Host China clears at the Winter Paralympics. President Xi Jinping is particularly pleased with the impressive performance – his plan is working.
China’s President Xi Jinping is likely to rub his hands. “His” dominating athletes stormed from one gold medal to the next on the first three days of competition at the Winter Paralympics, and the home games in Beijing immediately became a demonstration of power. The international competition is at a loss.
The hosts have won seven gold, eight silver and ten bronze medals so far. The People’s Republic had only won one measly medal since the 1976 Winter Games premiered in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden – gold in curling four years ago in Pyeongchang.
“I don’t know how they did it,” admitted Friedhelm Julius Beucher. The Chinese team is a “real piñata” for the President of the German Disabled Sports Association. Can China continue its furious start? “We can’t plan, there’s always a new miracle on the slopes,” said Beucher.
China creates infrastructure for winter sports
“There will be a recipe for success,” Germany’s flag bearer Martin Fleig suspected in the “SID” interview. The Freiburg native was almost seven minutes behind Chinese gold medalist Zheng Peng in the 18 km cross-country competition in the sitting class on Sunday.
At the games in South Korea, Chinese starters didn’t even come close to medals – in all Nordic disciplines.
But a lot has happened in the Middle Kingdom since then. After being awarded the 2015 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the country popped up ski resort after ski resort almost at the push of a button, totaling around 800. The government promised to turn China into a winter sports nation in time for the games.
President Xi spared no expense in training his gold candidates. Rapid success was envisaged, which was to catapult “his” country into the circle of winter sports powerhouses in the Olympic and Paralympic spotlight.
China smashes record results
That was the plan – and it worked. At the Olympics, China celebrated a record result despite further blatant weaknesses in the Nordic and Alpine disciplines, at the Paralympics they stopped their entire haul after the first competition.
With the expertise of highly decorated top trainers like an Italian for alpine skiing, the advantage of knowing the competition venues inside out and the potential of over 85 million people with disabilities, there seems to be no limit. Therefore, it is “not surprising that you can also develop lace,” said Beucher appreciatively.
But even the Chinese hadn’t counted on the sudden rush to win medals. “I can’t believe it,” said Yang Hongqiong after her cross-country triumph over 15 km and immediately sent a challenge to the perplexed competition: “With this medal, we have proven the unlimited potential of Team China in winter sports.”