2018年CRI China makes skeleton debut at Winter Olympics

 

Geng Wenqiang has become the first Chinese athlete to compete in the skeleton¹ at the Winter Olympics, finishing in 13th place.

CRI's Fu Yu has more on the history and prospect² of skeleton in China.

China's national skeleton team was put together in 2015 after Beijing won the bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

Few athletes in China had experience in the sport, because it does not have a large fan base in the country.

Many of the early members of the skeleton team were athletes from other disciplines. Geng Wenqiang himself used to be a long jumper. He made the switch as soon as he received notice that China was building a skeleton team.

Geng says there are some similarities between the two sports that helped his transition³.

"I used to be a long jumper. Skeleton also requires a fast initial⁴ speed, which means you have to be explosive⁵ from the get-go. I still need to work on my initial speed because compared to the world's athletes I'm still a long way from them in terms of my start."

The leader of China's skeleton team Hu Jie says Geng and his teammates had to train abroad because there was no track available for them in China that they could use to practice.

"A lack of talent was our biggest problem. We also didn't have the tracks and the gear⁶. As you know, Beijing's Yanqing District is constructing a track for the Winter Olympic Games. One of the reasons I think skeleton is not a widespread sport is because of the high cost of the tracks."

Despite a late start in China, skeleton has attracted a lot of attention among some of the country's well-known athletes. Olympic sprinter⁷ Zhang Peimeng has joined the national skeleton team, and he has set his sights on the 2022 Games.

Hu Jie says she hopes Zhang will help to raise the profile⁸ of the sport in China.

"If we want to improve, to achieve our goal of reaching the podium, we need to find better athletes. This is where Zhang Peiming comes in. He is a representative of China's best athletes, so we were elated when he joined skeleton, because he will lead more people to learn about this sport."

China's skeleton team is currently⁹ training under Canadian Olympic silver medalist Jeff Pain.

For CRI, this is Fu Yu in South Korea.

1 skeleton   

n.骨骼，框架，骨干，梗概，提要

参考例句：

• A long illness made a skeleton out of him.长期的卧病使他骨瘦如柴。
• Her notes gave us just the bare skeleton of her theory.她的笔记只给我们提供了她的理论的梗概。

2 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

3 transition   

n.转变，变迁，过渡

参考例句：

• Adolescence is the period of transition between childhood and adulthood.青春期是童年与成年之间的过渡时期。
• They all support a peaceful transition.他们全部都支持和平过渡。

4 initial   

adj.最初的，开始的，词首的；n.首字母，姓名的开头字母；vt.标注姓名的首字母于

参考例句：

• After she'd overcome her initial shyness,she became very friendly.她克服了起初的羞怯之后，变得十分友善。
• The experiments have given initial results eventually.那些试验总算初见成效了。

5 explosive   

adj.爆炸的，爆发的；极易引起争论的；n.炸药

参考例句：

• Where's the rest of the explosive?剩下的炸药在哪里？
• Gelignite is a high explosive.葛里炸药是一种烈性炸药。

6 gear   

n.齿轮，传动装置，设备，衣服；vt.使适应

参考例句：

• We have to gear our lives to the new changes.我们必须使自己的生活适应新的变化。
• The teeth of the wheel gear into each other.齿轮互相啮合。

7 sprinter   

n.短跑运动员，短距离全速奔跑者

参考例句：

• He is more a sprinter than a swimmer. 他是短跑健将，而不是游泳选手。 来自辞典例句
• The sprinter himself thinks he can run the race at 9.4 seconds. 这位短跑运动员自认为可以用9.4秒跑完比赛。 来自互联网

8 profile   

n.侧面，轮廓，人物素描；概要，人物简介；v.描绘...轮廓，评论人物

参考例句：

• I turned my head and saw the profile of a man.我转过头，看见一个人的侧影。
• He drew her profile.他给她画侧面像。

9 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。