Manga Shun
On September 16, 2015, Hangzhou was awarded the right to host the 19th Asian Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. The picture shows the Chinese delegation at the scene holding up the national flag and cheering. (Infographic)
The "Asian Games Three Pavilions" project has been completed and accepted, coupled with the "big and small lotus" and supporting projects gradually in place, the overall construction of the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center is close to completion, and a super-large-scale modern sports new city has risen on the banks of the Qiantang River. Photo by reporter Li Zhong
Chief reporter Qi Hang reviewed Ying Changdong
On that day, in the ancient city of Central Asia, which is thousands of miles away, the word "Hangzhou" resounded in the clear sky.
On September 16, 2015, at 1:00 p.m. Beijing time and 10:00 a.m. Turkmenistan time, the 34th OCA Congress held in Ashgabat came to the most exciting link-
The President of the Olympic Council of Asia, Prince Ahmed, took the stage to solemnly announce the host city of the 19th Asian Games in 2022. Offstage, the members of the Hangzhou Shenya delegation held their breath and listened silently, and the scorching breath drifted in the hot and dry air.
"Hangzhou, China, won the right to host the 2022 Asian Games!" The words fell, all the backlog of emotions spewed out at this moment, cheering and shaking the sky, applause thundering, the national flag flying, everyone expressed the excitement and joy of this moment in all possible ways, and lamented that all efforts and efforts were not in vain.
From this moment on, the word "Hangzhou" will be destined to be engraved on the milestone of the development of the Olympic cause in Asia.
At that time, the annual ring of light crossed six circles, and the preparations for the Hangzhou Asian Games had entered the year of decisive victory. A year later, on September 10, Hangzhou will stand in the center of the stage and be examined and reviewed by the people of all Asia. In order to hold a sports and cultural event with "Chinese characteristics, Zhejiang style, Hangzhou charm, and wonderful", the whole city is fighting for it. We are all looking forward to it, when the curtain opens, Asia will be shocked.
Red archives
Hangzhou needs the Asian Games The Asian Games need Hangzhou
Holding large-scale comprehensive sports events has always been Hangzhou's dream.
Before successfully bidding for the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, Hangzhou had also participated in two national games and one national city games, and the results were all plummeted.
If you don't get the first chance, you can't prove to others that you can, and it's like a difficult cycle. Dormant Hangzhou has been waiting and looking for the next opportunity to break this cycle.
The opportunity finally came in 2014. In April of that year, the leaders of the State General Administration of Sport communicated with the relevant leaders of Zhejiang Province and Hangzhou City in Beijing on Hangzhou's bid to host large-scale international sports events, and expressed their active support for Hangzhou's bid to host the 19th Asian Games. In May of that year, the Zhejiang Provincial Sports Bureau and the Hangzhou Municipal Government jointly submitted to the Zhejiang Provincial Government the "Request for Hangzhou's Bid to Host the 19th Asian Games in 2023", formally submitting an application for the Asian Games; subsequently, the Zhejiang Provincial Government submitted to the State General Administration of Sport the "Letter on The Bid of Hangzhou City in Zhejiang Province to Host the 19th Asian Games in 2023".
Waiting for a good opportunity, Hangzhou, repacked, set off again.
The change in the timing of the Asian Games reflects the twists and turns of the bidding process-
Previously, in order to enhance the market attractiveness and economic sustainability of the Asian Games and avoid frequent "collisions" of the World Cup and the Winter Olympic Games due to the same year, the Olympic Council of Asia announced in 2010 that it would postpone the 18th Asian Games to 2019, hosted by Hanoi, Vietnam.
But planning is not as fast as changing. The Vietnamese government then abruptly renounced its hosting rights in April 2014 due to a financial crisis, which caught the Olympic Council off guard and had to scramble to find alternative cities. Although there was a "takeover" in Jakarta, Indonesia, it made concessions in the time of the event, and it was advanced to 2018.
"Vietnam's abandonment of the 2019 Asian Games and the temporary taking over by Indonesia may plunge the Asian Games into a non-virtuous circle." Therefore, the Olympic Council hopes that a big country like China can stand up and bid. Wei Jizhong, lifetime honorary vice chairman of the Olympic Council of Asia, who was deeply involved in the bidding process of the Hangzhou Asian Games, said in an interview at the time.
The Olympic Council of Asia needs China to shoulder the responsibility of a sports power, and China also needs a city to shoulder the heavy responsibility of hosting the Asian Games, and Hangzhou has stepped forward.
On August 16, 2015, the State Council approved Hangzhou's bid to host the 19th Asian Games in 2022 on behalf of China, and subsequently, the Chinese Olympic Committee officially submitted a letter of intent to bid to the Olympic Council of Asia.
The news that "Hangzhou has decided to bid for the Asian Games" has aroused national concern for a time. At that time, due to the spread of news such as Vietnam's abandonment of the Asian Games and the Sochi Winter Olympics, a one-sided voice believed that holding large-scale sports events was "labor and loss of money" and "loss of money and profits".
