Unforgettable experience

Another major task this year will see the Beijing 2022 organizing committee working with local partners, the IOC and respective winter sports federations to refine plans for transportation, catering and accommodations for athletes.

The goal is to offer the athletes an unforgettable experience in 2022 to honor the promise Beijing made in the candidature phase to host an athlete-centered Olympics, according to Yang Yang, a CPPCC National Committee member and two-time Olympic champion in short-track speedskating.

"Meeting the demands of participating athletes plays a big part in the success of hosting the Olympics," said Yang, who chairs the athletes' commission for Beijing 2022. "We hope to turn every athlete into our promoter in 2022 by providing them with the best services possible."

Those services include providing the athletes with clean, gluten-free food to Olympic standards with Chinese characteristics, designing special bullet train cars to facilitate easy transportation of skis and snowboards, and guaranteeing enough tickets for every athlete's family members.

Reflecting on her experience a year ago, when she returned to Salt Lake City in Utah, where she won China's first two Winter Olympics gold medals (500 meters and 1,000 meters) at the 2002 Games, Yang suggested that each competition venue for 2022 should leave a space where the names of every participating athlete and the medalists' handprints could be displayed.

"I felt so sad returning to the former ice sports center in Salt Lake City (now the home arena of the NBA team Utah Jazz) and finding there was nothing there about my performances in 2002," she said.

"I don't want to see the athletes in 2022 experience the same disappointment I felt last year. In addition to providing them with best possible conditions for their competitions, I'd like to see more athletes' stories respected and told here in Beijing.