The 24th Winter Olympic Games will kick off in Beijing on February 4, 2022.
The sports department of Chinanews.com launched a series of columns "Hundred Questions about Winter Olympics", aimed at popularizing Winter Olympic knowledge, answering hot questions, sharing interesting stories about ice and snow, and helping everyone have a better watching experience during the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The 59th Winter Olympics 100 Questions | Why did the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Winter Olympics choose Shougang?
In 2008, the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee was located in Beijing’s North Fourth Ring College Bridge, the Olympic Building, which has now become a landmark building, carrying the glorious Olympic memory.
The Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee moved its office to the relatively remote site of Shougang in Shijingshan District. What is the meaning behind it?
Shougang Ski Jump is the first newly-built competition venue in the Beijing competition area. It will serve as the official competition venue for freestyle skiing and snowboarding at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Hou Yu
Traffic is one of the considerations.
The 2022 Winter Olympics will have three competition areas: Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. From Shougang Park to Yanqing or Zhangjiakou through the West Fifth Ring Road and West Sixth Ring Road, it is more convenient than the urban area. The competition venues are very close, and it can also promote the industrial transformation of Shougang's original factory area.
In addition, the location of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee has a deeper meaning here.
More than ten years ago, Shougang relocated to Caofeidian for the clear water and blue sky of the capital and for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2015, with the arrival of the Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, the long-silent Shougang Industrial Park was "reborn".
The cooling tower was transformed into an Olympic venue, the blast furnace became a training center, and an iron ore storage tower became the seat of the Olympic Organizing Committee.
The official website of the International Olympic Committee once pointed out that one of the greatest legacy left by the Beijing Winter Olympics is to drive the revival of the Shougang Industrial Park area.
As a pilot for the relocation and transformation of the first batch of urban old industrial areas in the country, the new Shougang high-end industrial comprehensive service area has accelerated its transformation and upgrading with the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee’s entry as an opportunity.
In order to provide Chinese athletes with a new training venue, the State Sports General Administration decided to build a national winter training center in Shougang: a short track speed skating hall, a figure skating hall, an ice hockey hall, and a curling hall, commonly known as "Four Blocks of Ice."
Therefore, here is the dream of Chinese sports for the Winter Olympics.
International Olympic Committee Chairman Bach once visited the site of the single-board jump platform located in the Beijing Park of Shougang, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee Shougang Office Park, etc., and the natural environment, historical accumulation, industrial heritage, and cultural charm are all here. He was very impressed.
The arrival of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will give the old Shougang a new look. At the same time, this is also the stamp of the times brought to the city by the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, bringing new life to the legacy left behind.
(Wang Yu)