Olympic return to Europe: 2026 Winter Olympics bid reveals new Vane

Xinhua News Agency, Lausanne, June 23

Xinhua News Agency reporter Ji Ye Liu Qu

The 134th plenary session of the International Olympic Committee will open in Lausanne, Switzerland on the 24th. On the same day, the city hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics will be voted. After three consecutive Asian cycles of Pyeongchang 2018, Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022, the Olympic Games will come to Europe.

STOCKHOLM/Ole in Sweden and Milan/Cortina danpezo in Italy, the proportion of existing venues and temporary venues exceeds 80% of all venues, the budget for the Olympic bid was reduced by more than 75% compared with that of the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics, showing the new vane of the Olympic movement.

Proof: the Olympic games no longer burn money

This is the second consecutive time that the International Olympic Committee has ushered in the competition between the cities hosting the Winter Olympics with only two bidding places. Four years ago, Beijing defeated Almaty and successfully won the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. In that bid, Munich, Stockholm, Oslo and other cities withdrew one after another.

Coincidentally, in the process of bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympics, many cities also withdrew halfway. In 2017, for the first time in the history of the International Olympic Committee, it decided to host two consecutive Olympic Games at the same time, and declared Paris and Los Angeles to host the Summer Olympics in 2024 and 2028 respectively, ensuring the future stability of the Olympic Games.

The huge Olympic games no longer seem to be “hot cakes”, which is also forcing the IOC to carry out reforms. In 2014, the Olympic 2020 agenda pushed by IOC President Bach passed smoothly. This reform roadmap basically focuses on three major themes: sustainable development, improving credibility and attracting young people.

The “new standard” refined on the basis of the Olympic 2020 agenda was promulgated during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, aiming at simplifying the bidding process, reducing the Olympic capital and sharing the pressure of the host, make the future Olympic Games more flexible, effective and sustainable.

The bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics will be the first to fully benefit from the Olympic 2020 agenda and the “new norms”, paying more attention to cooperation, flexibility and experience sharing. Cities interested in bidding for the Olympic Games know the requirements and benefits of hosting the Olympic Games from the International Olympic Committee through a one-year “no obligation” dialogue. At this stage, there is no need to submit a bid; the number of displays and reports required by the bidding city during the whole process has also been greatly reduced.

The IOC then provided experts and experience support throughout the whole process, and made more than 30 on-site inspections to formulate competition concepts, sustainability, heritage, market, finance, legal affairs, the competition operation and other suggestions are provided, and the IOC bears the relevant expenses; Finally, the IOC executive committee will invite suitable cities to participate in the Olympic bid based on the overall feasibility assessment of these cities.

The cities that intend to bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics initially included Calgary in Canada, Sapporo in Japan, Graz in Austria, Siyong in Switzerland and Erzurum in Turkey, the first four cities withdrew from the bid one after another, while Erzurum failed to get the candidate because of the “great challenge” of the bid plan.

STOCKHOLM/Ole in Sweden and Milan in Italy/Cortina danpezo plan to use 80% of the existing and temporary venues, while 60% of the 2010 and 2022 Winter Olympics. In addition, the operating cost of the Olympic Games is 20% lower than the budget of the previous two Winter Olympics bidding stages (about 0.4 billion US dollars), and the entire bidding budget is also more than 75% lower than the previous two.

Judging from the public support rate of this bid, the survey of the International Olympic Committee shows that the support rate of 83 percent in Italy is much higher than that of 55 percent in Sweden. According to media reports, the running budget of Italian events is 1.7 billion dollars, while that of Sweden is 1.4 billion dollars (without public funds). Previously, it was reported that the Sochi Winter Olympics actually cost $51 billion. In order to dispel people’s worries, the IOC very much hopes to pass a message through this bid, that is, the Olympic cost is controllable.

