Bach described Beijing 2022 as "a historic occasion" as the Games are scheduled to make China the first city to host both Summer and Winter Olympics.

"This is something very significant for the entire Olympic Movement," said Bach.

"We have seen how much the Chinese people are embracing this opportunity by getting familiar with winter sport in record time, by becoming really an emerging nation in winter sports. 

"This is a significant development, which will culminate, then, in the Olympic Games, for which the preparations on a technical level are going very, very well. 

"Our Chinese partners in the Organising Committee have met all the key milestones despite the crisis. 

"The stage is set for a successful Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and for writing Olympic history."

In a message released on Monday (September 21), to mark International Day of Peace, which fell on the same day as Beijing 2022 hit 500 days to go, Bach claimed the Olympic Games was "the only event to bring the entire world together".

During his interview with CCTV, Bach echoed his sentiments that sport was a great tool in uniting people.

"We have all realised during this crisis that sport is an integral part of human life," said Bach.

"We have also realised how important sport is to bind a community together, that sport is the glue of a society, which unites all the people despite all the other differences they may have otherwise. 

"We have also realised very clearly that sport is a very important economic factor, and in this way, sport can be positive and can have a positive impact during the crisis.

"With its economic strength, we can also contribute to the recovery after the crisis.

"We have a good example in China as the new winter sport industry has already created 1.5 million jobs in the country."

Preparations for Beijing 2022 were largely halted earlier this year because of the coronavirus pandemic but have now started to resume, and Bach said he was happy with the progress in the build-up to the Games, scheduled to take place from February 4 to 20.

"The progress is, really, the Chinese way, if I may say," said Bach.

"You see the dynamism and the efficiency of the Chinese people behind these preparations and behind the organisation. 

"You also see the great engagement when you see that more than 800,000 Chinese people have applied to become a volunteer.

"When you see the impressive engagement of the Chinese enterprises and the businesses supporting the Olympic Games. 

"When you see the Chinese people really starting to play winter sports themselves, and to make their kids familiar with winter sports and when you see the infrastructure, which has been built and is under construction to accommodate these many Chinese people who wanted to practice winter sport, you can only be impressed."

Bach revealed that "different scenarios" were being prepared for, in the build-up to both the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, due to take place from July 23 to August 8 2021next year, and Beijing 2022.

"We have to prepare for the different scenarios which we may have to face next July and August in the world, but also in Japan," he said.

"We cannot be sure today how the world will look like next year. 

"We have to prepare for different scenarios, and this is what we are doing together with our Japanese partners, but the same is true with regard to Beijing 2022. 

"We still do not know whether, in the world, we will finally have won the fight against the virus because the situation, and the scenario I'm talking about does not only depend on the conditions in the host country, it also depends on all the conditions in the other National Olympic Committees. 

"To see that the athletes can prepare themselves, that they can travel and that they can make sure they are coming to a safe environment. 

"In our preparations, both with regard to Tokyo, as with regard to Beijing, there is one principle which governs all our preparations, and this is that the Olympic Games will offer a safe environment for everybody participating."

Bach claimed he was optimistic of achieving one of the key legacy objectives of Beijing 2022 - getting more than 300 million people involved in snow and ice sports.

"I'm really excited about this campaign, and I must say I'm full of admiration for the Chinese people," he said.

"How they have embraced winter sport in such a short time, and in doing so, making China now an emerging winter sport nation with this enthusiastic engagement for winter sport and for the Olympic Games.

"I think all the Chinese people can be very proud of this. 

"With this huge engagement of 300 million people becoming familiar with winter sport, I think we can say, already now, that there will be a winter sport world before Beijing 2022 and there will be a very different one after Beijing 2022. 

"Winter sport will benefit, then, from numbers in the engagement of people which these sports have never seen before.

"I can only say, thank you to the Chinese people for this enthusiasm and for all the support you're always giving to the Olympic Games."

Despite Bach's optimism in the run-up to Beijing 2022 clouds continue to hang over the event, with calls for China to be stripped of hosting rights over the alleged mass internment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang and because of a new national security law introduced by China to Hong Kong.