2024-01-29 12:37:51
The driving effect of the Beijing Winter Olympics is fully emerging – Exclusive interview with International Olympic Committee President Bach
Xinhua News Agency, Gangneung, South Korea, January 29 Title: The driving effect of the Beijing Winter Olympics is fully emerging – Exclusive interview with International Olympic Committee President Bach
Xinhua News Agency reporters Yu Xiaozhong, Ji Ye, Lu Rui
During the 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games, International Olympic Committee President Bach accepted an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency reporters in Gangneung, South Korea. Regarding the ice and snow craze in our country this winter, the outstanding performance of China’s young ice and snow athletes in this Winter Youth Olympic Games, and the future development positioning of the Youth Olympic Games and Winter Youth Olympic Games, the 70-year-old Olympic “steward” talked about Tao Lai.
On January 29, International Olympic Committee President Bach accepted an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency reporters in Gangneung, South Korea.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhu Wei
Talking about China’s ice and snow craze: the valuable wealth created by the Beijing Winter Olympics
After the Beijing Winter Olympics is held in 2022, China’s ice and snow sports have developed rapidly, especially in this winter when the “snow” is boiling from north to south. China’s mass sports have shown a gratifying transformation from “winter cat winter” to “not light in the off-season” .
Bach believes that the effect of “driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports” has been fully demonstrated, and this is the precious wealth created by the Beijing Winter Olympics. “In China, you can see the value of sports demonstrated in a good way. In general, sports, especially the ice and snow sports industry, are contributing more and more to China’s GDP. So many Chinese people are actively participating Winter sports also contribute to a healthy society.”
After the Beijing Winter Olympics, Bach has repeatedly expressed that he welcomes China to join the ranks of winter sports countries and that China has opened a new era of global winter sports. Now, on the field of the Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games, his views have been confirmed. As of the 29th, Chinese ice and snow athletes aged 14-18 have won a total of 5 golds, 8 silvers and 3 bronzes, ranking jointly second in the medal list of this Winter Youth Olympic Games.
“China’s efforts in developing winter sports at the Beijing Winter Olympics are now bearing fruit.” Bach said and shared a statistic with reporters – at the Beijing Winter Olympics, athletes who had participated in the Winter Youth Olympics received 53 medals. “It can be seen that the Youth Olympic Games have increasingly become the cornerstone for young athletes to move towards the Olympics and achieve success. The Chinese Olympic Committee and the Chinese people can regard the Chinese delegation’s lead in the medal list of the Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games as a sign of success. A sign of greater success in the Winter Olympics in the future.”
This year is an Olympic year. In addition to the Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games at the beginning of the year, the Paris Olympic Games will open in July. In May, a new small comprehensive Olympic qualification competition, the first Olympic Qualification Series, will be held in Shanghai and Budapest, which will determine the freestyle BMX, break dancing, skateboarding and rock climbing events in the Paris Olympics. An important event to qualify for.
Bach said: “China’s outstanding ability to host events is the reason why we decided to host this new event in Shanghai.”
Regarding the prospect of China continuing to host Olympic events in the future, Bach said that it is up to China to decide whether to bid for the Olympic Games, and the International Olympic Committee is always willing to provide various suggestions.
On January 29, International Olympic Committee President Bach accepted an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency reporters in Gangneung, South Korea.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhu Wei
Talking about the Winter Youth Olympic Games: Clarifying the three major positionings
From Singapore in 2010 to Gangwon Province, South Korea in 2024, the three Summer Youth Olympic Games and the four Winter Youth Olympic Games spanning more than ten years have shown their unique charm and value. However, when they are unable to compete with the Olympic Games and Winter Olympics in terms of influence and commercial value, where will the Youth Olympic Games and Winter Youth Olympic Games go, and how will they be integrated into the overall reform of the Olympic movement?
Bach admitted that the International Olympic Committee does not insist that the Youth Olympic Games receive the same attention as the Olympic Games. However, he emphasized that the reach of the International Olympic Committee’s digital platform for this Winter Youth Olympic Games has increased by 60% compared with the previous one. “This is a very impressive development.”
The “Olympic Agenda 2020” clarifies the three major positionings of the Youth Olympic Games and Winter Youth Olympic Games: high-level competitive performance, sports festivals integrating education and culture, and innovative incubators for event organization and project setting. In the exclusive interview, Bach interpreted it from these three dimensions.
In the original design intention of the Youth Olympic Games, educational functions accounted for a large proportion, but as the games progressed, the competitive elements became more and more prominent. Bach thinks there is no doubt about this. He said: “Through consultation with international individual sports organizations and athletes, everyone expressed that they are looking forward to high-quality competitions. I think high-quality competitions are helpful for young athletes to prepare in advance and meet the challenges of the Olympics.”
The integration of sports, education and culture is a major feature of the Youth Olympic Games. Bach said that at the Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games, he saw that young athletes cherish every process of competition, learning, and communication; in the Youth Olympic Village, athletes from various countries and regions frequently went to the cultural and educational activity area to learn the history and values of the Olympics. , learn how to play fair, defend sports purity, and make friends with teenagers from different parts of the world. These will help them adapt to the Olympic atmosphere in advance and develop more comprehensively in their careers.
Targeting young people means that the Youth Olympic Games and Winter Youth Olympic Games have been deeply branded with “innovation” from the beginning, which is particularly obvious in the project settings. Many new sports and new rules have used this platform for experiments, such as ski mountaineering, three-person basketball, rock climbing, skateboarding and other emerging sports. They all became Youth Olympic sports first and then became Olympic sports.
“One of the functions of the Youth Olympic Games is to test, and then we will evaluate and decide whether this project can be included in the Olympics.” Bach said.
After experiments at the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games and other events, martial arts has now become an official event at the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympic Games. Bach said: “Senegal, the host of the 2026 Youth Olympic Games, welcomes the addition of martial arts because young people there are also very fond of martial arts. In two years’ time, we are looking forward to the Olympic debut of martial arts. After that, we will evaluate the international recognition of martial arts, Engagement etc.”
On January 29, International Olympic Committee President Bach accepted an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency reporters in Gangneung, South Korea.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhu Wei
Talking about AI and eSports: Open arms and study carefully
Since last year, Bach has repeatedly mentioned the need to focus on the role of AI. In this interview, he said that he would conduct a comprehensive analysis of the opportunities and risks of AI and apply it in a way that seeks advantages and avoids disadvantages.
“AI will not only play an important role in sports and the Olympics, but also affect our daily lives. Researching AI can help athletes train better, get better medical protection, and help them prevent mental illness. It can also help some National and regional Olympic committees with less favorable conditions can allow their athletes to enjoy the same training conditions as other developed regions. It can also help us better spread Olympic values and improve the referee’s penalty system. I hope that we can form a system in the near future A more accurate research report to see how sports can benefit from AI. At the same time, we must also pay attention to guard against the risks brought by AI.”
Like AI, the development of e-sports has also received attention. In October last year, Bach stated at the International Olympic Committee plenary session that he was considering establishing an e-sports Olympic Games.
Regarding the competition format of the first e-sports Olympics, Bach admitted that it has not been completely determined yet, and may follow the format of last year’s Olympic E-sports Week, but the competition time will be around 2025 or 2026 at the latest. “This means that on the one hand, it is virtual sports, which refers to the combination of e-sports and sports activities; on the other hand, some of the most popular electronic games will be introduced, but the premise is that these electronic games must comply with Olympic values.” (Participating reporter: Lu Xingji, Xu Shihao, Zhao Jiantong, Wei Hua, Wang Chunyan, Jin Haomin, Yang Chang)
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