Speaking in Beijing, IOC President Thomas Bach said the money will be given to the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) and is intended to support in particular the continued engagement of 346 million Chinese people in winter sports, with a special focus on young people.

Earlier, the Beijing 2022 Organising Committee revealed that it had achieved a surplus of $52 million from its organisational budget of $2.29 billion (£1.8 billion/€2.04 billion) through its successful management of the Games.

Bach said: "The truly exceptional Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 were a showcase for incredible sporting performances, they broke ground as the most gender balanced Olympic Winter Games in history, and they attracted record new audiences.

"They gave a huge boost to international winter sport by having engaged 346 million Chinese people in winter sport.

"All of this in spite of a global pandemic.

"Congratulations to the Organising Committee of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 for this success and for delivering these Games with a financial surplus even under these extremely difficult circumstances."

He continued: "In recognition of all of these achievements, I am pleased to announce that the IOC will contribute its share of the surplus to support the legacy of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.

"Young people engaging in winter sports will greatly benefit from this contribution of the IOC."

Mr Gao Zhidan, President of the Chinese Olympic Committee said: "The success of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, which achieved a financial surplus against the backdrop of a global pandemic, is the result of a concerted effort from the entire Olympic family, led by the IOC, in the spirit of solidarity.

"It will serve as a working model for future Games.

"The Chinese Olympic Committee appreciates the IOC’s decision to contribute its share of the surplus to support the legacy of Beijing 2022.

"We will continue to uphold the Olympic values and the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games’ spirit and manage the fund efficiently and responsibly, so as to bring significant benefit to Chinese sport, especially winter sport."

The IOC added: "The positive financial results of Beijing 2022 reflect the success of Beijing 2022’s commercial programme, which benefited from the strong Olympic brand.

"This strength was underlined by the record 2.01 billion unique viewers that tuned in to watch coverage from Beijing across linear TV and digital platforms, as well as the 3.2 billion engagements throughout the Games period on Olympic social media handles.

"The IOC was also informed that all of the Beijing 2022 venues have reopened since the Games concluded and have legacy plans in place, ensuring their post-Games, multi-purpose use all year round.

"Beijing 2022 also successfully benefited from the optimisation work conducted with the IOC and the Olympic Movement stakeholders that was developed out of Olympic Agenda 2020 and reinforced during the COVID-19 pandemic."