Preparatory construction, renovation for Olympics on smooth, sustainable path

Five years since winning its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, Beijing has stepped up its efforts to host a green Games with sustainability at the core of preparations.

With China resuming normalcy in all walks of life after the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak, Beijing has picked up its preparation for the 2022 Olympics with construction and renovation of facilities, with planning for Games-time management and designs for post-event operation well on track, according to organizers and construction regulators.

"We've resumed all preparatory work and are on schedule. We are confident that all competition venues needed for the Games will be done within this year," Ding Jianming, deputy director of the Beijing Major Projects Construction Headquarters Office, said on Thursday.

Selected on July 31, 2015 as the world's only city to host the Winter Olympics after having staged the Summer Games, the Chinese capital is sparing no efforts to deliver on its promise to host sustainable Games with lasting legacies in all three zones-the city's downtown area, its northwest Yanqing district and co-host Zhangjiakou, Hebei province.

As a highlight of the sustainable approach, Beijing has taken advantage of the 2008 Games' legacy to re-purpose five venues used for the Summer Olympics downtown, such as the iconic National Aquatics Center, to host competitions and ceremonies in 2022.

The aquatics center, built for swimming in 2008 and known as the "Water Cube", has been transformed into an "Ice Cube" for curling after a yearlong renovation project, which involves filling the main pool with removable steel structures and making ice sheets above.

After staging a national junior curling tournament last December as a test, the venue now boasts convertibility to switch between summer and winter events, diversifying its business operation significantly, according to general manager Yang Qiyong.

"Thanks to the opportunity to serve the Winter Games, the project has benefited our business with a new sport and a wider range of attractions added to our portfolio," Yang said during a media tour at the center on Tuesday.

Featuring new technologies and deliberate post-Games plans, some newly built Beijing 2022 venues, such as the National Speed Skating Oval, are casting new light on the sustainable future of permanent Olympic projects.

The oval is the world's first of its scale to use carbon dioxide as refrigerant to make and maintain a 12,000-square-meter ice surface for speed skating, replacing the use of the environmentally harmful substance Freon.