Xi urges Olympics ‘as clean as snow’
Print Edition
CHINA must hold a Winter Olympics that is “clean as the snow” when it hosts the event in 2022, President Xi Jinping said yesterday, following two corruption scandals involving Chinese officials linked to the Games.
Beijing, along with the nearby city of Zhangjiakou, won the right to host the Games last year. The only other city bidding to host the event was Kazakhstan’s Almaty, after other cities dropped out citing costs and other concerns.
The run-up to China’s bid last year was overshadowed by corruption investigations into a deputy sports minister who had sat on China’s Olympics committee and the Party chief of north China’s Hebei Province, where Zhangjiakou is located, who had attended meetings of the bid committee.
Speaking at a meeting with senior Chinese Winter Games and sports officials, Xi said there must be strict budget management to ensure the cost of hosting the Games was kept under control.
“Strengthen supervision, let the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics be as pure and clean as the snow and ice,” a report on China Central Television paraphrased him as saying. Xi made no direct mention of either corruption scandal.
Corruption in international sports is in the public domain due to US and Swiss investigations into football’s world governing body FIFA, the worst crisis in its 112-year history, while doping scandals have hit tennis and athletics.
Xi urged new ideas to ensure the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games would be “fantastic, extraordinary and excellent.”
He said innovation, coordination, green development, opening-up and sharing should be implemented in preparation for a successful 2022 Games that will satisfy both the international community and the Chinese people.
At the International Olympic Committee meeting in July last year when the Games were awarded to Beijing and Zhangjiahou, Xi had thrown his weight behind the nation’s bid, reiterating its passion for the Games in a video speech played during a final presentation to IOC members.
He later wrote to IOC President Thomas Bach to express thanks for the IOC’s trust and long-term support.
Xi said an extraordinary Winter Olympics would further showcase China’s achievements in reform and opening-up as well as its efforts in promoting the peace and development of all humanity.
He also emphasized the post-games use of Olympic stadiums and facilities, adding that existing stadiums must be put into full play.
Xi pointed out that the preparation for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics can also be a strong push for the integration of Beijing and neighboring cities.
China is creating a new economic belt and environment-friendly zone which incorporates Beijing with the surrounding Hebei Province and Tianjin, a port city to the southeast of the capital.
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