Eyes on ice! Beijing 2022 test program to run in April

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Winter sports fans will soon turn their attention to the ice, as a 10-day ice sports test program for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will be staged in April, aiming at laying a solid foundation for delivering a successful Games with less than one year to go.

Under the guiding principles of "simplicity, safety and excellence," the test run is deemed an important step in Beijing 2022 preparation.

5 VENUES, 7 EVENTS, 10 DAYS

Five Winter Olympic and two Winter Paralympic events are scheduled between April 1 and 10 to give a test to competition organization, venue operation, and services and safeguarding. This will engage all ice sports of Beijing 2022, namely short track speed skating, speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey, curling, para ice hockey and wheelchair curling.

The five involving venues are the National Aquatics Center, the National Indoor Stadium, the National Speed Skating Oval, the Capital Gymnasium, and the Wukesong Sports Center.

As the test run of snow and sliding sports in February, the upcoming test program is included in the series of winter sporting events dubbed 'Experience Beijing.'

Some professional and amateur athletes are invited to participate in the test program through consultation with national sports associations, the China Disabled Persons' Federation and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports, as over 700 athletes and team officials have registered to participate in these events.

Venue operation teams are comprised of staff from the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (BOCOG), local governments, venue owners, contractors, and volunteers. They will be important pieces of operation teams in-game time of Beijing 2022.

The operation teams have made elaborate preparation together with organizing committees from the Chaoyang and Haidian Districts, where the venues are located, and everything about preparation work has been in place.

PURPOSES & PRIORITIES

Yao Hui, head of the venue management department of the BOCOG, told a press conference on Wednesday that organizers aim at examining venues and facilities, drilling on operation teams, finding out rules in an organization, ensuring a smooth working mechanism, implementing local safeguarding, and testing operational command systems through the test program.

They include comprehensively examining and optimizing competition fields, technological systems, aid and accessible facilities, improving venue teams' game-time operational capabilities and level in actual situations, enhancing cooperation between the venue teams and contractors, and strengthening venue operation integration into that of the city.

The BOCOG has consistently attached importance to venues and facilities, competition organization, venue operation, management system, and epidemic prevention and control.

Centering around these objectives, organizers have further made it clear on some key points during the test run.

The test program will examine venues' conditions for staging competitions, such as ice-making quality, technical plants including network cables and photoelectricity result system, power supply, telecommunication and accessible facilities.

As for competition organization, organizers will arrange daily competition schedules according to the Olympic schedule, and provide services including pre-game training, information release, results report and emergency medical aid, conducting anti-doping tests, and organizing team leader meetings.

Operational plans will be worked out on the basis of the competition schedules to ensure smooth coordination while preparing for emergencies.

A two-way report mechanism will be tested within the command system. The BOCOG has set up a headquarter for the test run and conducted command and coordination in the format of the main operation center in-game time.

In terms of epidemic prevention and control, organizers will continue to implement stringent measures on personnel protection, health management and disinfection of the public environment.

Due to the feature in arranging ice sports competitions and the fact that competitions in the Beijing competition zone will be staged indoors, specific segments are added to the test program this time, including registration, award ceremony, sports exhibition, media operation and broadcast service and transportation.

Some technological projects will be applied during the test program. Chen Shuang, venue director of the Wukesong Sports Center, said that advanced technologies such as intelligent thermometers, logistics robots and cloud broadcast systems will be put into application this time.

ANTI-VIRUS MEASURES

Epidemic prevention and control is a prerequisite for delivering a successful test program and accomplishing missions down the stretch.

The BOCOG has laid out an anti-epidemic work plan, incorporated it into Beijing's epidemic prevention and control system, and strictly carried out related measures so as to effectively control the risk of virus transmission.

As the test program features athletes of various sources, and with much close contact and strong competitiveness, the BOCOG has come up with requirements on a technological level. Venue operation teams have detailed respective work plans on the basis of the characteristics of each event and will conduct closed-loop management and health monitoring on personnel.

"I believe through concerted efforts of all parties, venue operation teams will do their best to accomplish the missions of the test program and lay a good foundation for delivering a successful Beijing 2022," said Yao.

Following consultation with the Winter Olympic International Federations, the BOCOG planned to stage a part of international competitions and training weeks this winter. Schedules for short track speed skating, figure skating, speed skating, wheelchair curling, bobsleigh and luge competitions have been initially confirmed, while those for ski jumping and Nordic Combined are in discussion.

"We will evaluate the scenario of the COVID-19 pandemic with relevant Winter Olympic International Federations three months ahead of the competitions," Yao noted.

The Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games will be staged from February 4 to 20 and the Paralympic Winter Games from March 4 to 13 in 2022.