He is one of four Executive Presidents, along with Minister of the General Administration of Sport in China and Chinese Olympic Committee head Gou Zhongwen, Governor of Hebei Province Zhang Qingwei and Zhang Haidi, chairperson of the China Disabled Person’s Federation.

Guo Jinlong remains as the President of Beijing 2022, with the official leading the preparations for the Games.

Cai became the acting Mayor last October following the removal of Wang Anshun, the leader of Beijing's successful bid for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

Wang played a major role throughout the bidding phase in 2015, leading the Beijing 2022 delegation during the Evaluation Commission visit to the city, as well as during their presentation to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne.

He also played a major role at the IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur during July 2015, at which Beijing beat Almaty by four votes.

The 59-year-old is now reportedly taking up a new role in a Government Think Tank.

It has been suggested that the decision has been taken due to his links to disgraced official Zhou Yongkang, the former Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, as well as for his failure to deal with air pollution problems in the city.

The move was also viewed as part of a major political shake-up in China, with Cai seen to have a close relationship with the country’s President Xi Jinping.

Cai was officially confirmed as the Mayor at the fifth session of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress.

The 61-year-old, who earlier this month pledged to act on air pollution concerns in the capital, has previously served as the Mayor of the cities of Sanming, Quzhou and Hangzhou.

Eduardo Paes, the Rio de Janeiro Mayor replaced in the role by evangelical pastor Marcelo Crivella following an election in October, was widely credited as the driving force for the Brazilian city recovering after it fell behind with its preparations for last year's Olympics and Paralympics.

Last week, Chinese President Xi promised Beijing 2022 will be a "remarkable, extraordinary and excellent" Games during a visit to the IOC headquarters in Lausanne.

The visit, the first official trip by a Chinese Head of State to the IOC, came as part of a Swiss tour in which Xi also visited the World Economic Forum in Davos.

He and IOC President Thomas Bach visited the Olympic Museum before discussing the future state of sport and preparations for the 2022 Winter Games.

Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba Group were confirmed as an IOC TOP sponsor until 2028 during the trip.