CRI听力:Beijing Promises Great, Special and Excellent Games

Chinese vice-premier Liu Yandong said China will work hard for the 2022 Winter Games.

"Successfully winning the bid is a new beginning for us. We will work hard to build our nation, to become an especially good country, so we can present a great, special and excellent Games to the world."

The Chinese capital, the first city to be awarded both the Summer and Winter Olympics, narrowly beat Kazakhstan's Almaty 44-40 in a vote, with IOC President Thomas Bach abstaining.
　　
Beijing mayor Wang Anshun said it was "highly significant" for China to host a second Olympic Games.

"The Olympics has a history of over 120 years, and in that 120 years our country, with over one quarter of the world's population, has hosted only one edition of the Olympics. The success of our bid means that we will be hosting a second edition in 2022. Only the second time in over 120 years for a country of 1.3 billion people. It is highly necessary, significant and important for us to host an Olympic Winter Games."

The Beijing bid has committed to encouraging Chinese participation in Winter Sports to increase interest ahead of the 2022 Games.

Zhang Li, Head of Beijing 2022 Venue planning and sustainability, said all of the preliminary plans will be improved to ensure a best games.

"We are aimed at the best games in 2022 and we are keen to improve the current preliminary plans we have. We will work closely with IOC and with International Sports Federations on all the plans we have now because our chief goal is the best games in 2022. We need to deliver upon all the pledges we have made and we'll continue to improve it. Thank you."

Beijing's bidding committee had said the city will take advantage of the tremendous legacy of the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games legacy - including existing competition venues, infrastructure and professional experience.

But the city is still facing major challenges including air quality and snow conditions.

Local authorities have vowed to cut airborne particles PM2.5 by 20 percent by 2017, and by 45 percent in 2022, with a total of 130 billion U.S. dollars earmarked for environmental protection.

To deal with the lack of real snow, bid officials have promised that they have the capacity to rely entirely on artificial snow-making and to comply with all snow requirements.

Currently, a high-speed railway linking Beijing and Zhangjiakou is under construction.

It's expected to cut the travel time from the two cities to around 50 minutes after completion in 2019.

The Beijing Games will coincide with the Chinese New Year, a plan to create a thrilling festival atmosphere for visitors.

For CRI, I'm Luo Wen.