07 Dec 2021 – During today’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) meeting, the Beijing 2022 Organising Committee’s report highlighted its readiness and anticipation as it prepares to welcome the world for next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Speaking after the updates, the IOC’s Beijing 2022 Coordination Commission Chair, Juan Antonio Samaranch, said: “Everything is operations, operations, delivery and operations again. In that respect, I can see that not only by the explanations today by the Organising Committee, led by President Cai Qi, but in the constant contact that we have with the Organising Committee, things are very much on track.”

Beijing 2022 and the IOC used today’s meetings to re-emphasise the importance of COVID-19 countermeasures in light of the continually evolving global health situation. This commitment to delivering safe and secure Games will be supported by the imminent publication of the second edition of the Beijing 2022 Playbooks. These will provide participants with all the information necessary to finalise their planning for before, during and after the Games.

In order to clarify and mitigate any COVID-related impacts on competition, the IOC EB approved the following key Principles for the Competition Contingency Regulations for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022:

1. No athlete or team should be designated as “disqualified” for COVID-19 reasons, instead: “Did Not Start (DNS)” or an equivalent sport-specific designation will be used where the athletes or team cannot take part in competition.
2. The minimum result of the athlete/team will be protected, considering the phase of competition at which they could not compete.
3. Where possible, the place of an athlete or team unable to compete will be filled by the next most eligible athlete or team, allowing events to go ahead where possible and medals to be competed for on the field of play.

These principles, which were in place for Tokyo 2020, will now be implemented on a sport-specific basis with the respective International Federations and published ahead of the Beijing 2022 Games.

With less than 60 days to go until the Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony, the team in Beijing explained that they were now in operational delivery mode. Many of their teams have already moved into venues; and an increasing number of local and international workers are beginning to arrive to support preparations, while important operational readiness exercises continue to be conducted with stakeholders in the lead-up to the Games.

Speaking about this, Christophe Dubi, the IOC’s Olympic Games Executive Director, said: “We want to make sure that the teams are ready to face any situation. This is what we call the operational readiness phase and, on the Beijing side, they have started this exercise for quite a while now. It’s integrated with us at the IOC and a number of our stakeholders. So we’re making sure that the teams on their side and ours are trained for anything that could happen between now and the Games, and at the Games. So far, same results. They [Beijing 2022] are really prepared. They are very thorough and have thought about a number of scenarios. So this all bodes well for what you call the final stage of operations and delivery.”

This follows a period in which over 10 international test events and training activities have taken place at various Games venues. So far, the fields of play and venues have received very positive feedback from many users, while the testing activities have also provided Beijing 2022 with important learning opportunities. This has allowed the local Organising Committee to continue to make operational improvements and address any issues ahead of the Games.

In addition, both Beijing 2022 and Chair Samaranch highlighted the growing anticipation for next year’s Games. With the last qualification events taking place over the next few weeks, athletes are refining their final preparations for the Games. The support shown by the UN General Assembly last week was also noted, after the Olympic Truce for Beijing 2022 was adopted by consensus.

The Olympic Winter Games will take place between 4 and 20 February 2022 and the Paralympic Winter Games which will be held from 4 to 13 March 2022.