Countdown to Beijing 2022 | Olympic Village to open on Jan. 27

BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Winter Olympic Village for Beijing 2022 is expected to open on January 27, 2022, said a senior Beijing 2022 organizing committee (BOCOG) official on Wednesday.

"Next year on January 27, the Winter Olympic Village will be open to welcome all Games participants from all over the world," Zhang Jiandong, vice mayor of Beijing and executive vice president of BOCOG, told a press conference in Beijing.

Discussing Chinese athletes' preparation for Beijing 2022, Li Yingchuan, deputy director of the State General Administration of Sport of China, said, "At present, China has 29 national training teams in winter sports with 480 athletes going all out to prepare for the Beijing Winter Olympics."

Li said that China had only been engaged in two-thirds of the 109 Winter Games events when Beijing won the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in 2015 while at Beijing 2022 China will try its best to participate in all the events.

According to Li, though many Chinese teams have not participated in international competitions for a long time due to the pandemic, athletes have been training in all events. "All athletes will strive to show their best at Beijing 2022."

Wang Meimei, vice executive director of the China Disabled Persons' Federation said, "We will draw on our experience of pandemic prevention and control at the Tokyo Paralympics and carry on strict COVID-19 countermeasures for the participants of the Beijing Games."

"China's Winter Paralympic delegation will try to participate in more international events in the coming months," added Wang.