Former freestyle skiing world champion Guo Dandan [Xinhua]

BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) — Former freestyle skiing world champion Guo Dandan held an online clinic for Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games volunteers on Sunday.

With a theme of "striving to achieve a wonderful life", the clinic saw Guo share her experience of skiing with the volunteers.

Guo liked dancing when she was a child, but her parents sent her to gymnastics class instead. At the age of 12, she became one of the first batch of freestyle skiers in China.

Her unyielding character, hard training and gymnastic skills helped her stand out in the discipline. At the age of 17, she became China's first World Cup winner.

However, a serious ankle injury sustained a year later at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics eventually caused her to retire from competitive skiing at the age of 21.

She subsequently worked as a coach, in public welfare and set up a ski school, devoting herself to the popularization and promotion of skiing, and currently works promoting the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

Guo said that the preparations for the Beijing Games have accelerated the development of ice and snow sports in China, with skiing becoming an important way of life for many Chinese people. She added that she hoped the volunteers would all work together to help ice and snow sports develop even more.

Feng Jing, a polar explorer who has traveled to Antarctica, also participated in the sharing and exchange of the livestreaming training. In an earlier class, she shared her special experience of entering Antarctica and cross-country skiing.

Wang Zhong, coach of China's Olympic skiing team, said that during the COVID-19 epidemic, his squad had helped members learn Winter Olympic knowledge, conduct home physical training, learn snow competition rules, and improve volunteer and foreign language skills. 

(Source: Xinhua)