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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
Sport
Asharq Al-Awsat

Beijing: 2022 Winter Olympics on Track Despite Pandemic

FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2019, file photo, people walk past a display introducing winter sporting events for the upcoming Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at a temple fair at Longtan Park in Beijing. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

With the postponed Summer Olympics set to open in Tokyo next week, Beijing has made moves to show its preparations for the Winter Games are well on track for February despite the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Journalists taken on a tour of snow event venues in the outlying city of Zhangjiakou this week were shown the locations for ski jumping, snowboarding and Nordic events, according to the Associated Press.

While China has largely eliminated local transmission of the coronavirus, it has maintained strict quarantine regulations. Organizers have not announced what rules will be in place for athletes, officials and coaches at the 2022 Winter Olympics, or if fans will be allowed.

Jia Maoting, general manager of the company overseeing construction of the venues, told reporters that the “pandemic situation is uncertain, we cannot guess how it will develop.”

“We have solid determination to face the changing world," Jia added. “We built good venues in any case and then we wait and expect a good result.”

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