The ice and snow power sent the largest delegation to the Beijing Winter Olympics to hear what the ambassador to China had to say

Source: China Youth Daily client

In December 2021, Swedish Ambassador to China Song Lian attended the opening ceremony of the embassy's annual event "Swedish Winter" in Beijing. (Photo by Wang Kai, courtesy of the Swedish Embassy in China)

Beijing, February 2 (China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily reporter Ma Ziqian) In addition to the Nobel Prize, the Kingdom of Sweden, located in the northwest corner of Europe, also has two "labels" that are well known to the Chinese people. The first is "the first Western country to establish diplomatic relations with China" – Sweden recognized New China on January 14, 1950, and established diplomatic relations with China on May 9 of the same year. The other is the "traditional ice and snow sports powerhouse" - since the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France, in the past century, Sweden has not been absent from any Winter Olympic Games; successive Swedish ice and snow athletes have won a total of 158 Winter Olympic medals, ranking 7th in the world in the overall medal table.

With the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics approaching, Swedish Ambassador to China Helena Sångeland said in a written interview with China Youth Daily and China Youth Network a few days ago that Sweden will send a delegation including 116 athletes to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics, which is the largest delegation in the history of the Swedish Winter Olympics. Swedish winter Olympic athletes are coming to China one after another, and they have high hopes for gold medals at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The ties between Sweden and the Beijing Winter Olympics go far beyond that. According to Song Lian, some ski resorts in the Yanqing area of the Beijing Winter Olympics are built by a team from Sweden; equipment such as snow cannons and water pumps produced in Sweden has participated in the snowmaking projects in the Yanqing and Zhangjiakou areas; Chinese ski jumpers and freestyle skiers have been preparing for the Beijing Winter Olympics in Sweden for a long time; former Swedish curling team head coach Linton Home Pia has coached the Chinese curling team since 2019, and was recently selected as the head coach of the Chinese curling team in the List of Chinese Sports Delegations at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

"Sweden and China have a lot of exchanges and cooperation in the field of sports." Song Lian said that in preparation for the Beijing Winter Olympics, a delegation from Beijing Sport University visited Central Sweden University and its Sports Technology Research Center to learn about Sweden's work in the field of sports science. Originating in Sweden, the Vaasa Ski Festival has officially settled in Changchun, Jilin Province since 2003, making China the fourth country to host this ski event after Sweden, the United States and Japan. She particularly stressed that young ice and snow athletes in Switzerland and China maintain regular exchanges, among which Swedish ice hockey coach Johan Björnfot is engaged in the training and development of children and adolescents in Wuhan.

Song Lian pointed out that in fact, Sweden and China already had exchanges before the establishment of diplomatic relations. The year 2021, which just passed, marked the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Yangshao culture, China's first archaeological culture. At that time, the first excavation of the site of Yangshao Village in Shichi County, Henan Province, is considered to be a sign of the birth of modern Chinese archaeology, proving that China not only has Neolithic relics and culture, but also is quite developed. This has made the "Chinese culture in the West" preached by some people in the past self-defeating. The person who presided over the excavation of the Yangshao site was the Swedish geologist Johan Gunnar Andersson, who was also known as the "father of Yangshao culture".

"Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, we have carried out extensive and successful cooperation in various fields such as trade, investment, culture, innovation, research, education, environment and climate, and people-to-people exchanges." Song Lian said that the Swedish government believes that there is room for more in-depth cooperation between Sweden and China in all areas of international development cooperation, global health and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Song Lian has visited all the venues of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and she was particularly impressed by the Shougang Ski Jump. She said: "For both athletes and spectators, this will be a 'eye-catching' venue with full marks. Speaking of her expectations for the Beijing Winter Olympics, Song Lian said that she hopes that this Winter Olympic Games will live up to the expectations of the Olympic Charter for excellence, friendship and respect, and ensure that all delegations, athletes and media journalists can work safely and smoothly and play their best level.

In particular, Song Lian hopes that athletes from all over the world can use the communication space created by the Beijing Winter Olympics to build friendships. "The beauty of the Olympics is that athletes from all over the world have the opportunity to get together and get to know each other." Song Lian said, "When you meet a person face to face, you will realize what unites us, no matter what language we speak, no matter what country we come from. Because of the spread of covid-19, it has become more difficult to meet across borders in real life. I sincerely hope that athletes will have the opportunity to get together in the 'Olympic Bubble'. ”