(Beijing Winter Olympics) Jin Hexiao: Realizing Ice and Snow Dreams in Snowless Hong Kong

　　China News Agency, Beijing, February 9th, title: Jin Hexiao: Realize the dream of ice and snow in snow-free Hong Kong

　　China News Agency reporter Guo Chaokai

　　Sliding down from the starting point of the alpine skiing women's slalom track at an altitude of 1712 meters, Jin and Xiao made many small mistakes along the way. Fortunately, she was able to control and turn around in time.

But about 20 meters away from the finish line, Jin and Xiao still missed the flag gate and slid off the track.

　　She was almost able to finish the competition, leaving her own achievements in the alpine skiing arena of the Winter Olympics; almost she could bring her Winter Olympics debut to a successful end.

But failed to do so.

On February 9, Chinese Hong Kong players Jin Hexiao competed.

On the same day, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics alpine skiing women's slalom competition was held at the Yanqing National Alpine Ski Center.

Photo by China News Agency reporter He Penglei

　　Lost and unable to finish the race, Jin Hexiao's tears couldn't stop flowing down.

In the mixed interview area, Coco Lee, a Chinese Taipei player who often trains overseas with Jin Hexiao, gave her a hug to comfort the 19-year-old Hong Kong player.

When interviewed by reporters, she stopped her tears in time.

　　She officially received skiing training at the age of 15, and at the age of 19, she represented Hong Kong, China, and won a ticket to the Winter Olympics. Jin Hexiao showed great talent in alpine skiing, but her snow and ice dream was not as smooth as she imagined.

　　Although she and her brother went overseas to ski with their ski-loving father since childhood, Jin Hexiao's main sport was gymnastics for a long time, and skiing was just her hobby.

After joining the Chinese Hong Kong National Team at the age of 13, Jin and Xiao began to face a choice. "I found that skiing can only be practiced well if I devote my time to it." Between gymnastics and alpine skiing, she finally chose skiing because skiing made her feel "very free." ".

　　As a snow-free subtropical city, Hong Kong is lacking in climatic conditions and hardware equipment. Compared with ice sports, it can go to Beijing, Northeast China and other regions for training. To prepare for the Winter Olympics snow sports, it is generally only possible to go overseas.

　　Since there is no ski resort in Hong Kong, Jin and Xiao need to spend a lot of time in Europe for ski training.

In 2018, the Hong Kong team hired a coach from Bosnia and Herzegovina to tailor a training plan for Jin and Xiao.

For the past 4 years, she has been training overseas from January to April and during summer vacation, and then returned to Hong Kong to take the exam.

Although the preparations were very difficult, Jin and Xiao were able to balance their studies and training well. "The teachers in Hong Kong will mail me all the homework, and I will learn slowly on the plane or on the road."

　　In order to fully prepare for the Winter Olympics, she has received a notice from Harvard University and suspended her university studies. Since June last year, she has been preparing for the Games in Europe, training at least five days a week.

In the past year, she has participated in more than 30 games, big and small.

　　On the eve of the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Jin Hexiao got the qualifications for the Winter Olympics as they wished.

Knowing the good news, she hugged the coach excitedly, "This is the first time I have competed on the Olympic stage, and it is an honor to represent Hong Kong."

　　And set foot on the "Xuefeiyan" track is also twists and turns.

After arriving in Beijing on January 30, Jin and Xiao were ill. During this period, she had been worried that she would miss the Beijing Winter Olympics. Fortunately, she recovered in time after treatment and caught up with the competition.

　　For Jin Hexiao, it took 4 years to prepare for the Beijing Winter Olympics, but it only took just over 1 minute to really gallop on the "Xuefeiyan" track.

As she slid off the track, her trip to the Beijing Winter Olympics also came to an end.

　　Almost finished the game, although there are regrets, but Jin and Xiao feel that they are "still very proud" to be able to compete with the world's top players on the same stage.

"I didn't come here to win the gold medal, I just hope to skate the best level." Jin Hexiao said.

　　Wiping away her tears, she said that she has not yet considered whether she can participate in the next Winter Olympics, but began to prepare for the competition at the end of February, focusing on that first; at the same time, she will also pay attention to the performance of teammate Weng Houquan in the alpine skiing competition .

　　In this Winter Olympics, Hong Kong, China sent three athletes, Jin Hexiao, Weng Houquan and Zhu Dingwen, to participate, which is the largest number of participants in the previous Winter Olympics.

Not long ago, Zhu Dingwen also exploded on the Internet because of his fluent "Northeastern dialect".

　　Hong Kong still has a long way to go to train top ice and snow athletes.

But from the outside world, from the best results in history of the Hong Kong delegation in the Tokyo Olympics to the Beijing Winter Olympics sending the most athletes in the history of the Winter Olympics, the concept of "sports has a way out" has become more and more recognized by Hong Kong people.

　　As for the future of ice and snow sports in Hong Kong, Jin Hexiao said that since the last Winter Olympics, she has seen good development of alpine skiing in Hong Kong, and hopes that she can inspire more Hong Kong people to participate in winter ice and snow sports, because ice and snow sports it's very funny.

(Finish)