On January 28, I went to Beijing with the Philippine Winter Olympic delegation. The Philippines is a tropical country and it is a great honour for everyone in the delegation to have the opportunity to participate in the Winter Olympics. This is my first personal trip to the Winter Olympics and I look forward to experiencing a unique and exciting Winter Olympic event in Beijing.
Alpine skier Asa Miller will represent the Philippines at the Beijing Winter Olympics. As the "only seedling" of Filipino athletes at this Winter Olympics, Miller will participate in two ski competitions. During this time, he actively prepared for the battle and made many progress. It is expected that he will play well in Beijing and achieve results beyond the last Winter Olympics.
Although there is no winter in the Philippines, there is no shortage of snow sports enthusiasts. My current job is to manage snow sports in the Philippines. Filipinos are very suitable for snow sports such as figure skating and short track speed skating, and if we can dig and cultivate sports seedlings well, we will have a good performance in these sports.
In the past two years, the development of ice and snow sports in the Philippines has been affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, most of the domestic sports venues have been closed, and athletes can only go abroad to train and study theory online. But as long as we are still holding out, I believe that the philippines' first Winter Olympic gold medal will not be too far away.
I used to study at Tsinghua University, and this study abroad experience left me with good memories. I remember spending a lot of time on the ice rink in Beijing, practicing figure skating. China's venue facilities are very perfect, the technical concept is very advanced, which has helped me a lot. It is an honor to leave a footprint in the beautiful Tsinghua Garden, and the food in Beijing also makes me remember it. Although I can't walk around and take a look at Beijing as I did in the past, I fully respect and understand such epidemic prevention arrangements, which is the premise for ensuring the safe and smooth holding of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
As a sports official, I oppose the politicization of the Winter Olympics. The quadrennial Winter Olympics is the highest level of competition in the field of ice and snow sports, and it is also the largest event, athletes from all over the world have made hard efforts to participate, and politicizing sports is unfair to athletes. In the context of the epidemic raging around the world, the hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics is precious and of extraordinary significance. We should actively promote the Olympic spirit and promote tolerance and friendship through sport.
As the host city, Beijing has made sufficient and excellent preparations for the Winter Olympics. I wish the Beijing Winter Olympics a smooth event, and I believe it will be another unparalleled sports event. (The author is president of the Philippine Skating Association)