Ice and snow fever rises on the Tropic of Cancer 188 Guangxi athletes transformed into winter sports

Guangxi athletes at the training ground.　Photo courtesy of Guangxi Sports Bureau

(New Year grassroots) Ice and snow fever on the Tropic of Cancer 188 Guangxi athletes transformed into winter sports

Nanning, February 3 (Huang Lingyan) -- In the beautiful Guangxi Guilin Tianhu Eco-tourism Resort, an outdoor ski resort with an area of 10,000 square meters integrating ice and snow tourism, snow entertainment and snow sports has attracted many tourists to experience from the second day of the Lunar New Year.

As the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics approach, all parts of China are focusing on the development of ice and snow sports among the masses. Even in the southern countries where there is little snow, ice and snow sports are increasingly popular. In Guangxi on the Tropic of Cancer, the seeds of cultivating talents in ice and snow projects have long been planted.

According to reports, over the past few years, a number of Guangxi athletes have been active in the winter project national training team, such as Luo Mingxiu, the double champion of the 2021 National Youth Alpine SkiIng Championships, and Zhong Huachao, the champion of the 2021 America's Cup Freestyle Ski Track, etc. Higher level of the arena is the target they are chasing.

Although they failed to realize their dreams of this year's Beijing Winter Olympics, Zhong Huachao and 8 other Guangxi ice and snow players will still participate in this globally watched event as technical officials. The oldest of these athletes, 21 years old, the youngest 17 years old, they travel to Zhangjiakou from Jilin, Canada and other training sites, and will use their professional skills and expertise to provide guarantee services for snowboard freestyle events, ski jumping and other sports at the Winter Olympic Games.

"I have the honor of serving as a technical officer in the ski jumping project, and although I can't play in the competition, participating in this Beijing Winter Olympics is also to learn from experience and accumulate energy for ice and snow sports in Guangxi." Luo Mingxiu said.

In preparation for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the State General Administration of Sport has strengthened its talent reserve in winter sports since 2016. Under the idea of "north ice moving south", the expert group of the General Administration of Sport has repeatedly gone to Guangxi to carry out "cross-season and cross-border" selection. Since the "13th Five-Year Plan", Guangxi has organized more than 3,000 athletes to participate in the "three spans" selection, transporting a total of 188 athletes who have transformed from skateboarding, gymnastics, athletics and other sports, and the number of athletes transported ranks among the top in the country.

Shen Sihan, Ding Xin and other Guangxi athletes transformed from trampoline athletes to skiers in 2018. They won the National Freestyle Ski Championships Steeplechase Skills Competition.

Xian Xiaohang, head of the Winter Sports Project Preparation Office of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Sports Bureau, introduced that Guangxi's winter sports started quickly and started well. Since 2018, Guangxi Ice and Snow Athletes have won 13 gold medals, 13 silver medals and 14 bronze medals in domestic and foreign competitions. It is hoped that through the accumulation of this Winter Olympic Games, the level of ice and snow competition in Guangxi will steadily advance, and the ability of team members will be greatly improved.

In the planning of the Guangxi sports department, the local sports development center for winter projects will be set up, and ice and snow sports facilities will be built to lay out for the next Winter Olympics. (End)