第1个回答 2016-01-24
Beijing and neighboring Hebei province's Zhangjiakou have continued fighting to co-host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games since the cities launched their joint bid on Nov 3.
But they face stiff competition from several challengers - Norway's Oslo, Ukraine's Lviv, Sweden's Stockholm, Kazakhstan's Almaty and a joint effort from Poland and Slovakia.
"We declared our intention to co-host the Winter Games with Beijing in 2003 and have never given up on the idea," Zhangjiakou's bidding office director Zhang Chunsheng said.
The plan calls for starting the 16-day event at the end of January or beginning of February, depending on weather conditions.
Beijing would stage opening and closing ceremonies, the ice events and downhill and slalom. Most sports requiring snow - about two-thirds of the competitions - would take place in Zhangjiakou's Chongli county.
Beijing, Zhangjiakou vie for 2022 Games joint bid
"Our superior natural conditions, including the weather and terrain, can be an advantage for the joint bid," Zhang said.
Chongli, a county 40 kilometers north of Zhangjiakou, has at least four months of snowfall, normally starting in late October. Its average snowfall has hovered around 1 meter in the past decade, which would provide sufficient snow for the competitions.
Besides, the average winter temperature is around -12 C, which is better than extremely low temperatures. Harbin's extremely cold weather dashed its 2010 Winter Games bid, for instance.
"We have four ski tracks with licenses from the Federation International de Ski (FIS) and another eight tracks will be licensed in 2014," Zhang said.
International Olympic Committee member Gerhard Heiberg said the county is the best Chinese locale to host the Winter Games when his team inspected all the bidders in November.
The excellent natural conditions and proximity to Beijing - only 170 kilometers away - have long made the county popular among skiers from Beijing. Its skiing industry began in 1996.
Last year, more than 100,000 people hit the slopes of Chongli's Genting Resort, one of the county's four major winter sports sites. Most came from Beijing, the resort's COO Gary Grant said.