Winter Olympic gold medal results from 0 to 7: Witness the transformation of the sports industry in Qitaihe

21st Century Business Herald reporter Han Xun reported from Shanghai

Qitaihe City, a small northeastern city 400 kilometers from Harbin, was once known for its coal and is now famous for ice and snow sports.

"Fan Kexin is the pride of Qitaihe and has won the glory for Qitaihe! Fight for the light of Heilongjiang! Glory for the country! At this Winter Olympics, Fan Kexin and his teammates won the gold medal in the 2000-meter mixed relay of short track speed skating at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

From Dayang Yang to Fan Kexin, in the past 20 years, Qitaihe athletes have won 7 winter Olympic gold medals. For a small northeastern city with a population of only 700,000, this is an extraordinary achievement, and the city has been called "the hometown of Chinese Winter Olympic Champions", "the hometown of China's short track speed skating", or "the cradle of Winter Olympic champions, short track speed skating holy land".

The city's sports industry is also booming, on January 17, 2022, the first executive meeting of the 12th municipal government held in Qitaihe City stressed that it is necessary to polish the city business card of "the hometown of winter Olympic champions", promote the development of the city's ice and snow sports industry, and let more people participate in ice and snow sports and enjoy the fruits of development. ”

Legend from 0 to 7

At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, China's Dayang Yang and Wang Chunlu joined hands in the women's short track speed skating 500m final, and this competition has become the most classic event in the history of China's Winter Olympics.

In the end, Dayang Yang pressed the Bulgarian star and world record holder Radanova to win the gold medal in the women's short track speed skating 500 meters of the Winter Olympics with a time of 44.187 seconds, which was not only the first winter Olympic gold medal in Qitaihe City, but also a breakthrough for China to achieve gold medal "zero" in the history of the Winter Olympic Games.

At that Winter Olympics, Dayang Yang also won the gold medal in the 1000 meters.

Since then, Qitaihe athlete Wang Meng has won six medals, including four gold, one silver and one bronze, at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

On the evening of February 5, 2022, the Chinese team composed of Qitaihe athlete Fan Kexin, Qu Chunyu, Ren Ziwei and Wu Dajing won the gold medal in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics short track speed skating men's and women's 2000 meters mixed relay, which was also the first gold medal of the Chinese delegation at the Winter Olympics.

Behind the 0 to 7 Olympic gold medals is the epitome of the development of short track speed skating in Qitaihe City over the past 40 years.

The late Meng Qingyu, a famous coach of the domestic short track speed skating project, is the promoter of short track speed skating in Qitaihe City, and it is he who, according to the trend of ice and snow sports development at home and abroad and the reality of Qitai River, strives to exclude public opinion, and with strong support from relevant aspects, the sports team has changed from the main runway training to the short track speed skating project, and this far-sighted move has laid the foundation for Qitaihe to become a national short track speed skating outstanding athlete training base.

Meng Qingyu's incomparable love for the short track speed skating cause, as well as the silent dedication rooted in the grassroots for many years, has been able to send and train nearly 100 outstanding short track speed skaters for the country and Heilongjiang Province, these athletes have won more than 300 gold medals at or above the national level on behalf of the country and Heilongjiang Province, and these athletes have also inspired more and more young people in Qitaihe City to stand on the training ground of short track speed skating.

"The development of a sport is inseparable from the persistence of grassroots coaches." A person from the Anhui Sports Bureau told the 21st Century Business Herald that the short-track speed skating project was not originally a popular sport, and it is precisely because more and more athletes have won the championship that there will be a demonstration effect to drive more people to participate in it.

Qitaihe City has an ice period of 5 months a year, and the snow quality is suitable for skiing, which creates unparalleled location and climatic conditions for the development of the ice and snow sports industry.

Vigorously promote the transformation of the sports industry

In the past, when it came to Qitaihe City, the locals always had a special title for it - Coal City.

