by Xia Ke and Song Meili
BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Maneuvering carefully and carrying flags identifying themselves, members of China's ski crew for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics made their way down the slopes in an orderly and skilful manner.
The team was preliminarily formed in 2018, after an open recruitment program organized by the organizing committee for the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. On January 6, in Beijing's satellite ski resort region of Zhangjiakou, the Olympic ski crew showed off their moves.
"I am very satisfied with their performance," said Xu Zhezhu, China's national alpine skiing team coach.
Due to alpine skiing's requirements related to the professional status of ski crew members, volunteers are selected from all walks of life. Freestyle aerial gold medalist Wang Jiao is now one of them. "Our team is full of cohesive power," she said.
"Thanks to months of training, our members have made rapid progress. They have essentially mastered several skills, these will be necessary to effectively assist with the Olympic ski competitions," Xu added.
"In addition to skills training, vocational skills such as nursing and medical treatment are also included. We also have targeted exercises to satisfy competition requirements," said head coach Wang Zhong.
"Our team will be expanded to approximately 2,000 members by 2022, with people specializing in different areas such as snowmaking, languages, and emergency services."
"Team members have already taken part in a series of competitions, to ready ourselves for the Winter Olympics," says Sun Xiaochuan, a PE teacher at Beihang University, who is spending most of his holiday time in Zhangjiakou.
"Though I have no problem with the fundamental techniques, we still need to raise our skill level on ice and snow in order to satisfy the requirements of the Winter Olympic Games."
The crew's dedication to training is so deep that some have missed out on important family occasions. "My daughter lit and blew out her birthday candles at home with her mother, and I blew her a kiss through video chat in Zhangjiakou," one skier said.
"There used to be foreign volunteers serving us when I took part in world-class competitions. As the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics, I believe there will be more outstanding volunteers to serve at the games," Wang Jiao said.
"We are making efforts one common goal for 2022," Wang Zhong added.
