2022 Olympics Coordinating Committee to visit China this month - Russian Olympic chief

MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Alexander Zhukov said on Tuesday that the Coordination Commission of the 2022 Winter Games in China’s Beijing would pay this month its first official visit to the Asian country. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced last Wednesday that Zhukov was appointed to chair the Coordination Commission of the 2022 Winter Games in China’s Beijing. The ROC president also served the chairman of the IOC Evaluation Commission to select the 2022 Winter Olympic Games hosting country. "This is a very important appointment for me," Zhukov told journalists on Tuesday. "I know China’s bid very well and the experience of organizing the Olympics in Sochi will be in demand in Beijing. The commission’s first visit will be held in March." Russia’s Dmitry Chernyshenko, who was the head of the 2014 Sochi Olympics Organizing Committee, is also one of the 2022 Olympics Coordinating Committee’s 16 members. In February and March of 2014, the Russian resort city of Sochi hosted the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, which, according to international sports officials, athletes and visitors, were organized at the highest level possible and provided up-to-date infrastructure at all levels. "Considering the experience of our work with Jean-Claude Killy, who was the chair of the Coordination Commission for the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, we [the Commission] will be convening once in a quarter of a year, will be studying the Olympic facilities and see how the preparations progress," Zhukov said. "It will be a very lengthy process taking approximately six years." "The Coordination Commission is in fact a body responsible before the IOC for the successful organization of the Games," Zhukov added. Commenting on Zhukov’s appointment on February 25, IOC President Thomas Bach said: "The Coordination Commission under Chair Alexander Zhukov will support the Organizing Committee to further develop the Games plan with a special focus on sustainability and environmental protection, in line with Olympic Agenda 2020." During the 128th IOC session in Kuala Lumpur on July 31, 2015, Beijing was elected the host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics making the Chinese capital the first city ever to host both the Summer Games (in 2008) and the Winter Games (in 2022). Beijing won the right to host the 2022 Olympics in a tight race over Kazakhstan’s Almaty eventually securing 44 votes against 40 in support of the largest Kazakh city. Read more