According to the data, Qitaihe City is rich in mineral resources, including coal, graphite, gold, marble, limestone and so on. Coal resources are unique, the coal field extends for hundreds of kilometers, the total coal-bearing area is 7200 square kilometers, and the total thickness of the coal-bearing formation is 2500-3700 meters. The reserves of coal are 1.7 billion tons, and the prospective reserves are 3.7 billion tons. With its complete coal varieties, large reserves and excellent coal quality, it is listed as one of the three protected mining coal fields in the country. It is an important main coking coal and anthracite coal production base in Heilongjiang Province.

However, in the long run, the coal industry has a problem of resource exhaustion, so people of insight in Qitaihe City have put forward the idea of transforming the sports industry more than a decade ago. For example, in 2011, relevant local experts wrote an article entitled "Accelerating the Development of the Sports Industry - An Important Direction for Promoting the Economic Transformation of Qitaihe City", which clearly suggested that "the development of the sports industry, bigger and stronger sports industry is particularly important for the sustainable development of Qitaihe." ”

This article believes that Qitaihe City has a solid economic foundation, a superior policy environment, outstanding cultural advantages and geographical advantages, and has good conditions for the development of the sports industry. Therefore, first, take precautions to accelerate the study of issues related to the sports industry; second, increase the support of the sports industry and create a relaxed policy environment; third, actively introduce sporting goods production enterprises to promote the rapid development of the sports manufacturing industry; fourth, strive to hold high-level sports events and activate the competition performance market; fifth, actively cultivate sports intermediary organizations and improve the level of operation and management.

The space for industrial development needs to be improved

In recent years, the Heilongjiang Provincial Party Committee and the Heilongjiang Provincial Government have issued planning policies such as the "Heilongjiang Ice and Snow Equipment Industry Development Plan (2017-2022)", and Qitaihe City has also issued the "Qitaihe City National Fitness Implementation Plan (2016-2020)" and other planning policies, creating an excellent policy environment for the development of the ice and snow sports industry in Qitaihe.

"Once, ice and snow sports were considered to be unique to the winter in the north, and since the success of Beijing's bid to host the Winter Olympics, ice and snow sports have also been better developed in the south." Dayang Yang said in a recent interview with the media that indoor ice rinks, indoor ski resorts, simulated ice and snow fields, etc., so that people living in the south can also participate in ice and snow sports at their doorstep. "Now, whether it is the northern region with rich ice and snow resources or the southern region with four seasons of spring, ice and snow sports venues and activities with different forms according to local conditions have increasingly appeared around the people."

In Dayang Yang's view, this Winter Olympics will have a clear feature, and many snow projects are invested by enterprises. These ice and snow companies will also consider how to attract more young people and more consumers to the snow park.

The 21st Century Business Herald reporter learned that in recent years, Qitaihe is also vigorously developing the ice and snow cultural industry, integrating the advantages of ice and snow resources and graphene new material industry development, actively carrying out investment promotion activities, introducing a number of well-known enterprises in the production and processing of ice knives, sleds, ice protectors, etc., and equipment manufacturers such as LED lighting and ice rink refrigeration in venues.

According to data from the Qitaihe Municipal Bureau of Statistics, the city achieved a regional GDP of 20.64 billion yuan in 2020, of which the added value of the tertiary industry was 9.12 billion yuan, an increase of 1.3%.

With the successful holding of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the mainland has comprehensively improved the development level of the ice and snow sports industry, and the sports industry as a tertiary industry has gradually become an important part of the national economy. Accelerating the cultivation of the ice and snow sports industry with the characteristics of Qitaihe is one of the important ways for Qitaihe City to achieve revitalization and development.

However, at present, the ice and snow sports industry chain in Qitaihe City is not sound enough, only the fitness and entertainment industry has developed in the core industry of ice and snow sports, and only the sports venue service industry has begun to take shape, and other industries are still groping.

For the city, which has already won 7 winter Olympic gold medals, there is still room for the overall scale of the ice and snow sports industry to continue to develop.

As Dayang Yang said, "Whether from the perspective of national policy support or market-oriented promotion, 'driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports' has been realized." ”

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