China pledges 8 million winter sports lovers in Beijing for 2022 Winter Olympics
Drive to get residents ready for Olympics will include school lessons and other related events
China has pledged to ensure there are 8 million winter sports aficionado in Beijing as part of the capital’s latest efforts to boost its prospects for Winter Olympics glory in next six years.
In addition, the city government is negotiating with the National Hockey League to host some play-off events, with the hope to increasing public interest in winter sports, Sun Xuecai, director of Beijing Sports Bureau said at a press conference on Monday.
READ MORE: Beijing picked to host 2022 Winter Olympics despite lack of snow, pollution issues
The six-year development plan for winter sports, the first of its kind by a local government, came after President Xi Jinping committed to accelerating the winter sports industry development in his video message to International Olympic Committee delegates in July.
Beijing joined Zhangjiakou to bid for the rights to host the 2022 Winter Games.
Upon winning the bid, Xi told committee delegates, the government would encourage more than 300 million Chinese to take up winter sports by 2022, Xinhua reported.
Lessons about winter Olympics and other winter sports, as well as etiquette on watching matches would be taught in all primary and middle schools in the capital, Sun Xuecai, director of Beijing Sports Bureau said at a press conference on Monday in Beijing.
The plans didn’t give additional details of how to build up the eight millions followers for winter sports in a city that has just 21 million people.
But Sun said the figure would include winter sports students and coaches, organisers of winter sports events as well as pupils from primary schools, and their parents.
Meanwhile, the city would speed up investment in upgrading 22 existing snow resorts and the constructing of 56 indoor and outdoor skating ranks as well as 100 schools themed on winter sports by 2022. It predicts the size of the industry would grow significantly to 40 billion yuan by 2022, from 5 billion yuan in 2013, Sun said, adding that private and foreign capitals would be encouraged.
Beijing’s victory in bidding for the Games have been controversial. It beat Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan which is best known for its towering mountains and plenty of natural snow.
READ MORE: 2022 Winter Olympics bid: we can make snow, says Beijing; we have real snow, says Almaty
Beijing has little experience with winter sports and is contending with a lack of water, an addition to polluted air. But city officials insist they will have sufficient water supplies and snow-making equipment for ideal skiing conditions for the athletes
The plans fail to address the concerns over a water shortage, but the city government pledged to give more financial support, including subsidies and tax cuts, to winter sports companies.
