Beijing celebrated the 100-day countdown to the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games with the unveiling of the Paralympic torch relay plan on November 24 at the National Aquatics Center, which is also known as the “Ice Cube”. Cai Qi, Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and President of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (Beijing 2022), delivered a speech. Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), sent a video message. Gou Zhongwen, Director of the General Administration of Sport of China, President of the Chinese Olympic Committee and Executive President of Beijing 2022; Chen Jining, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, Mayor of Beijing Municipality, and Executive President of Beijing 2022; Wang Zhengpu, Deputy Party Secretary, Deputy Governor and Acting Governor of Hebei Province and Zhang Haidi, President of the China Disabled Persons' Federation and Executive President of Beijing 2022, attended the event.
Cai Qi delivering a speech
Cai Qi, representing the Beijing Organizing Committee, expressed gratitude to everyone for their continued support for the preparations of the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. He pointed out that the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games is a landmark event at a critical historic juncture in China. The Chinese government attaches great importance to the preparatory work, and President Xi has given a series of important instructions, which provide the fundamental guidelines for the Committee to advance its work. With the strong support of the Chinese government, the Committee adopted a green, inclusive, open and clean approach to hosting the Games in all respects and made parallel preparations for both the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, diligently implemented the IPC’s strategic plan, and pressed ahead with various preparatory tasks in an orderly manner. It has completed all competition venues and barrier-free facilities, released the logo, mascot and torch, formulated the COVID-19 protocol manual, successfully held the test events, and finished the preparations for all competitions. At the same time, the Committee will take the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games as an opportunity to encourage persons with disabilities to get involved in winter sports, further develop programs for people with disabilities, and enable them to pursue a happier and better life.
Cai Qi added that the Paralympic Winter Games is set to open in 100 days and the world will then witness the excellent performance of Paralympic athletes who worked hard to surpass themselves. The Committee will uphold the principle of staging a “simple, safe and splendid” Games, cooperate closely with domestic and foreign stakeholders, make every effort to contain the epidemic and complete all preparatory work, so as to present an exceptional Paralympic Winter Games to the world and contribute to the development of Paralympic sports, the progress of social civility and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Andrew Parsons said in a video message that he was very pleased to see the current progress of preparation. The Beijing Organizing Committee is ready to deliver what will be a fantastic Games. The IPC is looking forward to it and expects more and more Chinese persons with disabilities to be involved in winter sports. China is already a powerhouse in the Summer Games and the IPC is absolutely sure that it is going to be the same in the Winter Paralympics. He thanked the Chinese government and the Beijing Organizing Committee for their diligent work and hoped that through concerted efforts we could deliver an excellent Paralympic Winter Games.
On the site of the event, the Committee unveiled the Beijing 2022 Paralympic torch relay plan—the torch relay featuring about 600 torchbearers will be held during March 2 to 4, 2022 in the three competition zones, i.e., Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. Furthermore, it also released the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Handbook of Services for Persons with Disabilities and the Service Manual for Athletes and Team Officials (Braille and Large Print) and unveiled the commemorative coins. The blind girl who participated in the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games themed painting collection presented her work titled “Flame” to the coach representative from the national wheelchair curling team. Five volunteers visited the competition venues, expressing their earnest expectations of the Paralympic Winter Games. Volunteers with disabilities were presented with the flag on site.
Volunteers with disabilities receiving the flag
Leaders from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Hebei Province, Beijing Municipality and the Beijing Organizing Committee, including Zhang Xu, Yan Pengcheng, Zhang Jiaming, Zhang Jiandong, Zhou Changkui, Han Zirong, Jiang Xiwei, attended the event. Secretary General of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, Dai Binbin also attended the event.
(Reporters: Liu Feifei, Wu Hongli)
