What are the people holding the "bucket" doing in the interval between | games?

The XXIV Winter Olympics kicked off in Beijing on February 4, 2022. The Sports Department of China News Network launched a series of columns "100 Questions about the Winter Olympics", which aims to popularize the knowledge of the Winter Olympics, answer hot questions, and talk about ice and snow anecdotes, so as to help everyone have a better viewing experience during the Beijing Winter Olympics.

No. 107 Winter Olympics 100 Questions | What is the person holding the "bucket" doing between games?

Many of the events in the Winter Olympics are played on ice, and the state of the ice will greatly affect the performance of the players.

In sports such as short track speed skating, ice hockey, figure skating, etc., players will leave a lot of scratches on the ice during the competition. In order to avoid the impact of ice wear on athletes, between competitions, there will be staff carrying "bucket shovels" into the arena, and their task is to repair the ice surface.

The staff will place the ice water mixture in the area where the ice surface is damaged, and then smooth it out with props such as a small shovel. In the process of ice surface maintenance, professional ice pouring trucks are also used. The ice pourer will pour water evenly on the ice surface through the sprinkler pipe at the rear of the car, and due to the cooling circulation system under the ice surface, the water will merge with the ice surface to fill the defects and restore the ice surface to flatness.

For example, in the men's 1500-meter speed skating competition at the "Ice Ribbon" National Speed Skating Hall a few days ago, after about half of the players appeared, the competition entered a suspension period. Three ice pourers drove onto the ice surface, and while cleaning up the debris on the ice surface, they meticulously repaired the ice surface so that the lost ice surface was restored as before. Soon after the resumption of the competition, the two athletes broke the Olympic record one after another.

Not only that, but the ice maker also needs to constantly check the thickness of the ice, correspondingly to repair the flatness of the ice rink, serious damage, may need to be re-frozen. (End)