The Chinese capital was one of three cities, along with Almaty and Oslo, put forward to the Candidate stage of the contest last month, with a final decision due on July 31, 2015. 

Yang, who won the 500 and 1,000 metre titles at Salt Lake City 2002, believes the strong organisation and commitment of the Chinese people seen here is a particular advantage.

"Of course it has an impact, especially for the confidence of our country and the International Olympic Committee (IOC)," the 37-year-old, an IOC member since 2010, told insidethegames.

"We have shown how we are very committed to organising a Games this big, and an even bigger one for the Olympics in Beijing.

"So this adds confidence for the members, and the Youth Olympics will have an impact, I believe."

Beijing, along with Zhangjiakou where snow sports will take place, will embrace that Games just like Nanjing has, it is hoped ©Getty Images


Despite being seen as an outsider when the bid was launched in November, Beijing's campaign has grown in confidence since, partly due to the problems experienced by its rivals, with Stockholm, Kraków and Lviv all having exited the race earlier this year.

One of its surviving rivals, Oslo, is still yet to receive Government endorsement amid an increasingly vocal opposition movement, while Almaty lacks the experience, both in bidding for and organising major events, China has.

The fact that the two Olympic Games before 2022 - Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020 - will take place on East Asian soil is also now seen as less of a worry than at first, although it was something highlighted as a challenge by Yang herself earlier this month.

The former skater also cited a positive meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping before the Opening Ceremony here on Saturday (August 16), with the Games potentially wielding personal significance for Xi because they fall in the final stages of his 10-year Presidency.

Stronger Presidential backing would surely quieten the opposition to the bid that has appeared on the internet in China, which, although minimal when compared to the anti-Oslo 2022 lobby, sheds a different light to what was presented in an independent survey carried out by a French consultancy firm earlier this year, which found 94 per cent support.

Support from Chinese President Xi Jinping, pictured attending the Opening Ceremony of Nanjing 2014, is crucial to Beijing's chances ©AFP/Getty Images



Xi claims the Games could encourage 400 million new people in the country to participate in winter sports, an aspiration that Yang also sees as particularly important.

"Now there are a very small number of people who do them in the two Provinces [in which the Games would take place]," she said.

"It would also be a really good opportunity to improve winter sports across the whole of China.

"I have opened a skating school in Shanghai, a city that has never had snow or ice, and 400 kids have already signed up to the programme.

"You can see the interest from the public.

"So, winter sports are such fun to participate in, especially skating and on the snow, and this is a really good opportunity to improve this."

Her words follow those of former IOC President Jacques Rogge who, after praising the organisation for Nanjing 2014, told Xinhua last week that, if Beijing was to be awarded the Games, he is sure "they will do a very good job".

The next stage of the two-year process to decide the host city will now come on January 7, when the Candidature Files from the three cities will be due, before Evaluation Commission visits are paid to each in February and March.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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