PR98782

QITAIHE, China, Nov. 14, 2022 /Xinhua=KYODO JBN/--

The awarding ceremony of the "City of Olympic Champions" awarded by the Chinese

Olympic Committee to Qitaihe City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province was

held in Qitaihe on November 11.

Qitaihe City has cultivated more than 10 Winter Olympic champions and world

champions, including Yang Yang, Wang Meng, Sun Linlin, Fan Kexin, etc. Athletes

from Qitaihe won 7 gold medals in the Winter Olympics, 177 gold medals in

world-level competitions, and 535 gold medals in national-level competitions.

Qitaihe is now the "National Key High-level Sports Reserve Talent Base" and the

"National Short Track Speed Skating Qitaihe Sports Training Base", known as the

"Hometown of Winter Olympic Champions", and a large number of athletes with

Olympic dreams come to learn, according to the Publicity Department of the CPC

Qitaihe Municipal Committee.

At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Fan Kexin and her teammates stormed to a

thrilling victory in the debut event and claimed the first gold for China,

achieving a historic breakthrough.

The city has been stepping up efforts to train winter sports talents in recent

years by building schools that provide short track speed skating training,

setting up training base for provincial sports team, as well as holding ice and

snow sports events.

According to statistics, Qitaihe City currently has 20 short-track speed

skating teams, more than 600 athletes in training, and 16 coaches. In six major

sports such as speed skating, ski jumping, and snowboarding, more than 300

outstanding athletes have been sent to the country and the province. It is the

city with the most abundant reserve talents for short track speed skating in

the country.

Source: Publicity Department of the CPC Qitaihe Municipal Committee

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   Caption: Gao Zhidan (right), Director of the State General Administration of Sports of

China, president of the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) presented the "City of

Olympic Champions" trophy to Li Bing(left), mayor of Qitaihe City.