Pakistani skier Mohammed Karim, who has trained hard in the avalanche, is about to play in Beijing and is eager to achieve his best results in the Winter Olympics

International Online Report (Reporter Liu Chang): Mohammed Karim from the village of Upper Naalta in the Gilgit Baltistan region of northern Pakistan is the only athlete in Pakistan who is about to play in the Beijing Winter Olympics, and the only skier in Pakistan who has participated in two Winter Olympics. Before playing in Beijing, Karim gave an exclusive interview to a reporter from the main station at jinnah stadium in Islamabad, saying that he had been preparing for the Beijing Winter Olympics for three years, and his biggest dream was to play his best at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Pakistani skier Karim

Mohammed Karim, 26, is a young ski veteran. Born in Narta, a ski resort at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters in Pakistan, he has been in contact with skiing since he was 4 years old under the guidance of his father and brother.

Mohammed Karim said: "Because my hometown is in the village of Upper Naalta in the Gilgit Baltistan region, which is surrounded by mountains and has a high altitude. I love skiing, it's an exciting sport of speed. I've been skiing since I was 4 years old, and when I first started practicing, my father made wooden skis for me. My brother is an alpine ski instructor and I often spend time skiing with him during winter school closures. Since I was 4 years old, I have been training in speed skating. ”

The family's influence gave Karim a keen interest in skiing, and the natural ski slopes at high altitudes cultivated his excellent physical fitness and skiing skills. At the age of 10, he made his mark on children's skiing competitions held by the Pakistan Air Force, and has since been funded by the Air Force to train and compete abroad, and his skiing level has continued to improve. At the age of 15, he became a professional skier for the Pakistan national team, specializing in alpine skiing, winning gold and silver in various skiing competitions at home and abroad.

Mohammed Karim said: "From the very beginning of skiing, I have participated in alpine skiing competitions, focusing on slalom and giant slalom. I won 22 gold medals in national ski competitions and 3 gold, 3 bronze and 1 silver medal in international ski competitions. ”

There are no indoor ski slopes in Pakistan, and Karim can only train in the field at the Narta and Marangaba ski slopes in the north in winter. After the snow melted in the snow field, he always tried to find the snow that fell in the canyon after the avalanche, risking his life and training for more than half a month to a month. While this training style is risky, Karim believes that under limited conditions, this method of improving skiing is worth a try. "There are three months of snow there every year, and in the summer that follows, avalanches often occur on the top of snowy mountains. For me, training in the falling snow after an avalanche was very good and helped to improve my skiing skills. ”

Except for a limited number of months a year when ski training is possible on the snow, Karim can only train on simulators most of the time. In order to further improve his skiing level, Karim seized every opportunity to participate in international competitions to study and train, and the Winter Olympics were his best training ground. At the age of 22, he had already participated in two Winter Olympics.

Mohammed Karim said: "When I participated in the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, the weather in Sochi was not very cold, the snow was soft, and the experience was great. I met many world ski champions there and wanted to improve my skiing skills, and at that time I was still learning and accumulating experience. By 2018 (the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics), I was much better than at the Sochi Olympics, where the conditions of the ski slopes and the conditions of the pistes were very different from those in Sochi. The temperature in South Korea is lower, the pistes are harder, and the experience is great. My skiing skills have also improved a lot, and I have also done a long period of ski training in Korea, which is perfect for me. ”

Although he has participated in two Olympic Games at a young age and won many national and international ski awards, Karim is not willing to stop there. The Beijing Winter Olympics became his new goal, and he hopes to continue to improve his skiing skills at the Beijing Winter Olympics, while inspiring Pakistan's ski-loving children. "Sport is my life. For athletes, skiing is like a marathon. I know I'm not going to achieve my goals in a year or two or one or two, so I need to keep going in the next races and perform better in the next One. My skiing skills are not perfect, and you have to know that athletes in other countries are doing well and they have a lot of opportunities to train. So I want to compete more, more Olympics, learn more skiing techniques. I also want to pass on my skiing experience to the children in our country who are growing and I want to prove to them that they can do better than I do. ”

For the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, Karim seems very excited and looking forward to it. He said that although he did not go to China to participate in ski competitions, he met a friend of the Chinese ski national team in international competitions. "I have a friend of alpine skiers (in China) who I've met in a lot of places in Korea and Italy and played a lot of races with him. China is a friendly country in Pakistan, I want to go to China, I want to see what the snow field, the environment, the athletes are like there, I am excited about everything. ”

For the Beijing Winter Olympics, Karim prepared for three years to participate in as many competitions as possible. He said he would participate in the two events of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Slalom and the Grand Slalom, and looked forward to achieving his best results in both events. "I trained in Italy for three months and also played on the Kolašin Ski In Bosnia, and in the last two or three years I've played in more than twenty races and trained very hard every summer. For skiing and racing, I feel great now. I want to achieve my best results, more improvements than at the last Olympics. ”