In fact, this does not hold true for Hangzhou. In early August 2015, Wei Jizhong led the inspection team of the Olympic Council of Asia to visit Hangzhou, conducted a comprehensive inspection of the foundation and conditions of Hangzhou's organization, and made a judgment at that time, in addition to the Asian Games Village, Hangzhou can host an Asian Games by using existing and under construction sports facilities, and the relevant urban infrastructure can basically meet the needs of the Asian Games, and the municipal government and the organizing committee do not need to increase too much investment.
"Hosting the Asian Games will not be a burden for the development of Hangzhou. The economic benefits of the Asian Games are mainly indirect and long-term, such as promoting tourism development, improving the standard of urban software and hardware, and so on. Wei Jizhong said.
From the concept of "green, intelligent, thrifty and civilized" finally determined by Hangzhou, we can glimpse this strategic thinking of "calculating big accounts", "calculating long-term accounts" and "calculating comprehensive accounts". Since the beginning of the bidding work, Hangzhou hopes to hold a high-level sports and cultural event to comprehensively display the development achievements in the fields of ecological civilization, smart city, and cultural prosperity, further enhance Hangzhou's influence and reputation in Asia and even the world, and achieve "running a good meeting and upgrading a city".
Hangzhou needs the Asian Games, and the Asian Games need Hangzhou, which is a match made in heaven at the right time.
There was no doubt, only applause
When Hangzhou fully launched the bidding work, the countdown bell was already ticking.
On August 20, 2015, Hangzhou established the Hangzhou 2022 19th Asian Games Bidding City Working Committee (hereinafter referred to as the "Asia Shen Working Committee"), with Zhang Hongming, then mayor of Hangzhou, as its director. At this time, it has been less than a month since the 34th OCA Congress, which announced the results on September 16.
"At that time, there were two main difficulties, one was the lack of experience in bidding for such a large-scale comprehensive sports event, and a lot of work had to be explored; the other was that time was tight and the task was heavy, and the filming of promotional films, the writing of statements, the preparation of on-site exhibitions, etc., all needed to be completed in a short period of time with high quality." A staff member who had been involved in the bidding process recalled.
Taking the on-site presentation session as an example, due to the large number of agendas of the OCA Congress, the decision to host the city is only one of them, and the conference party only gave Hangzhou a total of 20 minutes of presentation time, and then deducted 5 minutes and 13 seconds of the promotional video, in fact, the average presentation time left for the 6 speakers was only two minutes.
In order to show the most prominent highlights and advantages of Hangzhou within the specified time, each statement is carefully considered, changed and changed, and more than a dozen drafts have been changed.
In the choice of the presenter, Hangzhou also spent a lot of thought. In addition to Liu Peng, then director of the State General Administration of Sports, Zheng Jiwei, then vice governor of Zhejiang Province, Zhang Hongming, then mayor of Hangzhou, and Chen Yongxin, bilingual host of Hangzhou TELEVISION station who made an English statement, the other two presenters are also very representative: one is the Olympic champion "Frog Queen" Luo Xuejuan, who swam from the pool in Hangzhou to the world's highest podium, representing the top level of competitive sports in Hangzhou; the other is Jin Jianhang, president of Alibaba Group, who speaks on behalf of the business community in Hangzhou. It can highlight the unique advantages of Hangzhou's developed digital economy and the practical feasibility of holding a "Smart Asian Games".
On September 15, 2015, Mayor Zhang Hongming led a delegation from Hangzhou to Turkmenistan, arrived in Ashgabat in the afternoon of the same day, and met with The President of the Olympic Council, Prince Ahmed, in the evening. After the meeting, Mayor Zhang Hongming rushed to the scene of the meeting of the OCA congress the next day, and Liu Peng, director of the Olympic Council, conducted a drill on the application statement, and made the final revision and improvement of the statement, which lasted until more than one o'clock in the morning of the 16th.
September 16, 2015, the day the results were announced. The six speakers and the other members of the Hangzhou Shenya delegation all swept away the fatigue of the journey and appeared at the venue with a radiant look in their eyes full of confidence and determination.
At 9:30 a.m. local time, the Hangzhou Shenya delegation began to present to the representatives of the Olympic Council of Asia. Director Liu Peng, Mayor Zhang Hongming, Luo Xuejuan, Jin Jianhang, Chen Yongxin, and Vice Governor Zheng Jiwei took the stage to make statements in turn, with a calm posture, concise and powerful words, a compact and coherent rhythm, and the entire presentation session was completed in one go.
Statements are made through short videos, slides, pledges, etc. The video clip vividly showed the delegates the history and culture, beautiful scenery and urban construction of Hangzhou; the slides showed Hangzhou's confidence and expectations for the Asian Games from seven aspects, including competition arrangements, intelligent services, accommodation reception, transportation services, medical care, safety and security, and market development.
"The Hangzhou Municipal Government will work with the Chinese Olympic Committee to fully cooperate with the Olympic Council of Asia and the individual sports federations in Asia, abide by its commitments, implement the agenda, and make the 2022 Asian Games a green, intelligent, thrifty and civilized sports event." Mayor Zhang Hongming said loudly.
