Dear Volunteers,

By today all of you have left quarantine following your Olympic volunteering experience. I can only imagine how emotional it is for you to be finally reunited with friends and family, who you have not seen for such a long time. Please enjoy this moment to the fullest and share your many Olympic memories.

On this occasion, I would like to express our deep gratitude and admiration to all of you, the Beijing 2022 volunteers.

You can take great pride in the fact that when Beijing made history as the first city in world to host both the summer and winter editions of the Olympic Games, you were an essential part in writing this great chapter in Olympic history.

You did it – you made these Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games happen!

Your genuine affection and passion for the Olympic Games that all of you displayed was truly heart-warming. The athletes felt this, all of us in the Olympic community felt this and we are forever grateful to you.

Just like the athletes, you demonstrated that we can only go faster, we can only aim higher, we can only become stronger, if we stand together – in solidarity.

On behalf of the entire Olympic community, I say: thank you, dear volunteers, for your great contribution to the great success of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Your smiles have warmed our hearts.

Therefore, I would like to repeat what I said in the Closing Ceremony:

志愿者 谢谢你们!  (Thank you, volunteers!)  谢谢你们, 中国朋友! (Thank you, our Chinese friends)

Lausanne, 7 April 2022,
Thomas Bach