Since January 4, the venue management department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee has received an average of more than 100 overseas personnel every day and arranged for them to work in various venues within the small closed loop. Less than a month before the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the competition has not doubled the pressure, and Minister Yao Hui and his team are in a state of "combat readiness" to make the final sprint to present the best track to the world during the race.
Yao Hui, Director of the Venue Management Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee
98% of the problems are solved at the venue level
In the face of the cumbersome and complicated work of the venues in the two places and three divisions, how to manage the overall management in an orderly and efficient manner during the game has become a big challenge. In an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency, Yao Hui said that "advance preparation" is very important. "Each venue should improve its ability to operate autonomously, and solve 98% of the problems during the game at the level of the venue, which is conditional, such as (using) the 'one map, one table and one book' that we emphasize."
According to Yao Hui, "one map" refers to the operation map of the venue, which will indicate the purpose of each room on each floor of the venue, and also explain the flow lines for different customer groups. "This epidemic prevention and control we are divided into closed loop and closed loop outside, the requirement is that the partitions do not overlap, the streamlines do not intersect, how to achieve the epidemic prevention requirements through the early design, which requires a lot of effort." He said.
Interior view of the Metropolitan Gymnasium taken on January 12. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Wang Yang)
In addition, the "one table" is the staff's race timetable, which will be refined to every minute, each point, and each person's work responsibilities, which is a large table based on more than 30 business areas in the venue, which can be closer to the real situation of the event operation; and the "one book" is a variety of emergency plan manuals, according to different positions, different scenarios, different emergencies that may be triggered, and detailed emergency plans are designed.
If a worker desires to do a good thing, he must first use it. Yao Hui believes that "one map, one table and one book" can become the best action guide to guide the orderly operation of the venues of the Winter Olympics. "With them, each venue can do its own operation work independently and provide the best service for each customer who comes to the museum, so that our operation can be confident."
Athlete-centered polishing of venue software and hardware
In order to ensure that athletes can play at the best level on the track without distraction, in addition to the implementation of general policies, Yao Hui revealed that for the characteristics and requirements of specific projects, each venue will also make personalized preparations.
On April 6, 2021, a curling project test event was held at the "Ice Cube". Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Peng Ziyang
Also with high technical requirements for the ice surface, there is also a curling competition venue - the National Aquatics Center "Ice Cube". "Curling has high requirements for indoor temperature and humidity, and we can control the temperature in the curling hall in layers through the projects of the Winter Olympics of science and technology, such as the ice surface is minus 18 degrees, the outfield can reach zero one or two degrees, and the audience seat can reach sixteen or seven degrees, which does not make the audience feel cold, and the ice surface does not reduce the quality because the temperature is too high." Yao Hui said.
Snow projects are greatly affected by the weather, and the meteorological protection requirements have been increased in the operation of the venue. "After several years of hard work, our meteorological team has been able to predict minutes and 100 meters at the alpine ski track in Yanqing, so that it can see if the race has the (start) conditions." He said.
The effect of temperature on the track is also a key focus for the operation of the stadium on the snow. Extremely low temperatures may cause electrical equipment to fail, and extreme heating will have a greater impact.
"Ice venues are rarely affected by the weather indoors, but the requirements for the hardware facilities of the venues are very high." Yao Hui took the Capital Gymnasium, which holds both figure skating and short-track speed skating competitions, as an example, "Figure skating (athletes) should stop and jump sharply, and the ice must have a certain thickness, but short track speed skating (athletes) needs to have a certain speed, to pedal hard, to ensure that the speed does not 'eat ice'." This puts forward high requirements for the rapid conversion of the two projects, which is also a very important work content of the Capital Gymnasium. ”
Zhangjiakou National Ski Jumping Center taken on November 7, 2021 (drone photo). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Shiyao
Yao Hui recalled that during the test event in February last year, there was a sharp increase in heating for one or two days, which caused the snow surface of the biathlon ski track to melt and make it impossible to compete, and then they made plans for rapid snow repair and track repair at each snow field to ensure that the race could be carried out on a high-level venue.
Epidemic prevention and control must be hard and temperature
How to assist various stakeholders to successfully complete various tasks in the venue under the condition of ensuring the safety of epidemic prevention and control is a new challenge for the organizers of the Winter Olympic Games.
"There must be both hardness and temperature." Yao Hui said.
"(During the race) adopt strict closed-loop management, enclose living activities, ensure that there is no contact with the social side, and finally realize that the epidemic situation in the social side does not affect the venue." At the same time, once the epidemic occurs in our venues, it will not have an impact on the social aspect, ensuring that the organizers, participants and spectators of the Winter Olympics are assured. ”
Workers pass through the national biathlon centre corridor. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Mou Yu
The temperature of epidemic prevention in the venue is first reflected in two-way understanding and respect. Before the promulgation of the second edition of the Epidemic Prevention Manual last year, the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee held more than a dozen policy briefings with different customer groups from foreign parties through video to talk about the manual, requirements, and reach consensus. "Let him understand and then comply, this is one of the embodiments of our humane management temperature."
As the opening approaches, the temperature is also reflected in the details of the operation of the venue. "During the recent small closed-loop work, we found that some of the foreign personnel working in the museum only wore ordinary surgical masks, which did not meet the requirements of the epidemic prevention manual, and our staff would remind him in time and hand him an N95 mask to make it easier for him to accept our requirements." Yao Hui said.
Interior view of the National Speed Skating Hall. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cheng Tingting
Referring to the expectations for the Winter Olympics, Yao Hui's mood is both expectant and complicated, looking forward to a sacred moment, while also inspecting the current work and making the final sprint every second.
"Our venue operators are ready to deal with various problems with the best equipment, the best state and the most professional standards, to ensure the efficient and smooth operation of each venue, to ensure that athletes can safely play at the highest level on the track of the venue, and to present a simple, safe and wonderful Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games for the world." Yao Hui said.
Reporters Niu Mengtong, Zhan Peng, Wang Haoyu and Lu Yuchen