300 mn people’s promotion to winter sports already works: IOC chief

TIL Desk Sports/ Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), gave thumps-up to China’s vision of promoting 300 million people to winter sports and said he is very sure about the success of the Games during a visit to Beijing 2022 competition zones here on Tuesday.

“We can see the great progress, but what is even more important is we can see the plan raised by Chinese President Xi Jinping to make 300 million people familiar with winter sports obviously already works,” Bach told after visiting the Zhangjiakou and Yanqing competition zones.

“We have met many children who love winter sports. We have seen athletes practicing winter sports. We have seen the halfpipe and other slopes which are already hosting the World Cups. The progress is really impressive,” he added.

Beijing 2022’s vision of giving 300 million people in China access to winter sports has already been visible. According to official statistics, by October 2018, more than 800 ski facilities have been built and about 50 million Chinese citizens have skied for at least once, influencing about 150 million to participate in winter sports directly or indirectly.