"We've always had the athletes as our core focus, and we have made a lot of effort in guaranteeing the quality of their competitions and living environment at the Winter Paralympics," said Shen Qianfan, director general of BOCOG's village operations department, during a news conference at the Game's Main Media Centre in Beijing on Thursday.

"We've kept to our principle of making the Winter Olympics and Paralympics equally splendid. And from the very beginning of our planning, we have considered barrier-free designs and how to make the lives of the para athletes more convenient.

"So after the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics, we were very confident in our work. And in just 44 hours, we'd finished all the transition work of the villages."