Congratulations on China's first Winter Olympic gold medal
The third day of the Chinese Year of the Tiger was greeted by a piece of icy cold yet steaming hot news of happiness: Chinese athletes Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo won the gold medal in the pairs figure skating competition with an outstanding final score at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games!
There are three firsts in this gold medal: This is the first ever Olympic figure skating gold medal China has won in 30 years since its participation in the Winter Olympics; this is the first time in 46 years that former Soviet Union and Russian athletes have ever lost this gold medal to competitors from another nation; this is also the first gold medal ever won by non-European athletes in all of the 21 Winter Olympic Games that have been held so far!
Auspicious words are preferred in writings during the Spring Festival. All Chinese compatriots including Hong Kong citizens are overjoyed and inspired by this gold medal won in the beginning of the Year of the Tiger. It can be said that the first gold medal won in the beginning of the Year of the Tiger herald a smooth and successful year for our nation. Our nation's vigorous athletes are bound to win more gold medals in future fierce competitions with their tiger-like vigor and energy and combatant spirit.
Needless to say, it is the winning couple – husband Zhao Hongbo and wife Shen Xue – who should be the first to feel the most excited and inspired by winning the first gold medal in the Year of the Tiger. Of course, winning prizes and titles are not so much a new thing for Zhao Hongbo and Shen Xue. They won champions three times at the World Figure Skating Championships （2002, 2003 and 2007） and the bronze medal twice at the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics. Yet, for this 「couple on ice」, aged 37 and 31 respectively, winning this Winter Olympic gold medal had always remained a wish to be satisfied, a dream to be realised.
Right before the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Zhao Hongbo was injured during practice with his Achilles tendon ruptured. For a skating athlete such an injury is synonymous to retirement. All actions on ice such as high-speed skating, jumping, spinning and spiraling, lifting and holding entirely rely on the support of a powerful pair of heels. How could a heel sewn with 30 ditches ever do the job?
Nevertheless, Zhao Hongbo, with a character 「bo」 in his name, made up his mind to try and fight （bo） once again, while Shen Xue, with the character 「xue」 （snow） in her name, seemed to have been tightly bound to ice and snow. Hence the couple put on their skating shoes again, starting their march toward the gold medal at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. During the preparations, their painstaking practice made their families' hearts ache. The sum of the ages of a pair of American athletes at the Vancouver figure skating competition was equal to Zhao's alone. But Zhao and Shen overcame all obstacles of age, injury and physical conditions to win this gold medal with nearly perfect performance, making the dream come true to win this first gold medal for themselves, for the nation as well as for this Winter Olympics.
After the end of the competition, the coach of Chinese figure skating team, Yao Bin, told reporters that he would buy a piece of gold for his wife Cao Guifeng, an official with Heilongjiang Provincial Bureau of Sports overseeing ice sports. What this piece of gold represents is not its value measured in money. 26 years ago, Yao Bin, then 26 years old, and his partner Luan Bo, represented China for the first time to take part in the Winter Olympic figure skating competition. They only won the last place.
What the first gold medal of the Year of the Tiger has brought with are not only happiness and good luck but also inspiration and challenge.
As a matter of fact, while Chinese athletes stole the show at the Vancouver Olympic figure skating competition, the four athletes of the two pairs winning the first and second places are all aged over 30. Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, the youngest pair who won the fifth place, are also 24 and 25 years old. Shortage of talented and trained young athletes is a very urgent and serious problem facing China's figure skating. According to statistics, the number of people taking part in figure skating in the United States is currently as high as 250,000. In Japan, there are more than 100 「figure skating」 clubs. But in China, there are only 500 people engaging in the sports.
After the great success of the Beijing Olympics, the two 「ice and snow」 cities in China, Changchun and Harbin once intended to bid for hosting the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. But in the end the General Administration of Sports declined to give the approval. As a result, Pyeongchang of South Korea won its bid. Besides 「hardware」 factors such as construction of venues, the most important reason for China to refrain from biding for hosting the Winter Olympics lay in 「software」 factor – its lack of skating athletes. To carry on the 「fight on snow」, China must devote greater efforts to develop ice sports.
17 February 2010
