In the early morning of January 25, more than 100 athletes and coach representatives from the Chinese sports delegation to the Beijing Winter Olympics came to Tiananmen Square to watch the flag-raising ceremony and take the oath.
After the oath is over, the athletes will gradually enter the closed-loop management, make the final sprint, and prepare for the Beijing Winter Olympics.
January 25 is also the "birthday" of the Winter Olympics. In 1921, the International Olympic Committee decided to hold the "International Winter Sports Week 1924" in Chamonix, France, on January 25, 1924, and two years after the end of this event, the International Olympic Committee officially recognized the competition as the first Winter Olympic Games.
China's first association with the Winter Olympics began with the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics.
He made his debut at the 1980 Winter Olympics in China
Those untold stories
In 1980, the XIII Winter Olympics were held in Lake Placid in the United States, and a total of 28 athletes from the Chinese sports delegation made their first appearance at the Winter Olympics.
After the Chinese Olympic Committee restored its legal seat on the International Olympic Committee in 1979, it sent a delegation to the Winter Olympics the following year.
On the morning of January 30, 1980, a Chinese sports delegation arrived by car from New York City. The high-spirited song of "five-star red flag waving in the wind" flew out of the carriage and resounded on the shores of Lake Placid. When the Chinese delegation arrived at the Olympic Village, the village chief and staff were already waiting outside the gate. An American girl named Cather is the exclusive liaison officer for receiving the Chinese side, she speaks fluent Chinese, and announces that "the Chinese delegation is coming soon" every time. Journalists from many countries blocked the door and scrambled to capture the first shots of Chinese ice and snow athletes arriving. To the surprise of the Chinese delegation, when they arrived at the Olympic Village, the five-star red flag was already flying on the square. According to international practice, the flag-raising ceremony is usually held after the delegation arrives at the Olympic Village, except for this time, the Soviet Union's troops in Afghanistan have caused a rift in the Olympic family, and the International Olympic Committee is afraid of the outside world, and decided to raise the national flag before the delegates have arrived. After the delegation arrived, another flag-raising ceremony was held. Watching the five-star red flag and the Olympic five-ring flag fluttering together in the cold wind, the members of the Chinese delegation were all in a state of flux. They know that standing here also means that the history of the International Olympic Committee and the Winter Olympic Games treating the People's Republic of China unfairly is over, and a new era is ahead. In the evening, Li Menghua, head of the Chinese delegation, held a press conference at the press center. He said: "We are delighted to come to Placid for the Winter Olympics. Our aim is to strengthen friendship and cooperation with athletes from other countries through this Games, and to learn from them advanced sports techniques and exchange experiences. The sincerity and modesty shown by the Chinese delegation won the praise of journalists from all over the world, who wrote in the telegram: "Chinese ice and snow athletes representing one billion people have stepped onto the world ice world, and their significance exceeds that of the Winter Olympics itself." ”
In New York, the Olympic Village, ski slopes, restaurants, press centers... Warm smiling faces and cordial greetings can be seen everywhere. Some American friends also took the initiative to serve the Chinese delegation and even became honorary coaches. John Hall, an American biathlete who did not compete due to a foot injury, was recommended to help the Chinese team train.
He came early every morning, waxed the snowboards himself, and unreservedly taught his many years of experience to the Chinese team members, and made his full set of equipment and skis for the Use of the Chinese team members. The guns used by the Chinese team in biathlon were borrowed during training in Japan, ordered from the Federal Republic of Germany, and only opened the box when they arrived in the United States. John Hall taught the Chinese team how to use these guns and how to shorten the time it takes to carry and unload guns.
There is a gray-haired female volunteer in the Olympic Village restaurant, she met the 14-year-old Chinese figure skater Bao Zhenhua, who liked the Chinese little flowers so much that she changed into skates and danced on the ice with her. It was then discovered that she was Phyllis Feiyingburg, the runner-up in the 1948 Eastern Conference Figure Skating Competition.
On February 24, 1980, Bao Zhenhua was at the Winter Olympic Games.
