Tian Hongtao, the builder of "Double Olympics": "Realizing the value of life in the progress of the times"

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 10, 2016 Title: Tian Hongtao, Builder of the "Double Olympics": "Realizing the Value of Life in the Progress of the Times"

Xinhua News Agency reporters Ma Sijia, Liang Jinxiong, Zhang Yueshan and Tan Chang

The Curling events of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which are being held at the National Aquatics Center "Ice Cube", have been broadcast to thousands of households through television, and a pair of elderly people in Jiamusi, Heilongjiang, are very concerned about the competition here. They hadn't seen their son Tian Hongtao for two years, but they knew that their son's efforts were hidden behind these beautiful pictures.

At night, the shell of the "Ice Cube" is sometimes like blue ice crystals, sometimes like a colorful Cube; in the stadium, the shouts of curlers rise and fall, the lights and music push the atmosphere of the scene to a climax, and the staff of the Olympic broadcasting company at various points use the camera to spread the story of the Winter Olympics to the world.

Behind the dazzling and brilliant is countless invisible details - every sound, every light, every shooting point in the arena, up to every wire hidden in the ceiling and wall panels, is laid out by Tian Hongtao himself.

"It is necessary to meet the needs of Olympic broadcast service providers, let the camera fully display the beauty of the 'Ice Cube' this 'double Olympic' venue, and ensure that these facilities will not cause any damage to the venue after removal, and the workload behind it is very large." Tian Hongtao in front of him wore a black baseball cap and danced when he talked about technical details. He moved to Beijing in 1999, but he still has a taste of the northeast.

From 2008 to 2022, Beijing became the world's first "City of Double Olympics"; "Water Cube" incarnated as "Ice Cube" and became a sustainable use of "Double Olympic" venues; Tian Hongtao also crossed from a venue electrical engineer to a broadcast service manager, realizing the dream of "Double Olympics".

In 2005, the "Water Cube" broke ground, and Tian Hongtao, who was 29 years old at the time, came to apply for a job "with the mentality of trying it out" and successfully became an electrical engineer at the venue. He collaborated with universities and research institutes to design a "water cube" shell 50,000 square meters of landscape lighting system, which is still lighting up the night of the Winter Olympics.

Tian Hongtao is full of feelings for the "Water Cube". "After learning that Beijing's bid for the Winter Olympics was successful and that 'Water Cube' was going to continue to serve the Winter Olympics, I was particularly eager to return to work here." He said.

In 2018, with the support of the unit, Tian Hongtao put into the construction and operation of the "Ice Cube" stadium as desired. After more than 10 years, everything is still so familiar and familiar – not many people know the venue better than he does.

Under the epidemic situation, the staff of the Olympic Broadcasting Company could not come here to carry out the work of venue survey and shooting point layout, and this part of the work had to be completed by Tian Hongtao. Video communication with Spanish- and Greek-speaking expatriate staff once or twice a month, and then coordinating the implementation of the broadcaster's needs by the staff of all parties in the venue, was a huge challenge for Tian Hongtao, who had previously focused on technical work.

However, through continuous learning in the fields of technology and language, Tian Hongtao has full confidence in this cross-border work.

On January 5, a cold night, Tian Hongtao bid farewell to his wife and daughter who was in elementary school, pulled up his suitcase, and entered the closed loop of the Winter Olympics. About to realize the dream of "double Olympics", he is full of ambition.

After entering the closed loop, he had no time to talk to his family, nor did he care about sleeping well, and constantly improved the details of the broadcast work. Tian Hongtao was relieved to see that the staff of the demanding Olympic broadcasting company expressed satisfaction with the work of the venue.

The changes in all aspects of the venue have made Tian Hongtao feel a huge leap in the past 14 years: the wired network has been replaced by 5G wireless networks, the technology management model has replaced the manpower management model, and the concept of sustainable development has been continuously put into practice...

At this moment, Tian Hongtao felt more deeply confident. "Self-confidence and technological carrying capacity are directly proportional. In 2008, I felt that we were more about learning and integrating advanced ideas; now, I can confidently give technical advice to expatriate workers and guide their work. Tian Hongtao proudly said that all this is based on the rapid development and progress of Chinese society.

As the builder of the "Double Olympics", Tian Hongtao felt a lot of emotions in his heart. Over the past 20 years, he has witnessed China's accession to the WTO, the successful hosting of the 2008 Summer Olympics, and the hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics again... "It is really a good time to catch up, and the strength of the country has given me the opportunity to realize the value of life." ”

"If you have to struggle, do things, don't care how others look at you, you will definitely feel the joy and steadfastness of growth." 」 Tian Hongtao said. (End)