Chinese first vice-premier calls for "simple, safe and splendid" Winter Olympics By Owen Lloyd Saturday, 11 September 2021 Chinese first vice-premier Han Zheng has called for Beijing 2022 to be run smoothly and on schedule during an inspection tour to co-host city of Zhangjiakou. Han urged workers to continue with their whole-hearted efforts for the Winter Olympics to go to plan and be "simple, safe and splendid," per Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua.During the inspection, Han visited the National Ski Jumping Centre, the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Villages, a snow park and an exhibition hall to learn about construction, preparation, future planning and COVID-19 prevention work.As the construction work enters a crucial stage, with fewer than five months until the Games, Han called for high-quality venue and facility construction and careful management.The impact of the coronavirus crisis was felt at the delayed and spectator-free the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and Han also stressed the importance of sound plans to prevent and control the pandemic around Beijing 2022.Chinese first vice-premier Han Zheng has called for "simple, safe and splendid" execution of the 2022 Winter Olympics ©Getty ImagesAnother important measure in Han's eyes is the protection of forests and the environment, with sustainability and use of venues after the event stressed.The Zhangjiakou cluster is 140 miles away from Beijing and is set to host the cross-country skiing, ski jumping, biathlon, snowboarding and freestyle skiing events.Beijing 2022 is scheduled to take place from February 4 to 20.The Chinese capital will become the first-ever city to host the Summer and Winter Games, after Beijing 2008, provided next year's event goes ahead.Playbooks for Beijing 2022 are expected to be published in October and will likely provide more detail on COVID-19 countermeasures - particularly relevant with foreign arrivals in China required to self-isolate for 21 days at present. Timeline Related stories September 2021: NBC "virtually sold out" of advertising space for Beijing 2022 September 2021: Playbooks for Beijing 2022 expected to be published in October September 2021: North Korea banned from Beijing 2022 after IOC suspends NOC September 2021: Sixth edition of World Winter Sports Expo held in Beijing prior to Winter Olympics January 2018: Beijing 2022 highway to open for first traffic by end of year About the author Owen Lloyd Junior Reporter Follow @OwenLloydSJ Owen Lloyd is a junior reporter at insidethegames.biz, having joined the team in 2021. Lloyd has previously worked with Badminton England at the All England Open Badminton Championships, covered the 2019 General Election and hosted a radio show on local station Voice FM. He graduated from Solent University in 2021 with a 2:1 in sports journalism, where his final project examined diversity in rowing. Contact Owen Read more of Owen 's articles Follow @OwenLloydSJ on Twitter Tags Han Zheng Beijing 2022 Zhangjiakou China Winter Olympics Share this page /* * * CONFIGURATION VARIABLES: EDIT BEFORE PASTING INTO YOUR WEBPAGE * * */ var disqus_shortname = 'itga'; var disqus_identifier = '1112855'; /* * * DON'T EDIT BELOW THIS LINE * * */ (function() { var dsq = document.createElement('script'); dsq.type = 'text/javascript'; dsq.async = true; dsq.src = '//' + disqus_shortname + '.disqus.com/embed.js'; (document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(dsq); })(); Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus See our comment guidelines here

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