The Beijing Zone
The Beijing Zone was the largest of the three competition clusters at the XXIV Olympic Winter Games. It comprised six competition venues, the Beijing National Stadium, which hosted the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and the 2,300-bed Olympic Village, whose 20 buildings were converted into public housing after the Games.
Four of the venues were originally built for the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games and repurposed to host ice sports as part of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG)’s Sustainability Plan: the National Aquatics Centre, National Indoor Stadium, Wukesong Sports Centre and the Capital Indoor Stadium. The remaining two venues (the National Speed Skating Oval and Big Air Shougang) were built for the Winter Games.
These multi-purpose venues operate all year round, hosting a variety of sporting and cultural events. In the process, they contribute to the development of sport and fitness-for-all programmes in China; provide high-performance athletes with elite training facilities; stage regional, national and international sporting events; and enhance the Chinese capital’s image as a city of culture.
Known as the Water Cube at Beijing 2008 and the Ice Cube at Beijing 2022, the National Aquatics Centre is a versatile venue that hosts swimming and ice sports and major cultural shows. A landmark of the city owing to its futuristic design, it boasts a swimming pool complex, water park, theatre, restaurants, shops, spa area and 1,000-capacity multi-functional hall. Having hosted curling at Beijing 2022, it will soon be the site of a World Curling Academy Training Centre. It reopened to the public on 16 April 2022 with a curling taster event, welcoming over 3,000 visitors on that day.
Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest, is the only venue in the world to have hosted opening and closing ceremonies at both the Olympic Summer and Winter Games. It is one of the city’s best-known landmarks and continues to attract thousands of visitors every day. Another of Beijing’s multi-purpose venues, the stadium regularly stages concerts and national and international sports competitions. In recent years, it has played host to the Ice and Snow Festival, when it is transformed into a winter theme park complete with ice sculptures, an ice rink and artificial ski slope.
The National Indoor Stadium, one of two ice hockey venues at Beijing 2022, stages indoor sports events such as the Beijing Youth Championships and the Beijing Winter Games, as well as concerts, ice shows, acrobatics and circus performances. It is also used by residents for fitness classes and recreational activities.
The second ice hockey venue was the Wukesong Sports Centre. Having staged the basketball competitions at Beijing 2008, it is another of the Chinese capital’s multi-purpose sporting, recreational and cultural venues. It hosts basketball in the summer, including professional events such as NBA China Games, and ice sports in the winter, with the NHL China Games topping the bill. It is the home arena of CBA Shougang basketball team and KHL Beijing Kunlun Hongxing ice hockey club. The centre is used for concerts, fashion shows and product launches, and aims to become a driver of sporting, cultural and economic development in western Beijing.
An existing venue, the equally versatile 17,000-capacity Capital Indoor Stadium stages gymnastics and ice sports competitions. It was the launch venue for the Public Winter Sports Benefit Programme, which calls upon winter sports venues across China to offer free admission to the public at least once a month to grow participation.
Nicknamed the Ice Ribbon, the National Speed Skating Oval is a venue for ice and snow sports competitions – including figure skating and ice hockey events – mass-participation fitness sessions, cultural and recreational events and exhibitions. Now an International Skating Union Centre of Excellence, it hosted a seven-day short-track speed skating camp in January 2025 to help athletes prepare for the Asian Winter Games. The venue is open to the public for general use and aims to promote and popularise skating in China.
One of two snowboard/freestyle skiing venues at Beijing 2022, Big Air Shougang is now a regular stop on the FIS Freeski World Cup circuit and is used all year round for sports competitions, training and public fitness and leisure activities, as well as cultural events such as outdoor music and beer festivals, car shows, concerts, exhibitions and light shows. Its location in Beijing reflected a desire to bring the Games away from the mountains and closer to the people, and it has attracted well over a million visitors since the Games.
A symbol of urban regeneration, Big Air Shougang forms part of Shougang Park and was built on the site of a former steel mill. The cooling stacks that provide the events it stages with a spectacular backdrop have helped make it a popular location for product launches, art performances and business conferences.
Shougang Park has also become an industrial and business hub, complete with a business incubator, while its digital infrastructure will support the future Shougang Smart Park. The park also comprises short track speed skating, figure skating, curling and ice hockey venues, which serve residents throughout the year as part of a nationwide drive to encourage people to lead active and healthy lives.