27 Oct 2021 – International Olympic President (IOC) Thomas Bach has praised the preparations for Beijing 2022 with 100 days until the Olympic Winter Games.

“The preparations for Beijing 2022 are going very, very well,” said President Bach. “All the venues are already finished. Test events are underway with international participation, and athletes are excited about the state-of-the-art venues.”

All of the competition venues are complete and a series of ten test events are being held to further test the venues, and help organisers gain experience in each of the different sports.

The design of the medals for which Olympic and Paralympic athletes will compete was revealed on the landmark day. The medals are based on ancient Chinese traditions of unity and peace and named ‘Tong Xin’, meaning ‘together as one’.

Beijing has had to face the challenge of preparing for a major global event in a pandemic, but President Bach is impressed by the preparations in the first city to stage both the summer and winter editions of the Games, including COVID-19 countermeasures.

“The determination of China and the Chinese people is impressive. China does not only want to contain the virus, it wants to eradicate the virus. This is being done now, with great efficiency with very strict measures, and these of course will also be transferred to the Olympic Winter Games.”

With the Games approaching the first editions of the Beijing 2022 Playbooks have also been released on October 25. The two Playbooks, one for athletes and team officials, and one for all other stakeholders, provide comprehensive Covid-19 guidelines to help participants prepare for their time in China, for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

The Olympic flame is in China, having been lit at the traditional ceremony in Ancient Olympia and handed over to Vice-President of Beijing 2022 in Athens last week.

The Olympic Winter Games take place between 4 and 20 February 2022 and the Paralympic Winter Games are held from 4 until 13 March 2022.