The Olympic Village takes special care of the Chinese team everywhere. According to the regulations, male and female athletes from each country are required to live in two places, but in order to make it easier for the Chinese team to communicate, a small two-story building has been vacated in the village, and there is a security guard at the door.
The New York Overseas Chinese Association and Taiwan compatriots have twice held banquets and galas attended by more than 200 people, and even Professor Yang Zhenning, a famous Chinese-American, also came to visit the team members.
More than thirty years later, when Fang Xuefeng returned to Placid as a reporter, the aunt there remembered that Chinese athletes had visited their homes and volunteered to cook Chinese food, "almost burning the kitchen."
The 13th Winter Olympics featured 1,072 athletes from 37 countries and regions. This Winter Olympics has a total of 9 major events and 38 minor events, which increases the biathlon men's 10 km sprint race compared with the previous edition. In addition to the increase in events, three other countries stepped onto the stage of the Winter Olympics for the first time, the most notable of which was undoubtedly the appearance of the People's Republic of China.
Although there is a big gap between the mainland's first-time participants and the world's advanced level, none of them finally entered the top six. However, the Frozen of Chinese athletes was officially opened from Lake Placid.
Zhao Weichang, China's first Winter Olympic flag bearer:
"Let the national anthem play on your own home' field"
Zhao Weichang, who served as the flag bearer of the Chinese delegation at the opening ceremony of the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, was the first flag bearer of the New China Olympic Games (including the Summer Olympics).
He said to the media with a color photo: "In 1980, I was 30 years old, which was a great honor and a great honor to participate in a competition like the Winter Olympics in the final stage of my sports career and to serve as the standard-bearer of the Chinese delegation." In his view, when New China entered the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, he took the first step, which is of great historical significance.
Zhao Weichang, China's first Winter Olympic flag bearer, photographed at his home in Changchun on March 30, 2021. Xinhua News Agency photo
The picture shows Zhao Weichang's tickets and cotton boots when he attended the opening ceremony on February 13, 1980.
As we all know, serving as the standard-bearer of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games is not only a great honor, but also a strict requirement. But in Placid, the standard-bearer's choice doesn't seem to be much "tangled."
Speed skating was China's "best-hand" sport at the Winter Olympics at that time, and in the 1970s, Zhao Weichang was the pinnacle of China's speed skating track. He won 11 consecutive national championships, broke national records 26 times, and won silver medals at the World Championships, and it was almost inevitable that he would act as the standard-bearer.
At this Winter Olympics, there were strong players, and 63 men and women in the 9 events of speed skating alone broke the Olympic record 108 times and rewrote a world record. Zhao Weichang participated in the speed skating men's 500 meters, men's 1000 meters and men's 1500 meters, the best result was 24th in the 1000 meters, but compared with Hayden, who won the gold medal in the event, he was 6 seconds slower.
At the age of 30 at the time, he saw the gap between China and the world, and after returning to China, he retired as a coach. Today, the 72-year-old Zhao Weichang is still in good spirits and still gallops on the ice rink.
Zhao Weichang recalled that the Chinese sports delegation participating in the Winter Olympics for the first time had never seen such a big scene, and the athletes had a thought in their hearts: "When can our country host a Winter Olympics?" ”
After 42 years, the Beijing Winter Olympics are about to kick off, and the expectations of the athletes in this winter will become a reality in the modern competition venues and well-prepared Chinese delegations.
"As an older generation of Icemen, it is indeed a very honorable thing to have the opportunity to be able to see the Winter Olympics we hold in our own country. Let the five-star red flag be raised at the doorstep of the home, and China's national anthem be played on the field. I hope that our athletes will strive to achieve good results and make breakthroughs in more projects! Zhao Weichang said.
Source Beijing Daily (ID: Beijing_Daily) Comprehensive Beijing Daily Chronicle, CCTV News, Beijing Radio, Beijing Time, @ Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Changchun News [Please indicate the source: Beijing Daily WeChat public account]
Producer: Liu Hao
Editor: Zhang Xiaoying
Process Editor Wu Yue