Competition: The Olympic adaptation City

On the morning of the 24th, the two bidding places for the 2026 Winter Olympics will make technical statements of specific details, and the final statement will be made to the plenary session in the afternoon. Swedish Prime Minister Levin and Italian Prime Minister Conte will both attend to assist their respective cities.

Italy has held three Olympic Games. In addition to the 1956 Winter Olympics, there were Rome Summer Olympics in 1960 and Turin Winter Olympics in 2006. Milan, located in northern Italy, is about 400 kilometers away from Cortina danpezo. Some small cities between the two cities will also hold some competitions. Previously, the bid plan of the three cities was changed due to the withdrawal of Turin.

Stockholm is a Southeast coastal city in Sweden, about 540 kilometers from Ole in the northeast of the country. In order to avoid the “white elephant project”, Sweden decided to place the snowmobile sled in Sigulda, a Latvians across the sea. This cross-border Olympic mode is no stranger to Stockholm. As early as 1956, the Melbourne Summer Olympics was held in Stockholm because of the issue of horse quarantine. Sweden has never held the Winter Olympics, only Stockholm held the Summer Olympics in 1912.

The chairman of the evaluation committee of the International Olympic Committee for the two bidding places and the Romanian Moralia said that the bidding places of the two countries both have good winter sports traditions and rich experience in running competitions, including first-class competition venues, enthusiastic audiences, mature volunteers and competition organization teams, and all regard Winter Olympics heritage and sustainable development as the primary consideration of the bidding plan.

The Beijing Winter Olympics has set up three competition areas. Now the two bidding places for the 2026 Winter Olympics are relatively scattered. In order to make full use of the existing venues, this decentralized competition mode may be more common in the future.

According to the evaluation report, this bid well combines ‘Athletes, heritages and sustainability’ as the core idea of the Olympic Games. In the comments around venues, heritage, etc. in candidature file, there are many references to challenges that are not suitable for the long-term development of the city.

Bach said: “In the past, we always asked how the bidding cities changed to adapt to the Olympics. Now we asked them how the Olympics changed to better adapt to the long-term development of cities and regions.”

The future: there may be major changes in the rules for bidding for the Olympic Games

aiming at the problem that multiple bidding cities quit halfway in the bidding process of the past few Olympic Games, the IOC plenary session may pass new bidding regulations, and the bidding method for the Olympic Games may undergo major changes.

The IOC earlier appointed a working group composed of five IOC members to propose amendments to the bidding regulations. The group was chaired by Australian Olympic Committee president Coates, the members include Li Lingwei of China, batkova of Slovakia, Wetstein of Argentina and encecra of Burundi.

This group put forward six suggestions for amendment, which will be discussed in the plenary meeting. If passed, these suggestions will be formally written into the Olympic Charter.

Coates revealed some of the amendments to the reporter. First, the future Olympic Games should not be limited to one city; Second, it is not necessary to select the host city in the seventh year before the Olympic Games; Third, replace the current “evaluation committee” with “future Olympic Games host committee” and will gain greater power to recommend multiple or single candidate cities to the IOC executive committee.

According to relevant sources, matters such as the preparation of the Olympic organizing committee, the organization and operation of events, and the construction of venues are mostly concerned at the working level, such as the Olympic Games department and Coordination Committee of the International Olympic Committee. And the real senior officials, such as Bach and members of the International Olympic Committee, are concerned about things related to the challenges facing the Olympic movement. For example, does the Olympic Games reflect frugality and whether it can hold a Save-Money Olympic Games? Is it sustainable and is there any plan for the later use of venues? Can you leave any legacy for the city? What is the impact of the Olympic Games on the ecological environment? These challenges are the place where the Olympic movement will set a “new benchmark” in the future.

