On March 1, three days before the opening of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games, citizens passed the emblem of the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games on the Wangfujing Pedestrian Street in Beijing.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Hou Yu

  China News Service Client, Beijing, March 4th (Reporter Wang Yu) On the second day of the second lunar month in the lunar calendar, the traditional Chinese folk festival "Dragon Heads Up".

After 12 days of conversion and preparation, the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics will take over the Winter Olympics on this day, presenting another ice and snow event to the world that symbolizes unity, courage, motivation and equality.

  The Beijing Winter Paralympic Games kicked off when the "dragon heads up", which is in line with the spirit of self-reliance and tenacious struggle of disabled athletes.

The Chinese sports delegation participating in the 6th Winter Paralympic Games will also ride the wind as a "host" for the first time, work hard to achieve great results, and show the development achievements of China's Winter Paralympic Games to the world.

Start late, but catch up

  In the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics in the United States, China, which returned to the international Olympic family, sent 28 athletes to participate.

22 years later, when the Chinese people were immersed in the short track speed skating star Yang Yang's breakthrough in achieving zero gold medals in the Winter Olympics for the Chinese delegation, Chinese athletes also appeared on the Winter Paralympic Games for the first time.

In the wheelchair curling final of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games, the Chinese team defeated Norway and won the first Winter Paralympic gold medal in the history of the Chinese delegation!

  Compared with the Summer Paralympic Games, the Chinese Winter Paralympic Games started late, the foundation is weak, and the overall is still in the stage of improvement.

Although he participated in the Salt Lake City Winter Paralympics for the first time, his achievements in the subsequent competitions were not outstanding.

Peng Yuanyuan won the fifth place in women's standing 5km traditional cross-country skiing at the Vancouver Winter Paralympics, and the Chinese wheelchair curling team at the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympic Games won the fourth place, both creating the best results of the Chinese team at that time.

  In the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the Chinese wheelchair curling team played steadily and defeated the three-time gold medalist Norway team to win the championship in one fell swoop, achieving a "zero breakthrough" in the medals and gold medals of the Chinese sports delegation in the Winter Paralympic Games.

So far, the Chinese Winter Paralympic Corps has gone through 5 Paralympic Winter Games, a full 16 years of waiting, and finally realized the championship dream.

The most complete items in the competition, curling is the gold leader

  For the Beijing Winter Paralympics, the Chinese sports delegation sent a lineup of 217 people.

Among them, 96 athletes, 121 coaches, staff, competition support staff, and medical security personnel participated in wheelchair curling, Paralympic ice hockey, Paralympic alpine skiing, Paralympic snowboarding, Paralympic cross-country skiing and biathlon. There are six major events and 73 minor events.

The Yunding Ski Park in the Zhangjiakou competition area of ​​Hebei is carrying out the secondary shaping of the track.

Image source: Visual China

  Compared with the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympic Games before the successful bid for the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, the Chinese sports delegation increased the number of major events from 2 to 6 and the number of minor events from 6 to 73.

This is the one with the largest delegation, the largest number of athletes, and the most complete participating items since China participated in the Paralympic Winter Games.

  It is reported that the Chinese Paralympic ice hockey, alpine skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing and biathlon teams will live in Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou Winter Paralympic Villages from February 25, and the wheelchair curling team will live on March 2. Beijing Village.

The athletes who have entered the village are currently undergoing pre-competition training, which mainly includes adapting to the venue, familiarizing themselves with the competition flow, improving the competition plan, and adjusting their psychological state.

  To achieve good results at home is the unswerving belief of every Chinese disabled athlete preparing for the Beijing Winter Paralympics. The goal of the Chinese wheelchair curling team, which won the first gold medal in history, is even more brilliant.

"Winning the championship in PyeongChang has become history, and we are going to Beijing from scratch." This slogan is particularly eye-catching in the curling hall of the National Disabled Ice Sports Competition Training Hall.

  According to the schedule, on March 5, the Chinese wheelchair curling team will make its debut in the Beijing Winter Paralympics against the Canadian wheelchair curling team.

After four years of precipitation and preparation, as the defending champions, the players also expressed that they should turn pressure into motivation and play their games well.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics emblem "Leaping" was unveiled in Tiananmen Square.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Jia Tianyong

  Opportunities of the times, many projects look forward to breakthroughs

  In 2017, the Chinese Paralympic ice hockey team started from scratch, and in less than 4 years, successfully advanced to the World Group A ice hockey team and obtained the right to participate in the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games.

In this Winter Paralympic Games, China, ranked No. 8 in the world, will play against strong teams Italy, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Before the game, the goal set by the Chinese team for this Winter Paralympics is to "protect six and compete for three".

  Xu Jinqiang, vice-captain of the Chinese Paralympic hockey team, said in an interview: "(The opponents) have been building teams longer than us and have a lot of game experience, but the advantage of our team is that the level of tacit understanding between our players is very high. It's exciting to play on our own doorstep. No matter which team we face, we'll fight to the end."

  Like the Chinese Paralympic ice hockey team, the Chinese Paralympic alpine ski team also hopes to achieve new breakthroughs at home.

At the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics, only one Chinese Paralympic alpine skier participated. However, with the success of Beijing's bid to host the Winter Olympics, more and more disabled people are participating in alpine skiing. Chinese athletes reached a historic 22.

  The Chinese Paralympic Snowboard Team will participate in the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games in 2 major events and 8 minor events of obstacle chase and slope slalom.

Team leader Zhang Guosheng introduced: "The average age of the team members is 21.8 years old, making it the youngest team in the Chinese delegation. We are confident that we will show the spirit of self-esteem, self-improvement and self-confidence for the disabled in this Winter Paralympic Games."

  At the Beijing Winter Olympics, Chinese ice and snow athletes won 9 golds, 4 silvers and 2 bronzes, creating the best record in history.

"Two Olympic Games are equally exciting", the Chinese athletes who are about to enter the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games will also show the world the spirit of Chinese disabled people's unremitting self-improvement in the new era, show the development achievements of China's Winter Paralympic Games, and strive to create Good achievements, win glory for the country.

(over)