体坛英语新闻：Beijing 2022 mascots meet fans in Olympic Museum, as Bach extends Chinese New year greetings

LAUSANNE, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The two mascots "Bing Dwen Dwen" and "Shuey Rhon Rhon" for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games were introduced to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne on Friday, while IOC president Thomas Bach proposed Chinese New Year greetings to Chinese people.

The animated astronaut giant panda "Bing Dwen Dwen" and the red lantern baby "Shuey Rhon Rhon" were set up right at the entrance of the museum, attracting many visitors to come and take pictures. It is the first time for the Beijing 2022 mascots to showcase in Switzerland.

The museum also set up a special area for the Chinese paintings exhibition with the theme of "harmony and peace", which is also part of the celebration for Chinese Lunar New Year.

Bach proposed the greetings on the ceremony in Chinese "Xin Chun Kuai Le", which means "wish you happy Chinese New year".

He then greeted in English "I wish all the Chinese people a happy New Year, with health, with happiness, with good fortune, and with prosperity. May the friendship between the Olympic movement and China live and be strengthened in this year."

"Today we're celebrating the Chinese new year. We're also celebrating the beginning of the Olympic year," said Bach. "The link between art, sport and Olympic movement is one of the basis and philosophy of the IOC founder Coubertin who was very much promoting the blending of culture and sports in the Olympic movement."

Bach believed the art show of the mascots and Chinese paintings are good examples of the blending. "The paintings represent the peace and harmony between humankind and nature, which are also priorities of sports."

"In two years, China will write history again. Beijing will be the first city in Olympic history to organize both the winter games and summer games," said the IOC president. "We're looking forward to strengthening the cooperation with China this year. Beijing 2022's preparation work is going very well and we can already look forward to the excellent Winter Olympic Games from now on."