Behind the “explosion” of the flag bearer candidate of the Chinese winter delegation

Behind the “explosion” of the flag bearer candidate of the Chinese winter delegation

On the evening of March 2, local time, at the opening ceremony of the 29th World Winter Games, Yang Shiqi, a North University student, served as the flag bearer of the Chinese delegation. China Youth Daily · Zhongqing online accredited journalist Cixin/Photo

On the evening of March 2, local time, the Chinese delegation entered the opening ceremony of the 29th World Winter Games. China Youth Daily · Zhongqing online accredited journalist Cixin/Photo

On February 27, local time, the Chinese College girls’ ice hockey team was listening to the coach’s training requirements. China Youth Daily · Zhongqing online accredited journalist Cixin/Photo

On February 27, local time, Wang Meng, the famous Chinese short track general, was directing the training of Chinese college students’ short track team. China Youth Daily · Zhongqing online accredited journalist Cixin/Photo

The 29th World University Winter Games opened on the evening of March 2, local time in the important city of Siberia, Russia. Russian President Putin came to the opening ceremony and sent a blessing to more than 3,000 college athletes from all over the world who participated in this winter festival to realize their dreams. The slogan of the World University Games is: today’s star ,tomorrow’s leader.(today’s star ,tomorrow’s leader). As a national leader who loves sports, Putin has become the best spokesperson to interpret the theme of the Universiade with his own experience.

  Little-known Yang Shiqi became the flag bearer of the delegation

At the opening ceremony of this winter conference on the evening of March 2, the flag bearer of Chinese college students’ sports delegation was Yang Shiqi, a junior student from the School of International Relations of Peking University.

Yang Shiqi participated in the women’s snowboard slewing project of this winter party. In terms of strength, it is difficult to compete for gold and silver. According to the international practice that the flag-bearer of the delegation is often the most excellent player in competition, Yang Shiqi became the flag-bearer of the Chinese delegation, which means a little “explosive”, but from the perspective of the Chinese delegation, choosing an ordinary college student instead of a “master” with a professional training background as the flag bearer reflects that taking the Universiade as the guide and driving more ordinary college students to participate in sports and love sports, and then promote the significance of personal growth.

In this sense, Yang Shiqi is an excellent example.

Yang Shiqi’s mother told the China Youth Daily Zhongqing online reporter that because he studied abroad in Canada in his early years and liked skiing very much, Yang Shiqi also started skiing with her when she was in the fourth or fifth grade of primary school. At that time, the ski resort just appeared around Dalian where she lived.

After touching skiing, Yang Shiqi soon fell in love with this sport. Since then, during the snow season, my mother would take her skiing almost every weekend.

As Yang Shiqi was promoted to junior high school and senior high school, the academic pressure was getting heavier and heavier. However, as a means for children to adjust their body and mind, Yang Shiqi’s parents always supported their children to stick to it.

Facts have also proved that a sports hobby not only does not affect children’s studies, but also plays a role in promoting children’s all-round development. During the college entrance examination, Yang Shiqi was admitted to Peking University with high scores from Dalian. In the eyes of his parents, Yang Shiqi was not only a child with excellent academic performance, but more importantly, her quality, character makes them happy and even proud.

In the memory of Yang Shiqi’s father, her daughter enthusiastically helped many students around her. Yang Shiqi’s father believes that the helpful quality of her daughter is directly related to her love of sports. “People who love sports are very optimistic, sunny and have team spirit. She thinks that there is no difficulty that cannot be overcome. At the same time, she is also willing to face difficulties together with others and overcome difficulties together.”

After going to college, Yang Shiqi’s mother even saw all kinds of growth experience brought to her daughter by sports. Due to the good foundation of skiing and the relaxed atmosphere of Peking University, Yang Shiqi soon became the captain of the ski team of Peking University after entering Peking University. The whole ski team should be responsible for a series of work such as daily training arrangements, contacting snowfields, looking for sponsorship, promoting skiing in schools, recruiting new people, etc., and ensuring that their studies cannot be affected. Yang Shiqi must make good use of her time efficiently. At the same time, she also tested and exercised her organizational management ability, interpersonal communication ability, teamwork ability and sense of responsibility, and learned certain business thinking.

