2024-01-26 00:54:00
Original title: Centennial Winter Olympics shines with youthful glory
Xinhua News Agency, Gangneung, South Korea, January 25th. On January 25, 1924, the first Winter Olympics (then named “International Winter Sports Week”) opened in Chamonix, France; exactly one hundred years later, in January 2024 On the 25th, the Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games was in full swing.
It is quite a coincidence that the two Winter Olympics “one old and one young” face each other a century apart. What is even more lamentable is that a hundred years later, the Winter Olympics is still a stage for young people to realize their dreams. Keeping pace with the times is still the key to the Winter Olympics stage. True color – a century-old Winter Olympics, shining with the brilliance of youth!
The Winter Olympics never get old and shine brightly because the Olympic dream is passed down from generation to generation, and there are always young dream chasers striving to move forward.
At the Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games, British alpine skier Zach Carrick-Smith competed with the expectations of his country and family, and has won gold medals in the men’s all-around and slalom events. No one from Britain had ever won a gold medal in alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics or Winter Youth Olympics before. His parents and older brother are among the generations of athletes in the country who have fought for it.
“My mother is a true role model. She competed in four Winter Olympics and fought hard to win the Winter Olympics. Now, this is exactly what I want to do.” Smith’s mother is also his mother coach.
“I’m looking forward to participating in the Winter Olympics in Milan and winning medals at the ‘big’ Winter Olympics. Of course, this requires greater efforts and I will keep training hard.” The success of the Winter Youth Olympics has obviously ignited The youngster has bigger dreams.
Some athletes who started practicing winter sports late and are still far away from the podium have never given up the pursuit of faster, higher and stronger.
Also in the alpine skiing event of this Winter Youth Olympic Games, Chinese teenager Wang Ning refused to admit defeat. She said: “Just because the gap is like this now does not mean it will still be like this in the future. I think we can catch up with them in the future.”
The reason why the Winter Olympics never gets old and shines brightly is because more and more young people from different regions join in, making the Winter Olympics more globally attractive.
In the first Winter Olympics, only 258 athletes from 16 countries and regions participated. At the Beijing Winter Olympics, 2,871 athletes from more than 90 countries and regions have participated. In this Winter Youth Olympics, 1,802 athletes from 78 countries and regions participated, setting a record for the event.
When people think of Brazil, their first impression will be the tropical rainforest of the Amazon and the coastal scenery of Rio de Janeiro. But at this Winter Youth Olympics, Brazilian boy Zien Betonico not only participated in the snowboard slalom pursuit competition, but also won the first Winter Youth Olympic medal in history for this tropical country.
“There is no snow in our country. When I introduce skiing to people, I will use the analogies of surfing and skateboarding that they are familiar with.” Perhaps it was the popular board sports in Brazil that laid a good foundation for Zien. He accidentally came into contact with skiing during a trip to North America. , and I have been obsessed with it ever since.
“I hope that my award is just the beginning for Brazilians. Brazilians have great potential in any sport. At the Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics, besides me, there are 17 Brazilian athletes, and they all Very talented.”
“I’m also starting to look forward to the Milan Winter Olympics!” the Brazilian teenager said excitedly.
Issa Laborde from Kenya represented his country in the men’s alpine skiing competition at the Winter Olympics and Winter Youth Olympics for the first time. After the men’s slalom competition on the 25th, he said: “Being a Winter Olympic athlete is simply a crazy thing. Although winter sports in Africa are lagging behind, I hope it can achieve greater development.”
Francis Mutuku, secretary-general of the Kenya Olympic Committee, said: “Today is a very important day. Kenya has a strong sports tradition, and we have advantages in sports such as marathons. Now we are broadening our horizons and want to expand Kenya’s Bring the flag to more Olympic venues.”
The reason why the Winter Olympics never gets old and shines brightly is because the Winter Olympics continue to innovate and become more fun and younger.
Snowboarding, freestyle ski parks, and U-shaped field projects were born very late, but because of their free and unrestrained style and strong playability, they quickly became popular, especially among teenagers. Following popular trends, the International Olympic Committee quickly incorporated these events into the Winter Olympics. Currently, these events have become the most popular Winter Olympics competitions, making the Winter Olympics “more fun.”
The 119th Plenary Session of the International Olympic Committee in 2007 decided to establish the Winter Youth Olympic Games. The establishment of the Winter Youth Olympic Games has made the Winter Olympics “younger” – not only because of the “younger” age of its establishment and the young participating athletes, but also because it carries many innovative projects and experimental tasks for innovative concepts.
For example, the ski mountaineering event that debuted on the Olympic stage at the Lausanne Winter Youth Olympic Games has successfully passed the “examination” and will become an official event at the Milan Winter Olympics.
In addition, highlights of the Winter Youth Olympics include a large number of trials of mixed competition. This Winter Youth Olympics produced a total of 13 gold medals in mixed-gender competitions. In previous Winter Youth Olympics, there was also a mixed national and regional competition format. On the one hand, this is a new attempt at “balance” in the Centennial Winter Olympics. On the other hand, it is also a new way to encourage athletes to communicate and build friendships.
Commenting on the 100-year history of the Winter Olympics, International Olympic Committee President Bach said: “For a century, the Winter Olympics events have been a permanent item on the Olympic calendar. They arouse great passion every time, and ice and snow sports continue to fascinate.”
Let us look forward to seeing the legend of the Winter Olympics continue to be written. (Reporter: Lu Xingji; Participating in the reporting: Zhao Jiantong, Wang Chunyan, Wei Hua, Xu Shihao, reporter Sun Yiran)
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