In this March 10, 2017 photo, Chinese skier Xu Mengtao competes during the women's aerials final in the FIS Snowboard and Freestyle Ski World Championships 2017 in Sierra Nevada. (JAVIER SORIANO / AFP)
Guided by a legion of foreign coaches on ice and snow, China is primed to show stronger winter sports prowess by sending the nation's largest ever Winter Games delegation.
China will send 176 athletes, the most since the country's Winter Olympics debut at the 1980 Games, and 211 coaches and officials for competition in 104 medal events out of the total 109 at the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese Olympic Committee announced on Thursday.
The number of medal events that Chinese athletes qualified for at the Games has increased significantly from the 47 at the last Games in Pyeongchang. This will mark the first time that China will compete in all 15 disciplines on the Winter Olympics program
The Games will be held from Feb 4 to 20 in three zones－downtown Beijing, the capital's Yanqing district and co-host Zhangjiakou, Hebei province.
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The number of medal events that Chinese athletes qualified for at the Games has increased significantly from the 47 at the last Games, in Pyeongchang, South Korea. This will mark the first time that China will compete in all 15 disciplines on the Winter Olympics program.
Among the 78 coaches and trainers, 51 are hired from strong winter sports nations overseas, including Norway’s eight-time Olympic champion Ole Einar Bjorndalen in the biathlon and Sweden’s three-time world champion skip, or team captain, Peja Lindholm in curling, to help close the gap with dominating countries from the West in China’s less-developed events, such as crosscountry skiing and ice hockey.
Five Chinese athletes, such as freestyle skier Xu Mengtao and snowboarder Cai Xuetong, will compete at their fourth Olympic Games at home, while 131 athletes are making their Games debut.
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A traditional power in ice sports, such as short-track speed skating and figure skating, China is ambitiously expanding its strength to more snowbased sports and is aiming for the biggest medal haul at the home Games.
Stars to watch representing China include men’s 500m short-track speed skating defending champion Wu Dajing, women’s freestyle skier Gu Ailing, who is expected to bolster China’s gold medal hopes in three events, and two-time world champion figure skating pair Sui Wenjing and Han Cong.
China has won a total of 13 Winter Olympic gold medals to date, with 10 claimed by short-track speed skaters.
