Online commentary: Ice and snow sports in Tibet: the future is expected to be more promising

On February 8, 2022, Tibetan athlete Tsering Zhandui appeared in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics cross-country skiing individual sprint (free technology) qualification competition, completing the competition with a time of 3 minutes 03.22 seconds, becoming the first Tibetan athlete to board the Winter Olympic Games, which is worth entering the history of Sports Development in Tibet!

"The Olympic Games are not held every year, not every year is in China, I am honored to be able to participate in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, today will usher in my first Olympic Games is also the first race, no matter what the result I will do my best, to win glory for the country." Four hours before the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics cross-country skiing individual sprint (free technical) qualifier, Tsering Zhandui wrote this in his WeChat circle of friends. As the first Tibetan athlete to appear in the Winter Olympics, Tsering Zhandui has attracted much attention. Standing on the free skiing field, 18-year-old Tsering Zhandui will compete with the world's top athletes. We can feel all the pressures he faced at that moment, and we can feel the honor and mission he shouldered as a member of the Chinese delegation and as a Tibetan athlete at that moment!

Tsering Zhandui was born into an ordinary family of farmers and herdsmen in Chaqian Village, Xiaqu Town, Nagqu City, Tibet. Before engaging in ice and snow sports, Tsering Zhandui was originally a long-distance runner in an amateur sports school, and he almost ended his sports career due to a foot injury. In December 2017, he was selected for the Ski Mountaineering Tibet Training Team, and his unique highland tolerance allowed him to show his outstanding talent in skiing in one training after another, and he improved rapidly. In June 2020, he was selected for the cross-country skiing national training team, and in January 2022, he was selected into the athlete roster of the Chinese delegation at the Beijing Winter Olympics. In Tsering Zhandui's body, we see the rapid development of ice and snow sports in Tibet.

Tibet is blessed with rich ice and snow resources, but due to the late development of ice and snow sports in Tibet, ice and snow sports have not been popular for a long time. In March 2017, the State General Administration of Sport officially began to implement cross-border cross-border material selection in preparation for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Many Tibetan athletes who have lived in alpine mountains since childhood have become the object of cross-border cross-border material selection and key training reserves of China's ice and snow sports due to their unique highland tolerance and natural affinity with ice and snow. Under the goal of "300 million people on ice and snow", Tibet has organized the "Ice and Snow Sports into Institutions and Enterprises and Institutions" activity for two consecutive years, so that more and more people can contact ice and snow sports and help the development of ice and snow sports for the whole people. The first professional ski mountaineering competition was held to allow athletes to have more practical training opportunities and improve the advantages of comprehensive competition. Ice and snow sports in Tibet are gradually heating up, turning more "cold resources" into "hot economy".

"Participating in the Beijing Winter Olympics is just the beginning, and the goal of more young players is to participate in the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics in Gangwon-do, South Korea and the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Cortina, they have greater prospects and future." From the time Tsering Chandui made his Winter Olympic debut, Tibetan sports will reopen a new chapter. Young Tibetan ice and snow sports, the future is expected to be more promising! (China Tibet Network Text/Zhao Zhenyu)