Organizing body for Winter Games set up

The Organizing Committee for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games was inaugurated on Tuesday in the Chinese capital.

Beijing, with co-host Zhangjiakou in Hebei province, won the right on July 31 to host the events. Setting up the committee marks the official start of the preparatory work.

The committee, which is chaired by Beijing Party chief Guo Jinlong, has four executive presidents - Sports Minister Liu Peng, Beijing Mayor Wang Anshun, Hebei Governor Zhang Qingwei and China Disabled Persons' Federation Chairwoman Zhang Haidi.

Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli said at the inauguration ceremony that the organizers should stage the Winter Olympics with a "global perspective".

China is not a major winter sports power and is short of professionals for organizational work of snow events. Holding more such sports in China ahead of the Games is one way to increase the number of local professionals.

Ren Hongguo, China's winter sports head, said, "We are holding additional winter sports events in the country to attract more people to the snow events and to train more people for organizational work."

Beijing's open approach to organizing both Games has been praised by the International Olympic Committee. During the bidding stage, a number of foreign experts were involved.

IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi suggested that the Beijing Organizing Committee should maintain its open approach to expertise.

"Be open. You have done this in the past, so you will do it for 2022," Dubi said.

leilei@chinadaily.com.c