Data source: State Sports General Administration
Photo ①: Short track speed skater Ren Ziwei (first from left) in the competition.
Photo ②: Figure skating pair skating team Sui Wenjing (left)/Han Cong in the competition.
Video China
Struggle creates dreams. On January 27, the Chinese sports delegation to the 24th Winter Olympic Games was officially established. The total number of Chinese sports delegation is 387, including 176 athletes. The Beijing Winter Olympics is the largest Winter Olympics in the history of Chinese sports delegations.
The Chinese sports delegation is about to start its twelfth Winter Olympics tour. On January 25, more than 100 representatives of athletes and coaches from various national ice and snow sports teams gathered in Tiananmen Square to watch the flag-raising ceremony. Wu Dajing, the men’s short track speed skating champion at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, led the entire team to take the oath. The oath of “working hard and winning glory for the country” is loud, inspiring the members of the delegation to go all out and prepare for the final stage of the sprint.
Years of hard training, hard work and dedication are about to usher in the moment of bloom. In the Winter Olympics, the Chinese team will strive to compete at the competitive level, but also show will, determination and spiritual outlook.
7 major events and 15 sub-items “Competition in all events”, 131 athletes participated in the Winter Olympics for the first time
The Chinese sports delegation has completed all 7 major events and 15 sub-events of the “full event participation” task of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and obtained a total of 104 sub-events and 194 seats (including 4 which need to pass the Beijing Winter Olympics) The “in-competition” sub-events whose results are reconfirmed in other sub-events) accounted for 95.4% of all 109 sub-events.
Young players became the main force of the competition. According to statistics, the average age of athletes in the Chinese sports delegation is 25.2 years old. 131 athletes participated in the Winter Olympics for the first time, accounting for 74.43%. 17-year-old men’s freestyle skier He Jinbo and women’s ski jumper Peng Qingyue are the youngest athletes in the delegation. Dare to fight, dare to work hard, full of energy, the Chinese team players will strive to achieve breakthroughs in the Winter Olympics.
Ning Zhongyan, a speed skater who is about to start his first Winter Olympics trip, said that he is under pressure to participate in the competition, and he is more motivated. He has always had a clear goal and firm belief. “I will go all out to fight in the Winter Olympics and win glory for the country.”
Field veterans are also an indispensable asset for each team. They are self-disciplined, diligent, and determined in their goals, and play the role of “fixing stars” in each team. Snowboarders Liu Jiayu and Cai Xuetong, and freestyle skiers Xu Mengtao, Qi Guangpu and Jia Zongyang will all make their fourth trip to the Winter Olympics.
“I hope to achieve self-transcendence, strive for the best performance, and leave no regrets.” Liu Jiayu is full of expectations for this competition. At the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, she withstood the pressure and won the runner-up in the women’s snowboard U-shaped field, achieving a breakthrough for the Chinese team in this event.
Short track speed skating is the traditional advantage of the Chinese team. Among the 13 Olympic gold medals won by the Chinese sports delegation, 10 came from short track speed skating. In the Beijing Winter Olympics, the short track speed skating team has achieved the goal of full participation, and will be led by the famous generals Wu Dajing and Fan Kexin who have participated in the three Winter Olympics to launch an impact on the gold medal. Defending the honor and continuing the brilliance has become the common goal of the whole team.
In the figure skating arena, the Chinese team will have 8 players competing in all 5 events. The pair skating team Sui Wenjing/Han Cong and men’s singles player Jin Boyang will continue their journey to the Winter Olympics. At the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Sui Wenjing/Han Cong won a silver medal, and Jin Boyang also created the best Winter Olympics result for the Chinese team in the men’s figure skating event with a fourth place.
In a number of snow sports, the Chinese team qualified for the Winter Olympics for the first time, achieving a historic breakthrough.
Gu Ailing, who will also participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics, is the first female athlete in the world to complete a 1440-degree air flip in two weeks.
Compared with the previous Winter Olympics, the number of participating items has increased by 2 major items, 3 sub-items and 47 minor items
On the list of the Chinese sports delegation, the teenager Zhao Jiawen will represent the Nordic biathlon team of China and will be on the Winter Olympics for the first time. Before this, the Chinese team players have never qualified for the Winter Olympics in this event. Zhao Jiawen said that he will be ready to sprint with all his strength.
