CRI听力:Beijing Submits 2022 Winter Olympics Bidding Report

Beijing has submitted its official bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics to the International Olympic Committee. Almaty of Kazakhstan will be the only rival for the Chinese capital.

CRI's Qi Zhi has the story.

Beijing mayor Wang Anshun, who is also the 2022 Bid Committee president, presented the bid report at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The report, with 14 themes, showcases Beijing's commitment for an athlete-oriented, sustainable, economical Winter Games.

Wang addressed IOC concerns about the lack of snow in the city, and more importantly, high pollution levels.

"Since 2013, Beijing has been actively improving its air quality and we have made huge progress with regard to the air quality and we have adopted a clean air action plan, from 2013 to 2017. We have full confidence the air quality in Beijing will be up to the Olympic standards by the year 2017, or 2018."

Liu Peng, China's sports minister and President of the Chinese Olympic Committee, told delegates in Lausanne the hope is that the games will inspire millions to take up winter sports in China.

"It should be noted that 300 million people will take up Winter sports, which means a huge market for related industries. It will create magnificent business opportunities and room for growth for investors and businesses around the world."

Beijing will co-host the Games with Zhangjiakou, a city in neighboring Hebei Province some 200 kilometers to the northwest.

The two cities will be linked by a high-speed railway.

Under the plan, ice sports will be staged in Beijing while snow events will be held in Zhangjiakou.

Kazakhstan's Almaty became the only rival for Beijing after Norway's Oslo withdrew due to lack of domestic support.

IOC President Thomas Bach says it will be a good competition between the two candidates.

"We have two very strong candidates with two very different approaches. We have Almaty as a winter sport center with many facilities already existing and a great tradition in winter sport for decades with world renowned sports facilities and we have Beijing with a vision to make winter sports accessible for hundreds of millions of people in Beijing and the region, so two really fascinating projects. It will be really good competition between these two candidates."

The IOC will send its Evaluation Commission to visit each city between February and March.

The final decision on the host city will be announced on July 31 this year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

For CRI, I'm Qi Zhi.