The Maltese female athlete who ate the bean bag was on fire and lived in the car to save money for training

Due to the natural conditions of ice and snow sports, many countries do not have the conditions to carry out winter Olympics, but this still cannot stop their determination to challenge the limits.

At the Beijing Winter Olympics, there was such a group of people - they are one country, they are the lone heroes of ice and snow. Their story is the best interpretation of the Olympic spirit.

Janice Spitry ate half a bun on the field.

When Janice Spitry pulled half a bun out of her pocket and took a bite into the camera, she suddenly became the star of the women's U-shaped track for snowboarding. Janice says she can eat six bean buns a day.

For Janice, the Beijing Winter Olympics have nothing to do with results, only dreams - her ski life is like the half bean bag in her own pocket, carefully cared for by her.

Janice was the standard-bearer of the Malta delegation.

Ten years ago, Janice was still in college, and when she decided to pick up the veneer and walk towards the U-shaped pool, she was doomed to be a one-man battle.

One day in January 2012, Janice posted a message on Facebook: "Recruitment: Will anyone teach me to slide the U-shaped pool tomorrow?" Is anyone available? The message ended up with 2 likes, 10 comments and 1 retweet.

Ten years later, as you know, Janice represented Malta at the Winter Olympics – she was the first player in Malta's history to participate in the Winter Olympics.

Fight with grandpa's dreams

Janice was born in the United States to a mother who was a professional figure skater, so she was taken to the ice rink by her parents at a very young age.

But at first, Janice only regarded this as a hobby, after all, like many girls who grew up in California, Janice's childhood dream was to become an actress.

But then a ski billboard changed Janice, who thought skiing was her pursuit. Perhaps because of her family genes, Janice soon took the podium frequently in some small events, until her senior year, Janice decided to take the path of professional skiing.

However, the real difficulties also exist, because she has not been promoted through the regular development channel in the United States, and the chances of competing for the United States through college training are very slim.

Until one day, one of her college teammates woke her up, "You can fight for the chance to represent Malta at the Olympics." ”

Janice competes in the women's U-shaped snowboarding track.

Janice's grandfather was Maltese and immigrated to the United States after World War II, which qualified Janice to represent Malta at the Olympics.

"I never had the idea of going to the Olympics before." Janice said, but the Olympics have a deeper emotional sustenance for her.

Although her grandfather died as early as 2010, Janice remembers that sp teri, the company that her grandfather founded earlier, was closely related to the Winter Olympics.

The old Spitry's company, which makes figure skates, has previously provided skates for Olympians such as Guan Yingshan. Janice said: "Being able to participate in the Winter Olympics as a family is the best memorial for him (Grandpa), I think it is a very cool, very special thing. ”

Winter Olympics who live in the car

The Times of Malta, when reporting on Janice, described it this way, "Janice stood in the crowd, determined, tenacious, focused, accompanied by chocolate chip cookies and a desire to achieve her goals." ”

In order to realize her dream of participating in the Beijing Winter Olympics, Janice also realized her childhood dream of being an actress - but she went to various crews to "run dragon sets" in order to raise funds, including the once popular HBO TV series "Euphoria".

Compared to other famous athletes who can often have large sponsorships, each of Janice's participation funds is saved from between her teeth.

When she was training in Colorado and Washington, she had to live in her car to save rent.

Because of this, she learned which foods don't need to be refrigerated — like canned tuna and cheese condiments , which daily necessities freeze in the cold — like toothpaste and contact lens potions , and she learned to use credit cards to scrape the frost on the windshield.

Two years ago, her "house" was upgraded to a van with a refrigerator and so on. But when the outdoor temperature dropped to minus 8 degrees Celsius, she still felt the intensity of winter...

Because she didn't want people to know she lived in the car, she had to hide in the car and endure the cold while the car was turned off.

Last summer, Janice went through three weeks of intensive training, but she was reluctant to spend $900 on a season pass and $125 on the cable car up and down the mountain because it was more important for her to spend that money on coaching.

Obviously, the daily hike is very difficult, and Janice feels infinite emotion every time she thinks about it: "After three days of hiking and climbing, I asked myself why I did this?" ”

However, all this sacrifice and sacrifice is worth it in Janice's view today, "I know that I don't have the same favorable conditions (sponsorship, coaching) and (participation) opportunities as everyone else, but I never wanted to give up." 」 ”

Column Editor-in-Chief: Qin Hong Text Editor: Yang Rong Caption Source: Xinhua News Agency Photo Editor: Zi Xi

Source: Author: The Paper, Ting Yu