Skiing not only gives her daughter a healthy lifestyle, but more importantly, the educational value of sports is vividly reflected in her daughter, which makes Yang Shiqi’s parents delighted.

The comprehensive exercise gained in college also accelerated the maturity of her daughter and was able to find the direction of life more rationally. Yang Shiqi proposed to suspend school in his sophomore year, hoping to spend one year on social practice in order to accumulate social experience for himself and judge his career direction more accurately. Yang Shiqi had a long talk with his father several times in order to persuade his father who was still conservative in thought. He was well-founded and finally let his father agree with her idea.

In the view of parents, the growth significance brought by sports to their daughters is far beyond imagination. In the view of Yang Shiqi, the greatest gain brought by sports to them is to have a peaceful mind, whether it is success or failure, both surprises and setbacks can be met peacefully.

This kind of psychological quality is more valuable to contemporary college students.

  The Universiade is by no means a narrow competition

From the perspective of competitive performance, as an amateur skier, Yang Shiqi will be difficult to compete with professional players. However, the World University Games is not an event that simply pursues competitive performance.

Once for a long time, the Universiade was also called “small Olympics” in China, but in fact, the pursuit goals of the World University Games and the Olympic Games are completely different. The slogan of the Olympic Games is “faster, higher and stronger”, while the slogan of the Universiade is “today’s star ,tomorrow’s leader.(today’s star ,tomorrow’s leader)”.

In the arena of the Universiade, there are indeed many excellent athletes who will become Olympic champions in the future, but more are ordinary college students who have grown up because of sports but may not reach the top competitive level. Participating in the Universiade is only a shining point in their life, but their life value is by no means reflected by competitive achievements.

The comprehensive development of college athletes like Yang Shiqi is actually the most widespread existence in the World Universiade.

In the 1970 s, China began to participate in the World Universiade long before China returned to the Olympic Games. However, it has long been taking the Universiade as a training stage for competitive teams, however, the difference between the Universiade and other events has not been fully noticed.

Since the team formation work of China participating in the Universiade was transferred from the State Sports General Administration to the Ministry of Education in 2003, the value of the physical education of the college behind the Universiade began to gradually spread in China.

Xue Yanqing, the executive head of the Chinese University sports delegation and vice chairman of the Chinese University Sports Association, told the China Youth Daily Zhongqing online reporter that in addition to striving for success, it is also an important task for our college athletes to communicate with players from all over the world. Promoting the exchange of college students and athletes from various countries is also a point that the Chinese delegation has particularly emphasized in previous Universiade and Winter Games since 2003, it reflects the pursuit of education function for student events by Chinese Ministry of Education.

Fortunately, from the birth of outstanding college athletes such as Hu Kai and Wang Yu to the recent two winter conferences, ordinary Chinese college students have also begun to emerge in skiing, cold water jug and other projects. China’s university sports has begun to go wider and wider on the road of “physical education.

There are more and more ordinary college students like Yang Shiqi who love sports. On them, sports specialty is a prominent label for the overall development of personal qualities.

On last November, China Youth Daily · Zhongqing online reporter interviewed the university students in the United States. This year, the senior student graduated from the Affiliated High School of Tsinghua University and was admitted to the University of Los Angeles at Berkeley as a sports specialty. She said that Wall Street is the most concentrated area for American elites. Relevant statistics show that 30% of the elites on Wall Street are students and athletes. It is also because it is widely recognized that sports not only bring people a healthy body, but also, more importantly, shape people’s excellent qualities. In the United States, we have seen that American enterprises especially favor sports students, at the same time, almost every family in the United States will choose one or two sports for their children.

  The fundamental purpose of college physical education is to cultivate excellent people.

How university sports is carried out is also related to a country’s future development prospects, which is by no means deliberately exaggerating the role of sports in universities and sports on society.

