Praise for Olympic venues snowballing as the nation warms to chilly pursuits

Leaders of international winter sports federations are lauding China's efforts to bring new fans to ice and snow in the leadup to Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

With the International Ski Federation's World Cup series just around the corner, host venue Genting Resort Secret Garden in Hebei province has entered its peak season, with about 2,000 skiers and snowboarders visiting the 35-slope resort every day to maintain steady growth approaching to the New Year holiday break.

The bustling scene at the resort, which will also host freestyle skiing and snowboarding during the 2022 Olympics, offers a snapshot of China's growing enthusiasm for winter sports.

"We are extremely excited that China is using the 2022 Olympics to not only organize high-profile sporting events but to really discover the interest and embark on a winter sports pathway," Sarah Lewis, secretary general of FIS, told China Daily.

"The season in China is officially underway and it puts a strong focus on high-level competitions, which hopefully will stir interest among the public to try the sports."

Lewis was among leaders of all seven international winter sports federations invited to Shanghai last week to attend the opening ceremony of China's fifth mass ice and snow sports season.

A rookie in organizing and competing in snow-based sports, China is pulling out all the stops to improve the competitiveness of its national programs, the accessibility of facilities and training at grassroots to join the winter sports mainstream leading up to 2022.

The FIS World Cup series will bring five events, including half-pipe, slopestyle and parallel giant slalom, to Genting resort starting from Dec 19.

The resort will make adjustments on the competition pipes and slopes after the Cup events by downgrading the difficulty to open them to amateurs, said Benno Nager, Genting's chief of operations.

"The idea is to make these courses as available as possible for the public while at the same time serving the national teams training here," he said.

"It will be a very interesting situation for the public to come out and see the training while they can try the easier version of the hits and rails."

The governing body is also lending a helping hand as the FIS has leveraged its resources and expertise to develop beginner-level skiing courses for the Chinese public as part of its Get Into Snow Sports initiative with the Chinese Ski Association.

With FIS support, the CSA will run massive open training and amateur certification programs at 100 ski resorts nationwide this winter to contribute to the country's plan to involve 300 million people in winter sports by 2022.

That bold ambition, for each sport's governing body, means appealing participation growth and market potentials.

"If we can get one percent of the 300 million for curling it will be fantastic. China could become the biggest curling nation in the world," said Kate Caithness, president of the World Curling Federation.

Compared to sports on snow, Caithness believes her game has an advantage to gain wider public acceptance in China due to the fact that it can be played on indoor ice rinks all year round.

The transformation of the National Aquatics Center in downtown Beijing, which was built for swimming at the 2008 Summer Games, into the main curling venue for 2022 is the latest example of promoting "chess on ice" in a flexible way.

The development of removable artificial rinks and skiing simulators has also made China's target of integrating winter sports into the physical education curriculum of 2,000 schools by 2020 achievable.

"They are building a legacy on an existing legacy," said Caithness, who represented Scotland internationally. "Legacy is a priority not only for facilities, but for the people. This will help ensure the people after 2022 pick up the sport and spread it around China."

Meanwhile, the authorities of some highly technical and risky sports, such as bobsled and skeleton, are impressed by China's efforts to offer optimum practice facilities while operating them sustainably.

Repurposing part of the new sliding center in northwest Beijing's Yanqing district for tourism after 2022 is high on the agenda of the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, said president Ivo Ferriani.

"The most important thing is that the sliding center will be used by tourists to try the excitement of sliding on sleds with a pilot taking control," he said.

"Our federation and the luge federation will support the organizers and track owners to put in place the best practice for tourism projects."