Anterselva (Italy) (AFP)
A legend of the discipline (Ole-Einar Bjoerndalen) as a trainer and a French Olympic champion (Jean-Pierre Amat) to take care of shooting: China is slowly waking up in biathlon and working hard not to miss the big meeting of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
With their red suits in the colors of the People's Republic, Chinese biathletes are one of the attractions of the Worlds-2020 which take place in Anterselva, Italy, until Sunday.
For the moment, the results are still awaited and the representatives of the Middle Kingdom are still far from being able to compete with the historic nations of this sport. But the country has not skimped on the means to mingle with the big leagues and not be ridiculous in two years at home.
Everything accelerated in May 2019 with the recruitment of Jean-Pierre Amat, ex-Olympic gold medalist in shooting in 1996 in Atlanta, before a big catch in September in the person of Bjoerndalen, the man with six globes of crystal and 95 victories on the circuit, came to reinforce the supervision with his wife Darya Domracheva, quadruple Olympic champion, more especially in charge of the ladies. Which sets the ambition of the Chinese.
"China can have a future and it's good to think outside the box," says the Norwegian. "There are high demands, but it's possible."
- Big challenge -
"We start from scratch and it's a great bet, explains Jean-Pierre Amat for his part. There is a difference in culture, but the language problem is overcome because we have a very good interpreter. In terms of resources, we have everything we need. We say that if we do something right, we will change the course of the history of biathlon. "
In a country of more than 1.4 billion people with only a hundred practitioners, the challenge seems daunting, but not necessarily insurmountable given the resources deployed. China has several training centers, including two in Inner Mongolia where national teams prepare before leaving their cocoon to compete in the World Cup with a final phase of settings in Norway. Others could come out of the ground by the Olympics-2022.
In total, the biathletes are on the tracks from April to March "tirelessly", according to Amat. Due to the coronavirus, however, they remained in Europe at the end of January and did not return home in preparation for the World Championships, contrary to what was planned.
- "Rising star" -
If the Chinese are still struggling on the circuit, their efforts are slowly starting to bear fruit. Like Fanqi Meng (21), crowned Individual at the Junior Worlds in 2019 (39th in sprint and 50th in pursuit in Anterselva), or Cheng Fangming (25, 66th in sprint), qualified as " rising star "in men by Jean-Pierre Amat.
"He can be really strong and will play medals in Beijing, adds the technician, who has officiated for 20 years with the French biathlon team. We are seeing him intermittently for now and he has to learn to become a real biathlete. But in shooting, he has had phenomenal progress in three months. I never thought it was possible. "
It remains to root a discipline still confidential in China. The deadline for the JO-2022 will be decisive.
"Everything will depend on the Games, believes Jean-Pierre Amat. It could be one or more medals, which would be the dream, of mediatized races with public interest. It could trigger a real fundamental movement for biathlon."
© 2020 AFP