Source: Xinhua News Agency
Paris, January 18 (Xinhua) -- In less than 20 days, the Beijing Winter Olympics will be officially opened, and the reporter recently interviewed winter sports events in many places in Europe and found that the vast majority of foreign athletes have expressed understanding and support for the epidemic prevention and control policies of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
On November 7, 2021, the French duo Papadagis/Caesaron won the championship in the Italian Ice Dance Competition of the Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Turin, Italy. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jin Ma Mengni
French ice dance world champion combinations Ryu Nishizawa and Papadaggis said that as athletes, they just need to comply with the epidemic prevention policy and then focus on training and competition.
"Of course, this will definitely be a very 'special' Winter Olympics, because in the context of the epidemic. We have to train and compete in a closed 'bubble', and we can't walk around freely like the previous Winter Olympics. But this is not too much of a problem, in the last year or two, many of the competitions we have participated in have strict epidemic prevention policies, and we also know that safe competitions are the most important. Papadaggis said.
Both have very good memories of Beijing, and at the 2017 Figure Skating Grand Prix in China, they scored a record 200.43 points at the Capital Gymnasium, becoming the ice dance group in history to cross the threshold of 200 points.
On February 22, 2018, in the women's snowboarding competition at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Austria's Anna M. Gasser won the championship. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lu Xiaowei
Also seeing Beijing as a blessing is Austrian snowboard Olympic champion Anna Gasser: "Every time I go to Beijing, I seem to have a good performance, I participated in two 'boiling snow' competitions, and I got a first and a second. I hope these fond memories will continue this year. ”
"Compared with Beijing's epidemic prevention policy, I am more worried about whether I can guarantee that I will not be infected before the Winter Olympics." "But as soon as it comes to the Winter Olympics, I believe it's the safest place to go," Gasser said. ”
Swiss snowboarder Jan Scherer has also been very careful lately, in his words, always careful to avoid crowded places. "I know that if I get infected now, the Winter Olympics will definitely be out of play." Scherer, who has participated in the Winter Olympics twice, said.
"I think it's good that the epidemic prevention policy of the Winter Olympics is stricter. The world is in a special state right now, and we need to accept it all. I've been to Genting Ski Resort twice (Schererer's U-shaped track skills project will be held at the Genting Ski Resort in Zhangjiakou) and the conditions are excellent. Although the temperature was a bit low, I remember that the site conditions of the U-shaped pool were amazing and the hotel and food were good. So I'm very much looking forward to this Winter Olympics now. Scherer said.
The freestyle slope obstacle course will also be held at Genting Ski Resort. Norway's Ruud, who will be a strong contender for the title, also expressed a positive attitude towards the epidemic prevention policy of the Winter Olympics in an interview: "We are very accustomed to strict prevention and control policies, and for athletes, this is not a problem. ”
The 21-year-old will also compete in the Big Jump at the Winter Olympics in the Shougang Industrial Park in the western suburbs of Beijing. It is worth mentioning that the first "appearance" of the Shougang big jumping platform venue was at the 2019 "Boiling Snow" Beijing International Snow Federation Big Jumping World Cup, and the champion of that race was Lu De.
Recently, foreign media have been constantly hyping up the epidemic prevention and control policies of the Beijing Winter Olympics, criticizing these policies as too harsh with some yin and yang weird tones. But in the end, the stage of the Winter Olympics belongs to the athletes, and the athletes' ideas are the most important. American snowboarding legend Sean White spoke out about all the athletes involved.
"For such a long time, the whole world has been in the haze of the epidemic, fortunately we still have the Winter Olympics, which is a remarkable thing," White said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency, "So, I want to thank China, thank the Olympic family, for hosting the Winter Olympics at such a difficult time." ”