Acceleration, flips, landing... During her time in service, Chinese women's freestyle skier Li Nina has been constantly refreshing her achievements, and Li Nina has won 50 medals in the world-class competitions in which she participated, including 21 gold medals.
In 2015, Nina Li became an ambassador for the Beijing Winter Olympics and introduced China to participants in fluent English at the 128th General Assembly of the International Olympic Committee in Kuala Lumpur.
From the bid to host the Winter Olympics to the present, Li Nina has used her multiple identities to enter the institutions and schools, share her Olympic history and sportsmanship with everyone, and constantly promote the development of China's ice and snow sports. She said: "I hope that through my strength, more people can pay attention to the Winter Olympics, participate in the Winter Olympics, help the Winter Olympics, and jointly welcome the arrival of the 2022 Winter Olympics." ”
Li Nina, a member of the Beijing Winter Olympics propaganda team. Photo courtesy of the Information and Propaganda Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee
"Stupid Kid" became the freestyle skiing world champion
Beijing News: What made you choose the freestyle skiing aerial skills project?
Li Nina: Actually, I am not a very talented athlete, when I was a child, I was persuaded by the coach to quit because of the slow movement, but I just liked the project, and I decided to practice, so I let my parents consult with the coach and let me practice. At that time, there was no cable car in the snow field, we carried the snowboard one trip to the starting point every day to complete the training task, others have finished practicing, I am still practicing, I believe that as long as I insist on it, I will be able to catch up with my friends. After being selected for the national team in 2000, my results began to skyrocket, and I won the first World Cup championship, the first world ranking first, and the first World Championship championship in China's snow sports. She is currently the female player with the most medals in the FIS Aerial Skills event, winning 50 medals in the world-class competitions I have participated in, 21 of which are gold.
Snow sports have always been a weakness for our country, but the FIS has a record that is held by Chinese, and I was the first to win the aerial skills event three times since the establishment of the 1986 Freestyle Ski World Championships.
Beijing News: After leaving the stadium briefly, did you encounter difficulties in restarting preparations for the Sochi Winter Olympics?
Nina Lee: After the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, I left the stadium to go to school. In 2012, at a critical juncture in preparation for the Sochi Winter Olympics, the national team hoped that I could return to the team and lead the young players to Sochi and continue to win glory for the country.
Although I only had two years to prepare for the Olympic Games, to restore the state of competition, but also to restore the level of competition, the pressure is quite large, but I still responded to the call of the motherland and resolutely came back. In the first race of my first season, I stood on the podium and said hello to the world with a beautiful report card, hey, I, Nina Li, are back. Just when I was full of confidence, fate played a joke on me.
In a training session shortly after this World Cup, I was injured while pounding on my highest difficulty. The injury caused a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in my right knee, which meant I needed a year to recover, but it was only 12 months before the start of the Winter Olympics. In fact, I had already bought a ticket home for the New Year, but I couldn't let my family know that I was injured, and I was afraid that they would be worried. So I sent a message to my mother, telling her that the state had temporarily sent me out to compete and that I could not go home for the New Year. My mother replied to me, "You are now a member of the state, and you can go wherever the state sends you!" "Looking at this text message, I cried. I was injured and hid from my family, and they wouldn't tell me about anything at home, just so that I could safely step onto the field to win glory for my country.
Can I go to the Winter Olympics? My good friend encouraged me to say that only by doing it would I know if I could succeed. So I made up my mind that I was going to Sochi. Rehabilitation training is lonely and painful, with the help of leaders, coaches, team doctors, teammates, I set a record in the Sports Medicine Department of the Three Hospitals of Beijing Medical College - it took 6 months to return to the training ground, and 6 months to stand on the field of the Sochi Winter Olympics. At that moment, I knew I had overcome myself. Although Sochi only finished fourth in the end, I used all my efforts to win a "gold medal" that beat myself.
In June 2015, Nina Li came to Yangfangdian Central Primary School in Haidian District to participate in the winter Olympic song into the campus activity. Courtesy of respondents
Develop physical fitness courses and set up ski schools to help the Winter Olympics
Beijing News: As the image ambassador of Beijing's bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, what are some unforgettable experiences during the olympic bid?
