Enthusiasm for ice and snow heats up again on the second anniversary of the Beijing Winter Olympics
Liu Yi Liu Jialin
On the first day of spring in 2022, an unparalleled Winter Olympics event wrote a new chapter of “Together to the Future” and left Beijing with the glory of “Double Olympic City”. In the blink of an eye, the spring of 2024 is here as promised. On the second anniversary of the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, China’s wonderful ice and snow stories are still continuing. The rich Winter Olympics heritage has been fully utilized and entered people’s lives, inspiring everyone. Enthusiasm for participating in ice and snow sports.
Newly unveiled Olympic Museum
Recently, the Beijing Olympic Museum on the south side of the National Stadium “Bird’s Nest” welcomed several important visitors. Champion athletes Ye Qiaobo, Deng Yaping, Tong Wen, Wu Dajing and Han Xiaopeng donated their precious collections to the newly opened Beijing Olympic Museum.
“This is the table tennis racket I used in the competition, and it is also the second racket I have donated. The first racket is kept in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.” Deng Yaping said, “I hope this racket will allow more people to participate in national fitness, let more people fall in love with the Olympic movement.”
At the Beijing Winter Olympics, Chinese short track speed skater Wu Dajing and his teammates worked together to win the short track speed skating mixed relay championship. On the same day, Wu Dajing donated the competition uniform he wore when he won the championship to the museum.
“Although I am a bit reluctant to part with it, it is more meaningful to put this dress in a museum. I hope everyone can enter this museum and relive the glorious moments of the Double Olympics city.” Wu Dajing said.
On the second anniversary of the successful hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Beijing Olympic Museum successfully completed its upgrade and renovation work and reopened to the public. International Olympic Committee President Bach said in a video speech that Beijing, the “Double Olympic City”, has written great Olympic history. The Beijing Olympic Museum is a shining example of the living legacy of the Beijing Olympics and will inspire everyone with eternal Olympic values. A visiting tourist.
When you enter the museum, the first thing you see is the exhibition of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. In the songs “Towards the Future Together” and “Snowflakes”, the construction process of the three competition areas, the stories behind the design of the torch and mascot, and the wonderful moments inside and outside the stadium were presented one by one. After passing through the colorful “time and space tunnel”, exhibits and pictures such as Fuwa and “Olympic Can” bring people’s thoughts back to that hot summer.
The upgraded Beijing Olympic Museum consists of a preface hall, a basic exhibition hall, an interactive exhibition area, and a temporary exhibition area. Among them, the basic exhibition hall has the theme of “Realizing Dreams and Creating a Future Together at the Double Olympics” and is divided into three parts: “Winter Olympics”, “Summer Olympics Memory” and “Double Olympics City”. It consists of 1,394 exhibits and a large number of wonderful pictures and videos, showing China’s struggle to bid for, prepare for, and host the 2008 Olympic Games and the 2022 Winter Olympics, as well as China’s contribution to the world Olympic movement.
It is worth mentioning that the Beijing Olympic Museum has also set up special display areas and special interactive exhibition areas such as the “Double Olympics” Champions Wall. Visitors can stand on the podium and experience the “highlight moments” of athletes winning gold medals. They can also go to battle in person and immerse themselves in interactive facilities to experience the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics such as table tennis, weightlifting, basketball, curling, and alpine skiing.
After the Beijing Olympic Museum reopened, it also held the first “Double Olympics Culture Lecture” with the theme of “The Power of Museums”. Relevant leaders from the International Olympic Committee, Beijing Olympic City Development Promotion Association and other organizations focused on the cultural power and future development of museums, and jointly discussed the important role of museums in promoting cultural inheritance and innovation, and promoting exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.
Patama, a member of the International Olympic Committee and chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s Culture and Olympic Heritage Committee, said that the completion of the Beijing Olympic Museum demonstrates the vitality of the Olympic movement on a global scale and the continued influence of the Olympic spirit. He hopes that the museum will play a role in preserving the Olympic Games in the future. It plays an important role in promoting sports heritage, carrying forward the Olympic spirit, and promoting global sports and cultural exchanges.