Compared with the PyeongChang Winter Olympics participating in 5 major events, 12 sub-events and 53 sub-events, the Chinese sports delegation added 2 major events including ice hockey and sledding, 3 sub-events including Nordic biathlon, and speed skating. Women’s 5000 meters and other 47 events. The number of participating events and athletes has increased significantly. Some projects have achieved a breakthrough from “0” to “1” in the Winter Olympics, and some are changing the role of “followers”. The Chinese team has achieved full participation in the alpine skiing event. Zhang Yangming, Xu Mingfu, Kong Fanying, and Ni Yueming will participate in all 11 events, of which 6 will be the first time the Chinese team will appear in the Winter Olympics. In the cross-country skiing event, 6 men and 6 women of the Chinese team will participate in all 12 events. Zhang Bei, head of the training team and director of the third training department of the Winter Sports Management Center of the State Sports General Administration, said: “We have achieved the first goal and obtained the qualifications for all events. Next, we will strive for good results.”
Ice sports should consolidate their advantages and go to a new level; snow sports should catch up and make up for shortcomings. In just a few years, China’s ice and snow sports have made great efforts to embark on the road of leapfrog development and have yielded fruitful results.
In the past, the vast majority of Chinese Winter Olympic athletes came from the Northeast region. Judging from the entry list this time, there will be many athletes from southern provinces on the Winter Olympics. Nearly 20 athletes from Guangdong will mainly compete in women’s ice hockey and sledding. The 3 snow team members are from Zhejiang, and they are all ice and snow athletes from track and field.
The Tibet Autonomous Region will have athletes participating in the Winter Olympics for the first time. The 18-year-old Yongqing Ram was selected into the national snowboard training team in 2018. In recent years, he has made rapid progress and won the seventh place in the obstacle chase in the points competition of the FIS France. Another athlete from the Tibet Autonomous Region, Tsering Zhandui, will participate in the cross-country skiing event at the Winter Olympics.
Actively demonstrate spiritual outlook and competitive level, and strive to achieve both sports performance and spiritual civilization.
China’s ice and snow sports started late and have a weak foundation. Before bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics, one-third of the Winter Olympics projects have not yet been launched in my country. In order to achieve the goal of winning the competition, the preparations for the Winter Olympics of China’s ice and snow sports follow the plan of “expanding the area, fixing the points, strengthening the troops, and sprinting”, step by step, and constantly fill in the gaps, strengths and weaknesses. Extensively carry out cross-border and cross-item material selection to consolidate the thickness of ice and snow sports talents; invite top international coaches and high-level experts to participate in talent selection and training, and learn from advanced concepts and methods; establish scientific training in Beijing Shougang, Erqi Factory, Hebei Laiyuan and other places Base, improve the shortage of professional training venues and facilities… Benchmarking the 109 events of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese Ice and Snow Corps has achieved the goals of “full project development”, “full project team building” and “full project training”, thus forming a competitive A new pattern of preparation for battle.
In the past two years, in the face of the huge challenges brought by the epidemic, the Chinese team players have not lowered their preparation standards, but have changed from passive to active, relying on scientific and technological strength to innovate training methods. The advanced wind tunnel laboratory helps athletes to accurately polish the details of their movements. Relying on digital technology and artificial intelligence systems, athletes’ training status and results can be visualized and analyzed. Starting from the second half of 2020, each team has conducted a physical fitness test and assessment and launched a physical fitness competition. In the absence of high-level competition training, each national ice and snow sports training team organized various competitions, simulation competitions, and challenge competitions.
Returning to the world arena, while actively striving for Winter Olympics points, each team also seized the opportunity to inspect players, run in lineups, and get to know their opponents.
This season, the Chinese team won 7 golds, 3 silvers and 6 bronzes in the 4 World Cups in short track speed skating, and qualified for the Beijing Winter Olympics with full capacity. In the 4 World Cups in speed skating, the Chinese team won 4 golds, 3 silvers and 2 bronzes. In the long-distance events that have been relatively backward, the women’s players have qualified for the competition. In figure skating, pair skating team Sui Wenjing/Han Cong won the championship at the Vancouver and Turin Grand Prix. Emerging projects represented by steel frame snowmobiles have gradually accumulated a certain competitive strength through scientific training and hard training. Disadvantaged sports such as Nordic biathlon, freestyle skiing and snowboard slalom chases also achieved historic breakthroughs.
At present, the Chinese sports delegations are staying in the Winter Olympic Village one after another for final preparations for the competition. The horn of the charge has been sounded, and the Chinese team is ready to fight a tough battle.
The Chinese sports delegation said that this competition should be based on morality, style, and clean gold medals, effectively enhance the ambition and courage to win glory for the country, and actively show the spirit and competitive level of Chinese athletes in the new era in the Winter Olympics. To achieve the goal of achieving both the sports performance and spiritual civilization of the Chinese sports delegation in the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Layout Design: Cai Huawei