Nina Li: In February 2015, I was hired by the Beijing Winter Olympic Bidding Committee to become the ambassador of Beijing's bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. During the bid for the Winter Olympics, I was given the difficult task of making a final presentation to the IOC members in Kuala Lumpur as a representative of the athletes of Beijing's bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, helping Beijing win every chance to get a vote. My English is not good, there are many words that I have not been exposed to, and the expert group is repeatedly adjusting the speech every day, and during that time it was really a dream to memorize the manuscript. The first thing to do when I get up every day is to practice speaking in front of the mirror, and the last thing every day must be to practice in the mirror until I am satisfied, and I want to familiarize myself with it.
At the presentation, when I finished speaking to the world, my heart was full of expectations, and when President Bach said "BEI JING" at the 128th Plenary Session of the International Olympic Committee, my tears flowed. That excitement is different from a sporting event because this moment is not my own success, nor is it the success of a team, it is the success of a country.
Beijing News: From the successful olympic bid to the present, what promotion work have you carried out for the winter project?
Nina Li: I have been personally involved in winter sports promotion activities related to the Winter Olympics, promoting the concept of skiing. I often go to school to do some inspirational lectures, go to the snow field to teach big friends and children skiing skills, and hope that more people will learn to ski in safer conditions. I think a lot of people still think of skiing as a stimulating entertainment, but it's actually a dangerous sport, first of all, to lay a good foundation, and then to make a little progress.
Beijing News: In what ways will sports be promoted?
Nina Li: Together with the Sports Science Research Institute of the General Administration of Sport, I have developed a training course for trained coaches for the physical fitness of children and adolescents, and with this course, more children and adolescents can benefit from it. Now, the country is vigorously developing sports for the whole people and improving the physical fitness of the whole people, which requires professional coaches and teachers to guide children, so that they can carry out physical exercise in a professional way from an early age, rather than disconnecting school sports from professional sports.
In the future, athletes in many sports may have to explore talents from school sports, and we hope that these children can receive professional skills training and then embark on a career path, rather than being injured in school because of sports, and this life may not be related to sports. We wanted to put an end to this, so we developed this curriculum to train coaches.
In addition, we found that coaches from many school clubs and various training institutions on the market now do not have professional and systematic sports training knowledge. So we have integrated some excellent physical education teachers and compiled this set of courses to benefit more grassroots sports workers and coaches.
I personally registered a ski school in Yanqing, hoping that the children can get more professional ski skills training, little by little, let them understand the rules of skiing, learn to use skiing equipment, and continuously improve their skiing skills. The study of skiing cannot be accelerated, it must be practiced a little bit, and I hope that the majority of ski enthusiasts can pay attention to this.
Beijing News: What work have you been doing recently to welcome the arrival of the Beijing Winter Olympics?
Nina Li: As a member of the Winter Olympics propaganda team, I mainly focus on my personal sports experience, so that all listeners can feel the Olympic spirit, sports charm, and athletes' self-improvement and perseverance of the sports spirit, hoping to make more people like sports, like winter sports, so that more people can pay attention to the Winter Olympic Games.
I am a member of the Athletes Committee of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, and we are also using our experience in participating in the Olympic Games to put forward suggestions to the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee on clothing, food, housing, travel, competition and other aspects, so as to ensure that athletes from all over the world come to China and can have a professional and comfortable environment to participate in the competition.
In addition, I am a member of the All-China Youth Federation, a member of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and the vice chairman of the Beijing Youth Federation, and these social groups can allow me to better carry out the publicity work of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games and the popularization of winter sports, play a good voice role in the youth, let more people pay attention to the Winter Olympics, participate in the Winter Olympics, help the Winter Olympics, and jointly welcome the arrival of the Winter Olympics.
Beijing News reporter Wu Wei intern Wang Yao
Edited by Bai Shuang Proofreader Zhang Yanjun