Ice and snow sports become more popular
At the National Stadium “Bird’s Nest” “next door” to the Beijing Olympic Museum, the joyful ice and snow season activities with a total area of more than 60,000 square meters have attracted many citizens and tourists in recent days. On the occasion of the second anniversary of the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Double Olympics venues such as the National Stadium and the National Speed Skating Stadium “Ice Ribbon” are also open to Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics personnel free of charge.
In the two years since the Beijing Winter Olympics, the National Stadium, National Aquatics Center, National Speed Skating Stadium and other venues have received more than 7 million visitors and held hundreds of large-scale events, setting a new benchmark for post-game operations at Winter Olympics venues. During the Spring Festival, relevant venues will hold 13 ice and snow cultural activities to create a strong festival atmosphere.
Among them, the National Aquatics Center launched the “Long Yao Water Cube” New Year limited series of activities. The giant landscape of “Auspicious Dragon” has appeared on the membrane structure of the “Water Cube” facade; the National Speed Skating Hall will hold figure skating training, outdoor There are a variety of cultural and sports activities such as ice and snow entertainment, study winter camps; the Olympic Tower will host the Year of the Dragon New Year temple fair…
There is a small ice cart in front of you and a Pavilion of Buddhist Incense behind you; you can swim in the blue ice of the frozen lake and freeze the golden sunset. As the weather gets warmer, on the afternoon of February 4, the Beijing Summer Palace Ice Rink was closed after business for that day, bringing a successful end to this winter’s ice and snow craze.
After walking out of the ice rink, Beijing citizen Li Lu was reluctant to leave. “I waited in line for a long time and caught the ‘last bus’ to play ice. I felt everyone’s love for ice and snow.”
The Summer Palace Ice Rink has a business area of 350,000 square meters and can accommodate up to 5,000 people playing on the ice at the same time. It is the largest outdoor natural ice rink with the largest capacity among Beijing municipal parks. This year’s ice and snow season, the Summer Palace Ice Rink has transformed into a “top-notch” ice rink, setting off a wave of ice and snow craze. On weekends, there are always long lines at the entrance to the ice rink.
“The ‘Winter Olympics Effect’ brought about by the Beijing Winter Olympics continues to be released, citizens and tourists are increasingly enthusiastic about going on the ice, and ice and snow sports have become a ‘new fashion.'” said Wang Xiaohua, deputy director of the Summer Palace.
As a witness of the “Double Olympics City”, the Summer Palace also strives to turn “winter limited” into “historical permanent” through various Double Olympics cultural promotion activities. Recently, the “Double Olympic City” theme exhibition opened here, comprehensively displaying the struggle and precious legacy of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. While enjoying the winter beauty of the Summer Palace, tourists can further appreciate the extraordinary achievements of the “Double Olympic City” and feel the “Chinese flavor” of Olympic culture.
Zhang Xiufeng, director of the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Culture and Heritage Foundation and chairman of the International Olympic Museum Alliance, used “spectacular” to describe the scene in the Summer Palace. “I see more and more young Chinese people joining the ice and snow craze,” she said.
In the post-Winter Olympics era, Beijing relies on its rich Olympic heritage to carry out various ice and snow activities, attracting more people to ice rinks and snowfields, and creating an ice and snow sports leisure consumption destination. This winter, Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau, Commerce Bureau, Culture and Tourism Bureau and other five departments jointly launched the ice and snow sports consumption season, launching a number of ice and snow sports consumption discounts at the National Stadium, Summer Palace, Taoranting Park and other ice and snow sports venues to promote the Beijing Winter Olympics spirit, enrich the masses’ fitness and sports leisure methods, and stimulate the masses’ enthusiasm for ice and snow sports.