Women's competition would, meanwhile, take place at the Wukesong Sports Centre in the west of the city, the Beijing 2008 basketball venue now among China's foremost basketball and concert hubs.

Wukesong Sports Centre - usually known as the MasterCard Center but sporting a new name due to rival Visa's status as an IOC TOP (The Olympic Programme) Partner - is listed as having a capacity of 9,000 for the Games.

That is the minimum requirement for a female Olympic ice hockey competition and that figure is expected to increase if Beijing are awarded the Winter Olympics.  

It can up hold up 18,000 for basketball matches, during which it is renowned for creating a vocal and iconic atmosphere.

Jerry Han, the venue's general manager, confirmed that IOC Evaluation Commission members suggested swapping the venues around during their visit.

Han told insidethegames this is now being considered.

The Wukesong Sports Centre, pictured during the Beijing 2008 Olympics, could host women's ice hockey if the Chinese capital's bid to host the 2022 Winter Games is successful  ©Wikipedia



Beijing 2022 vice-president Zhang Jiandong admitted that "in terms of the visit to the venues, the Evaluation Commission may have different suggestions to make to us".

He added: "In this process, we have had a very good flow of ideas with the members.

"But the whole visit has not been completed."

Eight changes were made to the Kazakh bid of Almaty, Beijing's only rival in the two-horse race, following a similar inspection last month.

This included the scrapping of plans to hold Alpine skiing events at the Shymbolak Resort, with total savings of $550 million (£360 million/€498 million) projected as a result of the changes.

Zhang believes the IOC was "generally satisfied" following a visit to the National Alpine Ski Centre and the National Sliding Centre in the Yanqing Cluster to the north-east of Beijing today, emphasising the difficulty of finding a suitable Alpine venue due to the strict requirements imposed by the International Ski Federation.

Elsewhere, bid officials have reiterated once again their legacy commitments, both in terms of winter sporting growth and tackling air pollution, while "free access to internet" during the 2022 Games has been promised.

Several social media channels, including Facebook and Twitter, remain officially banned in China, although access was possible during Beijing 2008 and again at last August's Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.

"Beijing 2022 will be more open than Beijing 2008," the bid's media and communications director Wang Hui said.

Beijing 2022 are making an effort to utilise Twitter even though it is officially banned in China ©Beijing 2022



As well as their site visits to the Yanqing venues today, the IOC Commission were also informed about accommodation, transport and media arrangements.

The IOC and Beijing 2022 entourage are due to travel to Zhangjiakou tomorrow, the city 190 kilometres to the north-west of the capital close to the mountain venue cluster, to continue their inspections.

A high-speed rail line, which Chinese officials claim will cut the journey time to Zhangjiakou to less than an hour, is scheduled to be completed by 2019 regardless of whether the bid is successful, is expected to be among the top items on the agenda.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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