He had also chaired the Evaluation Commission during the bid process.

Zhukov, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Duma, is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As head of the ROC, he has found himself at the centre of the current doping scandal which has seen Russia's track and field athletes banned from international competition, leaving their participation at this year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in doubt.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) banned Russia last November after the World Anti-Doping Agency Independent Commission found evidence of state-supported doping - something which Zhukov disputes.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach clearly does not believe this makes him unsuitable for this high-profile role.

“The Coordination Commission under chair Alexander Zhukov will support the Organising Committee to further develop the Games plan with a special focus on sustainability and environmental protection, in line with Olympic Agenda 2020," he said. 

Zhukov will head a 16-member Commission that includes six other IOC members, including Gian-Franco Kasper, President of the International Ski Federation. 

The other IOC members include C K Wu, President of the International Boxing Association. 

Him and Kasper are joined by Angela Ruggiero, a four-time Olympic ice hockey medallist, including a gold at Nagano 1998, who is now a member of the IOC Athletes' Commission and was the chair for the Coordination Commission for Lillehammer 2016, which finished last Sunday (February 21). 

Other IOC members on the Commission include Timothy Fok, President of the National Olympic Committee, Hong Kong, China, and Romania's Octavian Morariu and Spain's Juan Antonio Samaranch. 

The Commission will also be able to call upon the expertise of Dmitry Chernyshenko, the President and chief executive of Sochi 2014, an event widely praised for the quality of its organisation. 

Another interesting name among the members is South Korea's Kim Jae-Youl, the son-in-law of Lee Kun-hee, the head of Samsung.

Kim, who is a vice-president of the Korean Olympic Committee and involved in the organisation of Pyeongchang 2018, is widely tipped to succeed Lee as a member of the IOC shortly. 

Kapser will be joined by fellow International Federation Presidents, Britain's Kate Caithness from the World Curling Federation and Italy's Ivo Ferriani, the head of the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation. 

Ruggiero will not be the only Olympic gold medallist on the Commission as it also includes Kazakhstan's Vladimir Smirnov, a former cross-country skier who won the 50 kilometres at Lillehammer 1994.

It was one of seven Olympic medals won by Smirnov, a former member of the IOC Athletes' Commission, who is now the vice-president of the International Biathlon Union. (IBU).

Nicole Resch, secretary general of the IBU, is also on the Commission.

The Paralympic Movement will be represented by Dutchwoman Rita van Driel.

She is the chair of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Development Committee and former head of the IPC Nordic Skiing Technical Commission.

The panel is completed by Argentina's José Luis Marco, a consultant whose speciality is customs formalities and immigration and who has sat on several IOC Commissions, and Finland's Risto Nieminen, former chief executive of the Finnish Sports Television Ltd.  

Beijing will make history when it becomes the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

It had staged the Summer edition in 2008, an event widely praised for its organisation but mired in controversy over China's human rights records.

The Chinese capital was awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics by the IOC at its Session in Kuala Lumpur last July, beating Kazakhstan's Almaty by 44 votes to 40.

Beijing will stage the Ceremonies and the ice events and the majority of snow sports will take place at  Zhangjiakou, 190 kilometres north west of the city. 

Lack of snow and human rights concerns are expected to be among the main topics that will dominate the build-up to the event.