Zhong Bingshu, deputy head of the Chinese University sports delegation and president of the Capital Institute of Physical Education, told the China Youth Daily Zhongqing online reporter that universities are an important position for talent cultivation. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to cultivate new people of the era who were responsible for the great national rejuvenation. The important place for the cultivation of new people in this era was university-four-year undergraduate and three-year master’s degree, plus several years of doctors, if this process is cultivated well, they can take the responsibility of national rejuvenation. Why is Sports in universities so important? Because when university and sports are combined, Sports simulates an environment that gives people constraints and rules to shape people. Let’s talk about morality and people, and cultivate people through a series of rules. Sports just bring in the rules, so the cultivation of students, let him develop under the restriction of rules and develop without restriction is different. Therefore, when sports and universities are combined, it is a perfect combination of educating people and educating people under rules. This kind of cultivation of people, shaping methods are more important than simply relying on academic education in universities.”

In addition, universities need to cultivate people who meet the needs of social development, so college students need to have the ability to cooperate with others, solve problems, innovative thinking and excellent team spirit. Zhong Bingshu said, “This is advocated by all countries in their core qualities when cultivating people. Then, how to let college students simulate the actual social situation is exactly sports. Therefore, when college students participate in sports and competitions, what they cultivate is their core accomplishment. Cooperate with teammates to overcome difficulties and solve problems. If the game fails, you can come again; After success, you will start from scratch. The leadership ability of students and the core quality of people needed by society have gained a platform for exercise through university sports competitions and sports. If college students’ participation in sports and competition activities is left, these educational functions will be difficult to achieve.”

There is also the influence of exercise on the brain. Exercise is beneficial to the development of brain function, which has been scientifically proved.

University studies are very heavy, which requires the organic cooperation of mental activities and physical activities, that is, the combination of work and rest. Zhong Bingshu said that exercise can enhance people’s long-term memory, increase the volume of the hippocampus and thicken the frontal cortex, and strengthen the executive function of a person. Sports can enhance students’ long-term memory, logical thinking and judgment ability. The transformation of brain by this kind of exercise is quietly formed by a person in the process of exercise. Therefore, high-quality talents often love sports, and so do many leaders at all times and at home and abroad. For example, Mao Zedong likes swimming, Xi Jinping likes football, and Putin is a versatile player of sports. Many famous universities in the world also pay special attention to sports. For example, Yale, Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and so on all take students’ participation in sports as an important work of the school and give high investment. They think such input-output ratio is also very high. More exercise time seems to reduce learning time, but in turn, due to the vigorous energy brought by exercise and the promotion of brain function development, etc, it promotes students’ academic improvement and personal comprehensive quality development.

At the same time, for a university, the development of sports also promotes the cohesion of the university and enhances the brand of the university. What does the university rely on to go to the whole country and the world? Sports competition and sports are the best forms. When a competition is held, the students in the whole school may gather together. For example, the CUBA competition and football league of Chinese college students urge the students in each school to gather together, this cohesion is difficult to obtain in other activities. Zhong Bingshu said, “When we talk about patriotism, we should start from love school. How can love school be realized? Sports just gives college students a carrier to love school.” From abroad, alumni donate a lot to school sports teams and sports facilities, while China is still relatively lacking at present.

In fact, when university and sports are combined, it is more beneficial for us to cultivate new people of the era who shoulder the great cause of national rejuvenation. Zhong Bingshu said that when China grows stronger, it is bound to participate more in international social activities. The awareness of rules given by sports to college students is particularly important at this time. When a country is weak, it is not qualified to make rules. Only when it is strong can it have this ability. When our college students participate in sports activities frequently, they are given more opportunities to observe and formulate rules and integrate into international exchanges. In the future, our college students should take the initiative to go international and participate in the formulation of rules, so as to truly become a powerful country for China and contribute to different disciplines.

Newspaper report: March 4th

China Youth Daily · China youth online accredited journalist Cixin Source: China Youth Daily