Countdown to Beijing 2022 | Key milestones of Beijing 2022 preparation

The photo shows the ice-making at Beijing's National Indoor Stadium has been completed. (Xinhua/Guo Ziyang)

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- It has been over five years since Beijing was named the host city of the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The Games' preparation work was implemented in a practical and solid way despite the COVID-19 pandemic, as China is committed to delivering a "fantastic, extraordinary and excellent" Games.

Here are several key milestones in the Games' bidding and preparation phase.

- On November 3, 2013, the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announcing that Beijing had applied to represent China in a bid to host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, with Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province being a co-host.

- On July 7, 2014, Beijing was accepted as one of the candidate cities for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

- On January 6, 2015, Beijing submitted its official 2022 Winter Olympic Games bid to the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland.

- On July 31, 2015, Beijing won the bid to host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games at the 128th IOC session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

- On December 15, 2015, The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (BOCOG) was launched.

- On July 31, 2016, BOCOG's official website was made to the public.

- On October 10, 2016, the first meeting of the IOC Coordination Commission for Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 was held in Beijing.

- On February 27, 2017, a marketing program for Beijing 2022 was officially launched. By the end of 2020, organizers had signed up 38 sponsors and suppliers.

- On March 20, 2017, BOCOG commenced its first global staff recruitment drive, which concluded in July.

- Construction of new competition venues for the Games started in 2017.

- On December 15, 2017, emblems of the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, respectively named "Winter Dream" and "Flight," were unveiled.

- On February 19, 2019, BOCOG revealed a legacy plan for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

- On September 17, 2019, an animated giant panda named "Bing Dwen Dwen" and a red lantern baby called "Shuey Rhon Rhon" were unveiled as the two mascots for Beijing 2022.

- On December 5, 2019, a global recruitment drive for volunteers for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games officially started, with 27,000 needed for the Olympics and 12,000 for the Paralympics. Around one million people worldwide had registered by the end of 2020.

- On December 30, 2019, a high-speed railway line connecting Beijing and Zhangjiakou went into operation, slashing the travel time between the Beijing 2022 host cities to around 50 minutes.

- On May 8, 2020, BOCOG launched a global appeal for clothing designers to provide official Olympic garments.

- On May 15, 2020, organizers released a sustainability plan that is supported by 12 actions, under which there are 37 key tasks and 119 specific measures.

- IOC broadcasters' meeting and other important conferences were held via video link, the color system and core graphic were announced, and a global competition for the official 2022 medal, torch and apparel designs was launched in 2020.

- In November, 2020, the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee, Winter Olympic International Federations, the IOC and the IPC made a joint agreement on replacing originally planned international test events for the Beijing 2022 with an adapted sports testing program.

- On December 21, 2020, Olympic flags, emblem pins and mascot toys that returned to Earth after a moon trip onboard China's Chang'e-5 probe were handed over to BOCOG at its Shougang headquarters.

- Construction of all competition venues and related infrastructures have been completed by the end of 2020.

- On December 31, 2020, 30 pictograms for the Games were released on a New Year's Eve gala on TV.