This time, Hangzhou is determined to win.
According to the agenda of the conference, there will be a live question-and-answer session after the presentation session. Surprisingly, the scene was silent, no questions, no questions, and more than 100 questions and answers prepared by the Hangzhou Shenya delegation in advance were not used.
The results seem to have been revealed.
Yes, Hangzhou won. Yes, see you in Hangzhou in 2022.
The thunderous applause suddenly broke the silence of the venue...
Red Quest
"How honored I am to be able to do a little for Hangzhou's bid to host the Asian Games"
At the bidding presentation site on September 16, 2015, a native of Hangzhou, speaking authentic And pure English, told the guests about the characteristics and advantages of Hangzhou.
She is Chen Yongxin, a bilingual host at Hangzhou TELEVISION. Six years later, Chen Yongxin still meticulously preserves the cheongsam she wore at the scene of the presentation. This set of blue and white flower silk cheongsam is carefully made by a Hangzhou fashion designer, and every detail and element shows the beauty of grace and beauty, just like the urban temperament of Hangzhou.
"How honored I am to be able to do a little for Hangzhou to bid for the Asian Games!" Recalling the days when she participated in the bidding work, Chen Yongxin's heart was surging with emotion. She said that at that time, all the staff of the bidding delegation were doing their best to pursue perfection, but it was foolproof.
In the presentation session, Chen Yongxin needs to stand on the rostrum the whole time, from the introduction of the members of the delegation to the intermission cross-talk, and then to the final city statement, which must be completed by her. In the total 20-minute statement, Chen Yongxin's urban statement accounted for 7 minutes, including the development of Hangzhou's humanities, history, economy, environmental protection and other developments, as well as the foundation of the national movement, etc., which can be said to be the "highlight".
"In order to pass more information to the Olympic Council of Asia in a limited time, and to show that Hangzhou is fully capable of hosting the 2022 Asian Games, my statement has been revised in more than ten versions before and after, and it is still changing until the moment before getting on the plane." Chen Yongxin told reporters.
On the night before the opening of the conference, Chen Yongxin and several leaders conducted a final presentation exercise until more than one o'clock in the morning. After sleeping for less than 5 hours, she came to the venue early to prepare, and riveted enough to kick the "door kick".
People with bitter hearts will never fail. In the statement that morning, Chen Yongxin and the other 5 presenters tacitly cooperated and presented wonderfully, and completed the entire statement with an almost flawless performance.
"When Prince Ahmed announced the success of Hangzhou's bid, everyone's hanging hearts finally fell to the ground, Qi Brush stood up, and the people in the front row unfurled the five-star red flag that had always been held in their hands, and the others held the small red flag in their hands and kept waving." Chen Yongxin said that that moment is worth remembering in this life.
"In order to show Hangzhou, we bought a large color TV in the local area"
Participating in the bidding work in Turkmenistan has made Liu Jian, director of the Project Planning Office of the Hangzhou Asian Organizing Committee, unforgettable.
At that time, in order to make full preparations for the bidding work, he and several other staff members and media reporters set off from Hangzhou on September 12, transited through Urumqi, and arrived in Ashgabat in the early morning of September 13.
"When we go abroad, I am not familiar with life, and it is certainly not okay to forget what to bring, so we listed all the things that could be used before we left, prepared one by one, as small as a roll of tape paper, and we all brought it ourselves." Liu Jian said. He clearly remembers that when all the equipment, tools, and luggage were put together, it was enough to pack 19 large suitcases, and it was necessary to count them carefully during the transit check-in, for fear of missing one.
In the early communication with the Olympic Council of Asia, Liu Jian learned that the conference authorities set up a display area outside the conference venue for use in Hangzhou, Jakarta and other cities. The special products such as Hangzhou silk, Longjing tea leaves, silk fan silk umbrellas in the luggage are used to decorate the Hangzhou city booth.
According to Liu Jian's vision, the conference will prepare video playback equipment for the relevant cities to play promotional videos. "As a result, when we went to the scene to see, the other party was completely unprepared, and we could only find a way to solve it ourselves." Liu Jian and they immediately drove to a large supermarket nearest to the venue to buy.
"In order to ensure the adaptability of the equipment, we wanted to buy a domestic color TV, looked for a circle in the supermarket, fortunately, immediately bought one." Liu Jian told reporters with a smile.
Setting up the booth is a detail-oriented, time-consuming and laborious project, hanging spray painting canvas, debugging playback equipment, displaying featured products... Liu Jian, his colleagues and media reporters almost all went into battle and worked together to complete the work.
Thanks to Liu Jian's meticulous and meticulous exhibition presentation, on the morning of the opening of the conference, the Hangzhou City Booth really became a bright color outside the venue, adding a lot of "impression points" to Hangzhou. The representatives and experts of the Olympic Council of Asia, attracted by the antique and interesting Hangzhou products, stopped to taste Longjing tea, watch the promotional video, and then give a thumbs up.
"They must be eager to come to Hangzhou for themselves, and the 2022 Asian Games is the best opportunity." Liu Jian said enthusiastically.
Source: Hangzhou Daily