This is the night view of the Shougang Ski Jump taken on December 18, 2020. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Chenlin
In February, Philip Barker, a journalist for the British sports portal inside the games, traveled to the National Aquatics Centre "Ice Cube" to cover the opening match of the mixed curling doubles at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
After 14 years of revisiting the place, he was surprised to find that the pool where Phelps won 8 gold in the past had built 5 curling tracks in the form of "water ice conversion".
"A lot of Western athletes and journalists feel this way: We thought China would build a lot of new high-end stadiums like before, but that's not the case at all." Barker admits that the same venue serves two different Olympic Games, which is enough to "go down in history" and that China is telling a whole new story of development.
On January 19, 2021, Wang Beixing, director of the speed skating project of the National Speed Skating Hall Operation Team, tried to skate after the completion of the first ice making. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Chenlin
Beijing's renewed use of the Olympic legacy is refreshing. "The Olympic Games have extremely high requirements for venues and facilities, and the host country inevitably 'demolishes' and builds in the city, and this practice is broken by the Beijing Winter Olympics." Gui Lin, director of the Overall Planning Department of the Planning and Construction Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, said that 5 of the 7 competition venues in the Beijing Competition Area of the Winter Olympics have been transformed and utilized, and all the venues have planned long-term utilization plans at the beginning of planning, construction and transformation.
From the Olympic concept of "green", "science and technology" and "humanities" of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to the "green", "sharing", "openness" and "integrity" of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the subtle changes in the keywords of the Olympic concept reflect the profound changes in China's development concept.
This is the National Alpine Ski Center taken on January 19, 2021 (drone photo). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Chenlin
"Both Olympic Games have put green development first. This shows that China's attitude towards ecological governance and resource protection has been consistent and long-term. In 2008, Liu Xinping was responsible for air quality assurance in the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, and she became the director of the Sustainable Development Division of the Overall Planning Department of the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee.
"The Beijing Winter Olympics has become the first Olympic Games to use green and clean energy for all venues, and the first Olympic Games to achieve carbon neutrality. China has not only demonstrated to the world its ability to solve its own development problems, but also contributed Chinese solutions and Chinese wisdom to all mankind, which means greater breakthroughs and responsibilities. Liu Xinping said.
This is the curling circuit taken on December 21, 2020 at the Olympic Hall of the National Aquatics Center. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Chenlin
In the past 14 years, China's scientific and technological strength has jumped sharply. Technological innovation is not listed separately as a keyword in the preparation of the Winter Olympics, because it has long become the underlying logic of China's development.
"The science and technology Olympics proposed in 2008 refer to China's adaptation to the global information society and the opportunity to promote the rapid development of informatization in the capital." 14 years later, technology has already been integrated into all aspects of China. Yu Hong, director of the Technical Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, said.
Venue construction is the top priority of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and at the most critical moment for the construction of venues, the sudden epidemic disrupted the plan. The builders of the Beijing Winter Olympics relied on digital construction technology to scientifically plan construction plans and improve construction efficiency, and finally everything was completed on schedule.
Night view of the National Speed Skating Hall (taken on October 28, 2021). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Chenlin
The National Speed Skating Hall "Ice Ribbon" is the world's first speed skating stadium using carbon dioxide environmentally friendly refrigerants, and its innovative ice-making technology integrates the "sports dream" into the "construction dream", hoping to help athletes who have been practicing hard for 4 years to achieve better results with ice with more environmentally friendly emissions, more uniform ice temperature and better sliding experience.
"After the start of the speed skating event at the Beijing Winter Olympics, the athletes broke the Olympic record 6 times in 4 days, and Gao Tingyu broke the world record in one fell swoop." Yu Hong said that at that time, she felt that the entire "circle of friends" was celebrating, but everyone celebrated not only the success of technology, but also the fact that technology has truly achieved "people-oriented".
On December 21, 2020, staff tested curling in the Olympic Hall of the National Aquatics Center. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Chenlin
Outside the arena, Beijing's urban landscape has become a new look. With Gu Ailing and Su Yiming winning gold consecutively at the Shougang Ski Jump, the development style of Beijing's urban rejuvenation in the new era has also been known to the world.
The old factory building was transformed into the office of the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee and the winter Olympic ski jumping platform was built next to the power plant. The high-quality development of Beijing has injected key support into the preparation of the Winter Olympic Games; riding on the east wind of the Winter Olympic Games, beijing, the "city of the two Olympic Games", is striding forward under the guidance of new development concepts.
The core content of the Olympic Agenda 2020 adopted by the International Olympic Committee in 2014 is to reduce the cost of Olympic bids and operations, do a good job in sustainable development, improve credibility, and pay attention to humanistic care.
IOC President Bach said that as the first Olympic Games to implement the agenda of the whole process, the Beijing Winter Olympics set a new benchmark for future Olympic Games.
Source Xinhua News Agency
Editor: Xie Yongli
Process Editor Tai Shaofeng