News from Zhangjiakou Olympic Village

The opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games in Beijing is scheduled for 4 February. China has been preparing for this event for the last seven years. The Games will certainly be the hottest topic generating a lot of trending news throughout February. This prestigious international event will be held under extremely difficult conditions associated with the coronavirus pandemic. However, unlike Tokyo 2020, the Beijing 2022 organizers did not postpone the event and are already welcoming the Games participants.

A large part of the Belarusian delegation has already arrived in Beijing: biathletes and speed skaters have already embarked on intensive training at Olympic venues.

The cross-country skiing team is expected to arrive on 2 February and aerial skiers will come on 5 February. It is worth noting that the venues for the Winter Games were divided into three zones, or clusters: Beijing, Yanqing, and Zhangjiakou. Belarusian athletes have already arrived in Beijing (skaters) and Zhangjiakou (biathlon).

Located 180km northwest of Beijing, the National Biathlon Center in Zhangjiakou commands a special mention of Belaursian fans. This report will review how Belarusian athletes live and relax.

The Zhangjiakou cluster is built in a popular resort in Chongli District in Hebei Province. China’s National Ski Jumping Center, the National Biathlon Center, the National Cross-Country Skiing Center were built here within several years.

The village architects opted for low-rise buildings up to five floors to make living here more comfortable. The Olympic Village in Zhangjiakou has about 1,700 rooms that will accommodate about 2,600 athletes and team officials during the Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

The Olympic Village has everything one might need: a clinic, a canteen, a media center, a transport mall, a grocery store and, of course, a gift shop. The latter offers a huge variety of Olympic merchandise.

The official mascot of the Games, a good-natured and friendly giant panda Bing Dwen Dwen, welcomes all participants in the courtyard. You can already see numerous photos with this cute mascot in social networks.

The Belarusian delegation has settled in the “Beauty” building and has already decorated their house in the colors of the national flag. Interestingly, each of the buildings here has names: Friendship, Peace, etc., which also adds coziness and friendliness to the venue.

Rooms, as many athletes have noted, are quite comfortable and spacious.

The beds are decorated in the uniform style featuring the cute mascot.

The Medals Plaza in the Zhangjiakou Olympic Village is decorated stylishly, yet without frills.

One of the main facilities of any tournament is the catering quarters (a dining hall).

The Chinese have put a touch of true oriental hospitality in the catering area and tried to make it as welcoming as possible.

Biathletes Anton Smolski and Dzinara Alimbekava gave a thumbs-up to the choice of dishes in the dining hall.

"Hand disinfection is a must at the entrance, although it is required everywhere. As for nutrition, everything is fine. The choice is good; you can take pasta or other dishes. There are a lot of drinks, dairy products. Everything is tasty and helps to restore strength,” Anton Smolski said.

By the way, the dining hall is also colorfully decorated: lanterns are pleasing to the eye and remind of Chinese New Year (celebrated on 1 February).

Representatives of the Belarusian delegation and athletes have noted that the first impressions of Zhangjiakou are positive. Despite the strict COVID restrictions, everything has been arranged in the way as to allow athletes to stay focused and prepare calmly for the most important competitions in their careers.

The Winter Olympic Games will be held in China from 4 to 20 February 2022. Medals will be awarded in seven sports across 109 disciplines. For the first time, the Games will feature competitions in women's slope style (freestyle), men's and women's big air (snowboard), mixed relay in short track and women's singles in bobsleigh.

Competitions will be held at 25 venues located in three clusters: Beijing, Zhangjiakou and Yanqing. The organizers took full advantage of the Olympic legacy left over from the 2008 Summer Olympics, and thus have been able to reduce costs and to avoid the grandiose construction in Beijing.

Bing Dwen Dwen is the official mascot of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

          

Press service of the NOC of Belarus

Photos by NOC of Belarus