This photo taken on Dec. 14, 2019 shows the general view of Big Air Shougang, the venue for Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. (Xinhua/Xia Yifang)
BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- With the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games less than a week away, the competition venues have started to welcome accredited media prior to the official opening dates.
Oliver Walters, a cameraman for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, was impressed by the Big Air Shougang on his first visit to the venue.
"It was quite spectacular. It was really nicely done and designed," said Walters. "I like the industrial look, a mix of the old and the new architecture. It really intrigued my interest."
Just as Walters noticed, Big Air Shougang was indeed an industrial complex of iron and steel plants, which was later repurposed and transformed into Beijing 2022 venues, with the blast furnaces turning into training centers, and an iron ore storage tower becoming home to the organizing committee.
Canadian cameraman Oliver Walters poses in front of the landing zone at Big Air Shougang on Jan. 28, 2022. (Photo courtesy of Oliver Walters)
As one of Beijing 2022's greatest initiatives, Big Air Shougang is now a sport and cultural park, expecting to receive more visitors in the future.
"I think it's an amazing idea," Walters told Xinhua. "It's very brilliant to reuse what was already there and to keep the historical aspect of it, because it's like creating something new from something old. It's a good way for our planet of recycling and reusing current materials."
Walters also spoke highly of the set up at the venue as the work flow is "really well-organized."
"We don't have too far to walk, which is nice. Because at some venues, there was a lot of walking from where the bus drops you off to the mixed zone or to the Olympic Village," he added.
This photo shows a view of Big Air Shougang on Jan. 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)
Despite some people calling the closed loop and daily testing too stringent, Walters believes it is good for everyone's health and safety.
"I'm really impressed how seriously China is taking it with the amount of testing and how easy it is for us," said the Canadian. "We just go outside our hotel, and it takes five minutes to get tested every day. But it's a deep and thorough test, which is nice to see."
"Because no one really knows how this is transmitted and how we pass it to each other, until we know enough about the virus, I don't think that having such high standards is bad."
