There will be, of course, a requirement to build some new facilities: former Beijing Vice Mayor Yang Xiaochao has said that, of the 12 competition venues required for the 2022 Winter Olympics, three remain to be built, and the others renovated to satisfy the usage requirements. The iconic Bird's Nest national stadium will, of course, be reused to host the opening and closing ceremonies. It has been emphasized that, although additional facilities will continue to be used after the Games, there is no intention to build any more iconic stadia in the style of the Bird's Nest.

The background here is that the Chinese government is keen to avoid accusations of extravagance, particularly at this time of economic stringency for large parts of the population. Officials from the Bid Committee announced before the final decision that the total operational budget for the Winter Games would not exceed US$1.56 billion, only 6 percent of which would take the form of a direct government subsidy. Zhou Xing, the vice director of the Finance and Marketing Department of Beijing's Bid Committee, promised that US$338 million, almost a quarter of the total, would come from the International Olympic Committee in one form or another, whereas international commercial sponsorship would bring in much of the remaining balance, together with ticket sales and merchandising. It is hoped that shrewd financial management will enable ticket prices to be kept at a minimum, particularly to encourage young spectators and to bind ordinary Chinese people as firmly as possible into their own Olympic tournament. Nothing could be worse than people getting the idea that the Games are purely a spectacle for the élite.

In fact the decision has every chance of bringing great benefits, not just to the capital, but also to poorer regions of China. The preparations for the Games will boost the national integrated development strategy for the Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei region, which aims to reduce the development gap between Hebei and the two great municipalities. A high speed railway link between the two Olympic cities will be in place by 2019. The economic benefits to the poorer parts of Hebei Province are potentially enormous. And the long-standing pollution problems in and around Beijing will be strongly targeted by the government in the run-up to the Games, with the aim of reducing the emission of PM2.5 airborne particles by 45 percent before 2022.

Both inside and outside China, we can all welcome the IOC's decision and look forward to an inspiring spectacle in 2022.

The writer is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.ccgp-fushun.com/opinion/timcollard.htm

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