S: Hi everyone. Welcome to CBN Friday Special, I’m Stephanie LI.
R: And I’m ZHANG Ran. The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is coming to an end in less than three days. And today, a new-born star of China’s winter sports is celebrating his 18th birthday. Stephanie, do you know who he is?
S: I think I know who that is. Today is the birthday of snowboarding prodigy Su Yiming. He etched his name in the history books by winning gold in the men’s Big Air at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Tuesday, China’s very first Olympic gold medal in the sport.
R: And don’t forget that he had also won a slope-style silver in earlier games. Now with two shinning medals hung around his neck, Su Yiming is showing us that China’s Generation-Z, or loosely the so-called “post-00s”, is ready to rock the world. Data shows that among the 176 athletes in the Chinese delegation, 47 are born after 2000, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the total.
S: These Gen-Z athletes, or those were born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, have impressed me in ways more than their excellence in sports. For example, these young Chinese athletes are more straightforward and outspoken in expressing love and pride in their country. Su Yiming said in his interview that he wants to bring honour to his motherland, and repeatedly thanked his country for supporting and helping him.
R: Yes. And the young athletes are talented in multiple areas! They have excellent academic grades, and master in various skills. It may sound surprising to many of us that Su Yiming used to be a movie star when he was only nine years old who acted in various films including The Taking of Tiger Mountain. Chinese netizens joke about him “snowboarding” his way from the film channel to the sports channel.
China’s sled player Wang Peixuan is another example. The 21-year-old who finished 29th at the first ever competition of Chinese women’s sleds in the history, has shown outstanding athletic talent among her peers since she was a child. Before being selected to the national women’s sled team, she has been a folk dancer and a javelin thrower.
S: Speaking of Wang Peixuan, she has also shown us how persistent young athletes are. Just as she was preparing for the Beijing Winter Olympics, an accident caused three fractures in her left toe and instep in a competition at the end of 2021. But the strong Shaanxi girl put on thick protective gear on the injured area, continued to practice on the track, and finished the Olympic competition with the injuries.
There are more examples of strong will in our Gen-Z athletes. Yang Shuorui, 18, is one of them. The skier from Sichuan Province didn't make it to the final of the Freestyle Skiing event, but impressed the audience with her perseverance after she refused to give up despite being injured in the warm-up. After being treated in an ambulance, when people thought she might give up on the event, she returned to the field, with a split on her left cheek and bruise around her left eye.
At an after-event interview, Yang said she had walked a long way to compete in the Games and she wanted nothing more than to represent her mother country.
R: Besides being tougher and stronger than we used to think, I’m also stunned by how matured and sensible they are. Again taking Su Yiming as an example, after the men’s slopestyle game, the event’s head judge admitted making an error that snubbed Su’s gold. But he chose to take the controversial finish in good spirits. His coach said in an open letter that he and Su understand the difficulty of real-time scoring and call on the public to stop criticising the judges.
S: The Gen-Zs have really given us so many surprises during the Beijing Winter Games. And we also have the honour to witness the dream-comes-true moments of veteran athletes. Xu Mengtao fulfilled her dream of winning an Olympic gold in the women’s aerials in her fourth Olympic appearance. And Qi Guangpu, who’s also a four-time Olympian, had finally stood atop of the men’s aerials podium for the first time at the Beijing 2022.
Veteran athletes have also inspired us with their perseverance and courage. The 27-year-old short track speed skater Wu Dajing has confirmed that he would not retired after finishing his competition at the Beijing 2022, writing in a letter that “as long as my country needs it, as long as my body allows it, I will always stand on the ice rink.” The country’s first male gold medalist in the sport has become an icon of courage and inspired so many people.
R: And while appreciating the athletes’ performances, we shall not forget that the Gen-Zs are also shining outside the competition fields. They are contributing to the games as volunteers, technicians, and translators. And they have shown the world a confident and open Chinese generation.
S: The Gen-Zs are all about the Olympic motto — “Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together.” And I believe that it’s just a start, so let’s wait and see what surprises they will bring to us in the future.
R: Right, on a different note, Chinese stocks inched up four days in a row as big data stocks hit a limit up. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.66 percent on Friday and the Shenzhen Component edged up 0.27 percent. However, the Hang Seng Index lost 1.88 percent as the TECH Index tumbled.
北京2022年冬奥会将于2月20日迎来闭幕式。在本届冬奥会中，中国“00后”冬奥运动员表现出色，展现了属于年轻一代的风貌。这次中国代表队的176名参赛运动员中，00后选手达47名，占比近3成。
2月18日，也是单板滑雪“天才少年”苏翊鸣的18岁生日。在这次冬奥之旅中，苏翊鸣先后在单板滑雪男子坡面障碍技巧及大跳台比赛中，斩获一金一银。这位“00后”年轻人在采访中说：“尽我自己最大的努力去为国争光”“我没有任何压力，因为我的身后有祖国，国人的欢呼和支持对我的帮助非常大”……很多被苏翊鸣“圈粉”的网友都提到，他身上有一颗闪闪发光的爱国心。
“跨界”是00后运动员身上的另一特质。例如，苏翊鸣就是一名“童星”，曾出演多部电影，包括徐克执导的电影《智取威虎山》。网友们都说，他“从电影频道滑到了体育频道。”
而完成了冬奥会女子单人雪橇项目首秀的王沛宣，也是一位“跨界”选手。她出生于2000年，2015年9月，王沛宣通过标枪项目跨界跨项进入中国国家雪橇集训队。在练体育之前，王沛宣是一个练习民族舞的艺术生。因为6年级时参加了学校运动会，展现了在速度方面的优势，也因此走上了体育道路。
年轻一代运动员，也在北京2022年冬奥会上展现出了坚强意志。在2021年年底的一场比赛中，王沛宣的左脚脚趾、脚背三处骨裂，但她仍然坚持训练，并以第29位的成绩完成了中国女子雪橇选手在冬奥会历史上的第一项比赛。还有两位“00后”运动员，女子自由式滑雪运动员杨硕瑞、男子单板滑雪选手高宏博，也坚持带伤完成了各自的比赛，展现了拼搏精神与体育力量。
在技战术之外，“00后”们在赛场上的成熟、自信、洒脱，更为世界展现了中国“千禧一代”朝气蓬勃的青春风景。例如，针对苏翊鸣参加的北京冬奥会单板滑雪男子坡面障碍技巧决赛中的打分争议，苏翊鸣表示，此前坡障比赛没有任何争议，自己特别尊重帕罗特。他的教练佐藤康弘也通过公开信表示，他和苏翊鸣理解实时打分的困难性，感谢所有裁判，恳请公众终止批评。
北京2022年冬奥会不仅见证了“00后”新星的诞生，也见证了“老将”圆梦。中国空中技巧队两位四度征战冬奥的31岁老将徐梦桃和齐广璞终于“圆梦”金牌，也让中国空中技巧队冬奥史上首次单届包揽两项个人项目金牌。
28岁的短道速滑世界冠军武大靖，则展现了属于“老将”的勇气与坚守。他在本届冬奥会上获得了短道速滑男女混合接力金牌，赛后，他表示：“只要国家需要，只要身体允许，我还会一直站在冰场上。绝不认怂。”
而在赛场之外，00后也通过青年志愿者、技术支持、语言服务等方式，支撑着本届冬奥顺利进行，让世界看到阳光、自信、开放的中国年轻一代。
最后来看一下今天的股市收盘情况。周五，A股继续上扬，沪指四连阳，涨0.66%，深成指涨0.27%。大数据概念股多股涨停。港股恒生指数跌1.88%，科技指数跌3.22%。
