Olympic Village preparations pass weekend test

Tests conducted at the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Village over the weekend resulted in positive feedback in areas including check-in, accommodation, catering and COVID-19 tests.

There were 2,415 people involved in the tests in the village, which is located in the south of the National Olympic Sports Center.

The 20-building village will accommodate 2,338 participants at February's Winter Olympics and 1,040 participants at the Winter Paralympics in March.

The test participants included volunteers, the builders of the village, neighboring residents, media workers and foreigners. Some government officials, sports experts and handicapped people also participated.

Some foreign college students in Beijing experienced the village as Games "athletes".

A senior student from Comoros told btime.com that he had spent some time in the village gym and was impressed by how spacious it was.

"There are so many facilities in the gym, which is great for people like me who love sports," he said.

Magot Peter Makhor Akech, another foreign student, said he liked the food provided in the village.

"I tried Chinese food like baozi, which tastes good," he said. "There are so many choices in the catering area and all those dishes are delicious."

Suggestions were also given by some foreigners.

Ouattara Sie suggested that the water flow in the apartment could be stronger, while praising the speed of nucleic acid testing.

"The sample-collecting process was fast and all the staff were nice and patient," he said.

Some media workers were invited to experience the village's cultural and commercial area, which features many stores and souvenir shops.

Yang Jingfeng, deputy director of the village's comprehensive service department, said it will organize cultural exchange activities to help people from all over the world experience traditional Chinese culture.

"The athletes will not be able to go out of the village to experience the Great Wall and other places in Beijing, so we will try to provide more service for them to get to know Chinese culture," he said.

Due to COVID-19 control and prevention measures, the athletes and their support teams will be under closed-loop management during the Games.

The village caterers will offer a menu featuring 678 dishes to athletes from diverse cultural backgrounds, which was designed to meet their different dietary needs while also taking religious diversity into consideration.

The village will start trial operations for the Olympics on Jan 23 and officially open on Jan 27.

A competition zone in Beijing's Yanqing district was also put through its paces over the weekend, when it hosted a round of the Luge World Cup.

About 300 spectators were welcomed to the competition venue at the National Sliding Center on Saturday evening.

They had to have their temperatures measured, present their health codes and detail the places they had visited recently before entering the venue.

Spectators had no contact with athletes to ensure their safety, organizers said.

Xin Wen contributed to this story.