Fans to be invited to Beijing Games events

About 150,000 spectators are expected to be invited to attend events at the Beijing Olympics in two of the three clusters of venues, organisers have said.

Plans to sell tickets to international visitors were scrapped last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and that was extended to residents of China in January.

Venues in Beijing and Zhangjiakou are now set to have invited spectators, but Alpine skiing and sliding sports in Yanqing will go ahead without fans.

Invited spectators will be drawn from “international friends residing in China’s mainland, members of diplomatic missions and marketing partners,” organisers said in a presentation to the IOC.

School children, local residents and “winter sports enthusiasts” are also targets to attend events.

“The spectator base will be as extensive and diversified as possible,” organisers said.

Limited numbers of accredited people at the Olympics, including sports officials and media who are living in closed-off bubbles separate from the Chinese public, will also attend events.