(Characters of the Two Sessions) Olympic "Hardware King" Zou Kai: Continue to "burn" the popularity of the Winter Olympics to better welcome the arrival of the "post-Winter Olympics" era
Chinanews.com, Chengdu, February 19th: Olympic "Hardware King" Zou Kai: Continue to "burn" the popularity of the Winter Olympics to better welcome the arrival of the "post-Winter Olympics" era
Reporter Yue Yitong
"The Beijing Winter Olympics has set off a wave of ice and snow sports in China. Even in provinces with little snow, such as Sichuan, the participation of the people has increased significantly." Zou Kai, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of the Gymnastics Management Center of Sichuan Sports Vocational College, recently accepted Chinanews.com During the interview, the reporter suggested that in the "post-Winter Olympics" era, we should continue to strengthen publicity and use activities and competitions as media to further stimulate people's enthusiasm for ice and snow sports and promote the healthy and sustainable development of ice and snow sports in China.
As the first Chinese athlete to win 5 Olympic gold medals, the highlight moment of Zou Kai standing on the London Olympics with the banner of "Hardware Crown Kyushu" has never been forgotten.
Although he has retired for 6 years, he still takes it as his mission to promote the development of sports in China.
In fact, the Beijing Winter Olympics has been one of the main topics discussed by the CPPCC members of the sports sector at the National Two Sessions in the past few years.
How to prolong the popularity of the Winter Olympics and let the ice and snow sports and ice and snow industry continue to "burn"?
Zou Kai said that how to effectively meet the "post-Winter Olympics" era is the focus of the CPPCC members.
Zou Kai was interviewed by Chinanews.com.
Photo by Anyuan
"The Winter Olympics is the highest venue for ice and snow sports. It can not only promote the development of competitive sports, but also have a significant impact on mass sports." Zou Kai told reporters that from Beijing's successful bid to host the Winter Olympics in 2015 to "driving 300 million people to participate The grand vision of "Ice and Snow Sports", this large-scale event has played an irreplaceable and important role in the popularization of ice and snow sports in China.
The above vision has become a reality.
According to data released by the General Administration of Sports of China, by the end of 2020, China had 654 standard ice rinks and 803 indoor and outdoor ski resorts, and the number of people participating in ice and snow sports in China had reached 346 million.
According to the "2021 Research Report on the Development of China's Ice and Snow Industry", the scale of China's ice and snow industry in 2019 exceeded 420 billion yuan.
According to the relevant plans of the General Administration of Sport of China, the overall scale of China's ice and snow industry will reach 1 trillion yuan by 2025.
In Zou Kai's view, in order to better meet the arrival of the "post-Winter Olympics" era, the development of competitive sports and mass sports should "walk on two legs".
On the one hand, through the development of various activities, ice and snow sports can be further "flyed into ordinary people's homes" and become one of the main means of recreation, sports and fitness for the Chinese people; on the other hand, more attention should be paid to the excavation of young athletes in ice and snow sports. , training, and impact the "peak" of competitive sports constantly challenging the limit.
There are many outstanding young athletes like Gu Ailing and Su Yiming in this Winter Olympics, which makes Zou Kaibei proud and gratified.
"For athletes, it is not only necessary to challenge the opponent, but also to challenge themselves on the field. The key to the spirit of competitive sports is to constantly break through oneself." Zou Kai said, I believe there will be more young athletes who can break through the limit in the best state." They still have a lot of time to create more possibilities and futures."
Zou Kai, who specializes in the field of gymnastics, told reporters that gymnastics is the basic major event, and over the years, cross-border talents have been continuously supplied to other sports, and many of them are young athletes who cross-border to ice and snow events.
"The basic advantages of gymnastics can play a supporting role for athletes in terms of skills. I believe they will shine in the Winter Olympics in the future."
Talking about the importance of excavating and cultivating "seedlings" of youth sports, Zou Kai said that he will continue to pay attention to the issue of how to promote retired athletes to enter the campus in the context of the integration of sports and education.
"In fact, most athletes are engaged in jobs unrelated to their majors after retirement, and their accumulated professional knowledge and experience have nowhere to apply." Zou Kai suggested that retired athletes should be promoted to teach in schools and make full use of their professional advantages. Improve the level of campus sports and provide assistance for the mining and training of young sports talents.
In 2008, Zou Kai participated in the 29th Summer Olympic Games held in Beijing as an athlete and won three gold medals.
This year, as one of the torchbearers of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Zou Kai participated in the sporting event with a new identity.
"I was very excited and honored to have two experiences in the 'City of Double Olympics'." The young CPPCC member laughed, "I hoped to show the strength of Chinese gymnasts in the Olympic Games, and to provide The country won the honor; this year, I am a loyal spectator of the Winter Olympics.”
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