Seoul, Korea, October 19, 2022: The Olympic future and immediate past of winter sports in Asia were on display at the 26th ANOC General Assembly at the COEX Convention and Exhibition Centre in Seoul on Wednesday.
After Gangwon 2024 had provided the ANOC General Assembly with a progress report on the next Winter Youth Olympic Games, Beijing 2022 then joined the meeting online to reflect on a highly successful Winter Olympics in February.
The Winter YOG will come to Asia for the first time when Gangwon province hosts the event from January 19-February 1, 2024 in four cities.
There will be seven sports, 15 disciplines and 81 events for the 1,900 athletes, and the Winter YOG will build on the legacy of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics by using many of the same venues, especially for the ice sports of short track, figure skating, speed skating, ice hockey and curling in the coastal city of Gangneung.
Beijing 2022 reported that winter sports were now firmly embedded in the sports culture of the country and the people, with China's mission to introduce 300 million newcomers to winter sports in the build-up to Beijing proving successful.
Beijing said that 91 NOCs took part in 109 events with 2,876 athletes; there were two world records, 17 Olympic Winter Games records and the most gender-balanced Winter Olympics with female athletes accounting for 45 per cent of the total.
The Winter Olympics had involved 100,000 staff, 200,000 support personnel, 8,000 drivers and 4,000 vehicles, 2,300 medical workers and 18,000 volunteers.
Regarding media coverage, the event attracted 520 news agencies, 24 rights-holding broadcasters, 9,000 accredited media and broadcast coverage in more than 200 countries and regions.
Acting ANOC President Robin Mitchell congratulated Beijing 2022 and thanked them for the “wonderful memories” of competition, the gradual increase of spectators inside the venues as the Games progressed and the remarkable legacy of transforming summer venues from the 2008 Olympic Games to winter venues for Beijing 2022, as well as the new venues which will cater for the demand of new winter sports enthusiasts in the country.