Beijing encore

Performers dance with drums ahead of IOC's announcement of the winner city for the 2022 winter Olympics bid, outside the Birds' Nest, also known as the National Stadium, in Beijing, July 31, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

The Chinese government will offer full support in finance, legal affairs and security, as well as organizational expertise, to assure that Beijing could present another impressive Olympics, Liu added.

Beijing will host the Games in three venue clusters - downtown Beijing for ice sports, and northwest Yanqing county and Zhangjiakou for skiing events-which will be linked by a high-speed railway that will cut travel time from Beijing to Zhangjiakou to 50 minutes when it's completed in 2019.

Despite the relatively underdeveloped status of winter sports in the country, Beijing's vision to promote the untapped winter sports market by hosting the 2022 Games has appealed to the world, said Bach.

"Today, in Beijing's presentation, what was very important was to show (that) with the Olympic Winter Games, 300 million people can have access to winter sports in the center of North China."

Currently a world power in figure skating and short-track speed skating, China has vowed to make up for its weakness on snow by injecting $30 million in government funding to cultivate less-popular events such as alpine skiing and luge leading up to 2022, according to the State Administration of Winter Sports.

Kevan Gosper, former IOC vice-president and an honorary IOC member, said Beijing's strong ability in delivering on its promises convinced the world.

"I am very happy for Beijing," the Australian told China Daily after the vote. "We saw 2008 for the Summer Games, every issue they delivered, and we know that will happen again in 2022. I think it was well deserved."

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn