committee and Director for Winter Sports under the General Administration of Sport of China, commented on the development on the occasion of a media briefing that was held on December 18 at Beijing’s MasterCard Center (formerly known as the Wukesong Arena). He said that promoting the development of winter sports in China and encouraging more people to practice winter sports is an important part of the Beijing 2022 Bid. Chinese authorities, including the Bid Committee and the General Administration of Sport, have confirmed a working plan to bring this goal to life short-term (this winter and coming spring), in addition to existing middle- and long-term winter sport programs that all aim to inspire more people to participate in winter sports.

Activities such as "Three Entrances", "Six Events" and "15 Highlights" are all part of the upcoming winter and spring season’s program.

In the long run, the authorities will implement the strategy entitled "Developing Ice Sports from China’s North to South and West", promoting a paralleled and balanced development of mass high-performance winter sport.

Just earlier this week a kick-off event was held outside the Beijing Capital Stadium to mark the start of the season. Famous athletes, such as Wang Jinyu, Ye Qiaobo and Li Nina attended the ceremony. Li Nina, double Olympic silver medalist in aerials, said that snow sports would largely benefit from the bid, with more support on the existing and new sports programs. Zhang Hong, Olympic gold medalist in speed skating, said that he was looking forward to see more people joining Winter sports.

For another perspective about this program, check the article: New ice world opened for promoting Beijing's bid.