With 61 medals, including 18 gold, China finished first in the standings.

A sacred performance in comparison with its starving balance sheet until then.

Because if the Chinese participated in their first Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City (2002), they had to wait for Pyeongchang (2018) to win their first medal: gold in curling.

"In alpine skiing, we did not expect them, and they surprise us!" Sums up the French skier Arthur Bauchet, 21, Olympic champion in Beijing in downhill and super combined.

Paralympics-2022: the medal table Cléa PÉCULIER AFP

He says he realized the potential of the Chinese when he discovered at the start of the season Liang Jingyi, now Paralympic Super-G champion.

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"I had won a Super-G and he was a few hundredths behind me. There, we started to say to each other + wow, that's new! +"

Symbol of this push by the host country to the Beijing Paralympics: in men's snowboard cross, the podium was 100% Chinese in the UL category (upper limbs).

In alpine skiing, Zhang Mengqiu, Chinese sensation of these Games, won five medals for women (including two gold).

China's Zhang Mengqiu during the Beijing Paralympic Games slalom on March 12, 2022 at the Yanqing WANG Zhao site AFP

The secret?

"We worked super hard. There isn't an athlete on the team who doesn't have an injury. We had tons of muscle problems and fractures," explains para-alpine skier Li Xiang, 6th super combo.

"For these athletes, every day for 11 months was: training, skiing, training, skiing... I don't know what other country could do that," said Dario Capelli, head coach of the Chinese team. Paralympic Alpine Skiing.

"A lot of money"

Recruited by China five years ago, the 51-year-old Italian is aware of the journey made since then.

"At the beginning, we gave them a test, on a track where they had to make five turns. We realized that they were all beginners", he says.

Dario Capelli, Italian coach of the Chinese alpine paraski team at the Yanqing site on March 12, 2022 WANG Zhao AFP

"We started from scratch", but "the Chinese, when they start doing something, it's all the way", he explains, welcoming athletes who have never complained about the difficulties.

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Training stays in the four corners of China which required hotel nights, equipment, new infrastructures: the authorities supported their training 100%, according to the Italian.

Apart from skiing, "we didn't have to worry about the rest" because "the federation and the Chinese government took care of everything", he explains.

"It's the Chinese mentality: when they want something, they want the best. And they invest a lot of money."

The Chinese sledge hockey team during their match against Italy at the Paralympic Games in Beijing on March 8, 2022 WANG Zhao AFP/Archives

Including in foreign coaches.

In sledge hockey, China signed a Russian, Nikolai Sharshukov, who led the team to Paralympic bronze.

"The organizing countries always put in big resources, as France will do for the Paris Games" in 2024, notes French skier Marie Bochet, eight-time Paralympic champion, who was surprised by this "wave" of Chinese athletes.

Russians excluded

It is true that China has given itself the means to succeed in recent years.

In 2016, for example, it launched a national competition circuit for winter para-sports in order to produce a pool of competitive athletes.

It has also signed partnerships with Russia and Finland.

Obviously, the exclusion of the Russians and Belarusians on the eve of the Games, due to the invasion of Ukraine, also reinforced the Chinese supremacy in the medal table.

International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons with Ukrainian Paralympic Committee President Valeriy Sushkevych on March 3, 2022 in Beijing Joe TOTH OIS/IOC/AFP/Archives

The president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Andrew Parsons, himself admitted on Saturday that this had "without a doubt" affected the results in "certain events".

In Pyeongchang, the Russians and Belarusians had won 36 medals, notably in the long distance and biathlon, disciplines where the Chinese were on the podium 30 times in Beijing.

Will China be able to duplicate its success, far from its bases, at the Milan-Cortina Games in 2026?

"The level of Chinese alpine skiing will continue to rise," promises Liang Jingyi, Paralympic Super-G champion.

"I'm convinced."

© 2022 AFP