Beijing should focus on passion, legacy in its 2022 Games bid: expert

An expert has urged China to focus more on passion and legacy to the Olympic Games as Beijing vowed to strengthen traffic and pollution control in its bid to host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games with neighboring city of Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province.

Jeff Ruffolo, senior expert of media and communications of the Organizing Committee of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, told the Global Times Sunday that China should focus on its passion and legacy to the Games rather than showing its technical resources because one of the key ideas of the Winter Olympics is what it means to future generations.

"It is about showing the dedication to sports. If you keep talking about the technical things such as the air quality and the facilities of the venues, you will lose," he said.

Beijing has pledged strengthened measures to fight air pollution and better infrastructure, including high-speed rail as the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Evaluation Commission began a five-day visit to assess the transportation systems and other elements in the three Games zones of Beijing, Yanqing county in the city's northwest and Zhangjiakou in Hebei.

Despite the distance involved between venues in the two potential joint host cities, which are about 200 kilometers apart, organizers said that the completion of high-speed rail and highway construction would greatly reduce the travel time to half an hour between venues. Patrons and staff of the Games would also be able to travel between venues for free, promised Beijing bid authorities.

"Our visit confirms that Beijing is capable of hosting successful Games," said Alexander Zhukov, the chairman of the 19-member IOC evaluation commission, said at a closing news conference on Saturday.

Beijing will become the first city in history to host both the summer and winter Olympics, if it wins the bid against its only competitor - Kazakhstan's Almaty.

The next major milestone for both bidders will be the publication of the IOC Evaluation Commission reports on June 1.

A final decision as to which city will host the 2022 Games will be announced on July 31 at the IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur.