Beijing 2022 accessibility plans impress IPC

The IPC holds second project review with Beijing 2022 Organising Committee 08 Dec 2017
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Logo of Beijing 2022

Beijing, China will host the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games

ⒸBeijing 2022

“With just over four years’ to go until the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, the Organising Committee is in good shape and has made some excellent progress in many areas."

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) this week held a Project Review with Beijing 2022 and left the Chinese capital impressed at measures the Organising Committee is taking to improve accessibility ahead of the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games.

Since the last Project Review held in January 2016, Beijing 2022 has developed an accessibility monitoring mechanism together with different stakeholders, such as Beijing City Government and Hebei province officials. A gap analysis between the IPC Accessibility Guidelines and the national accessibility legislation has also been completed. The Beijing 2022 Accessibility Guidelines will also be finalised by the end of the year.

Thanos Kostopoulos, the IPC’s Paralympic Games Integration Director, said: “With just over four years’ to go until the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, the Organising Committee is in good shape and has made some excellent progress in many areas, most notably in the area of accessibility.

“I am confident that Organising Committee will continue and extend this good work to other areas as following the conclusion of PyeongChang 2018, the focus will shift to Beijing. The Organising Committee should use next March’s Paralympic Winter Games as an opportunity to grasp as much knowledge and key learnings as possible as this will benefit them greatly in the years to come.

“I hope one of their key learnings will be just how crucial it is to engage the public early in the Paralympic Winter Games. Like in South Korea, there is not a moment to waste in the need for the Organising Committee to raise awareness of winter Para sports and leading athletes in China.”

During the Project Review, Beijing 2022, who were led by their Executive Vice President Jiandong Zhang together with representatives from the National Paralympic Committee of China, Beijing City Government and Hebei Province, provided progress updates in multiple areas.

This included People Management (HR), Sport, Education, Planning & Co-ordination, Legacy, Accessibility both on the side of the OCOG and the Host City, Paralympic Village, Transport, Brand and Engagement, and Commercial and Broadcasting

The Project Review took place following a two-day IPC Academy Excellence Workshop which aimed to educate the Organising Committee’s workforce on the Paralympic client groups, their backgrounds, their needs and requirements.