An ice sculpture promoting Beijing's bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The Chinese capital is aiming to become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. (Photo : China Daily)
A National Speed Skating Gymnasium would be erected in 2016 in Beijing as part of its improvement plan amid a bid to host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
For the city's bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, Beijing officials have also offered their planned venues for each of the games' events.
The National Olympic Stadium, more popularly known as the "Bird's Nest," has been selected to house the opening and closing ceremonies of both the Winter Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games.
Meanwhile, the Capital Gymnasium has been chosen to house figure skating and short-track speed skating events, while the Water Cube was selected to hold the curling events.
But because of the lack of proper facility to hold the speed skating events, the Asian giant has decided to build a gymnasium specifically designed for it.
According to Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau Director Li Yingchuan, the Chinese capital plans to build the speed skating gymnasium by 2016 to house the Olympic Winter Games' snow events.
The snow sports facility would be erected at the location of the temporary venue of the 2008 Olympic Games, located at the south of the Olympic Green Tennis Center and west of the Olympic Green.
The building, which is planned to be built as a 12,000-seater gymnasium, would house around 400 meters of skating trails that would be perfect for hosting the 2022 Olympic Winter Games' skiing sports.
The establishment of the gymnasium, which would be open for public use, is also aimed at motivating millions of residents in the Chinese capital to engage in winter sports such as skating, said Li.
He also explained that the National Speed Skating Gymnasium would still be erected whether or not the country secures the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.
