GANGNEUNG, South Korea, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Riding the snow and ice and innovating forward.
Overview of the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games.
Xinhua News Agency reporters Wei Hua and Xu Shihao.
With the final gold medal in curling, all competitions at the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games have come to an end on the 1st. From Jeongseon to Gangneung Youth Olympic Park, from Hoengseong to Pyeongchang Alpensia Sports Park, 1,802 young ice and snow athletes rode up and down the ice to start a journey of pursuing their Olympic dreams and writing a new chapter in the Olympic movement in Gangwon Province, South Korea, which hosted the Winter Olympics six years ago.
During the more than 10 days of the flame, a number of stars of hope emerged, a number of emerging projects were tested, and a new generation of technologies was applied, proving once again that the Winter Youth Olympic Games are not only a "testing ground" for Olympic innovation, but also a "big air" for entering the Olympic arena.
The total number of medals of the Chinese delegation reached a new high.
On the first day of competition after the official opening of the Winter Youth Olympic Games, short track speed skaters Yang Jingru and Li Jinkai won one gold and one silver with their "rabbit tactics", opening a medal account for the Chinese sports delegation.
In the whole event, short track speed skating can be called the medal "big player" of the Chinese team, contributing 4 golds and 4 silvers; Speed skating also scored 1 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze; The women's ice hockey youngster also won the bronze medal in the 3-on-3 competition, winning China's first medal in the Winter Youth Olympic Games.
There were also breakthroughs in individual projects. Xiangyu, who won the bronze medal, won the first bobsleigh medal of the Chinese team in the history of the Winter Youth Olympic Games; Liu Yishan and Chen Zihan won the first and second places in the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe competition, which was the first gold medal for the Chinese sports delegation in the snow event of this Winter Youth Olympic Games. Han Linshan won the silver medal in the women's slopestyle competition in freestyle skiing. In the end, the number of medals of the Chinese sports delegation was fixed at 6 gold, 9 silver and 3 bronze, and the total number of medals hit a record high.
Although the Chinese delegation's results exceeded expectations, overall, there is still a gap between the team and the strong teams in snow events. The 11 gold medals won by the Italian team, who finished first in the medal table, all came in the snow and sliding events, including four golds, one silver and one bronze in the luge.
In addition, more young athletes from the "land without snow" are bringing the passion of their hometown to winter sports. Lužmi, who has only been involved in bobsleigh for just one year, won Tunisia's first ever Winter Youth Olympic medal. Zien Betonico, who competed in the snowboard slalom, also brought home a heavy bronze medal to Brazil.
The Nigerian curling team, Philippine short track speed skater Peter Joseph, Jamaican alpine skiing brother and sister ......Although they failed to win a medal, that did not prevent them from shining together on the stage of the Winter Youth Olympic Games.
People-to-people exchanges have yielded fruitful results.
"Education and culture" are also at the heart of the Winter Youth Olympic Games. Whether it is the stadium or the Winter Youth Olympic Village, whether it is for athletes or spectators, they can learn knowledge and gain friendship in this "Olympic Classroom".
The Winter Youth Olympic Games will have two "athlete365 houses", which are located in Gangneung and Jeongseon. According to the IOC's website, it is an important hub for young athletes to seek advice from experts, meet new people and enjoy fun learning activities. Here, the snow youngsters can have a rather unique learning experience. According to IOC staff, in addition to some "football pools", "basket shooting" and table games, there are also a wealth of cultural and educational activities that can help young athletes fully experience the Winter Youth Olympic Games and promote their careers in sports and outside of sports.
In the "Pinquest" area, participants can participate in answering questions to receive prizes. It is precisely because of such a small "pin" (badge) that Korean volunteer Lin Lijing wrote a touching handwritten letter in Chinese and handed it to Zhang Xinzhe, a Chinese athlete who had given her an ice dun "pin". This story has become a good story at this year's Winter Youth Olympic Games.
At the Winter Youth Olympic Games, the spectators are not only spectators inside the stadium, but also off-pitch spectators. The fun experience space "Winter Play Together" allows people from all over the world to enjoy ice and snow entertainment on the stage of the Winter Youth Olympic Games and appreciate the unique charm of winter sports. In addition to the ice and snow experience, the organizers also prepared a "Sky Swing", a stamp booklet, a song and dance performance, a check-in with the mascot "Moe Gio"**, and a taste of traditional Korean games and costumes.
The innovative experiments are remarkable.
While the level of competition at the Winter Youth Olympic Games is hardly on par with the Olympic Games, this generation of young people is definitely at the forefront when it comes to setting trends. This Winter Youth Olympic Games has opened its arms to the "metaverse".
According to the IOC, the Gangwon Province Youth Olympic Games "Metaverse" is a unique virtual world that will provide a diverse and interactive experience for users around the world, aiming to make the Gangwon Province Youth Olympic Games as inclusive and accessible as possible.
According to reports, the "metaverse" of the Gangwon-do Winter Youth Olympic Games not only has a virtual tour of the venue, but also contains a wealth of games and challenges, and users can compete and communicate with each other in real time. This "metaverse" will also provide users around the world with the opportunity to meet and interact virtually, which is expected to inspire people to try new winter sports and learn about the Olympic values.
For the Olympic event itself, whether it is athletes, coaches and referees on the field, or broadcasters, sponsors and sports fans outside the stadium, they are all feeling the changes brought about by AI (artificial intelligence).
This year's event has introduced AI technology in many aspects, taking broadcasting as an example, as an organization that provides public signals of event radio and television to Olympic rights-holding broadcasters around the world, the AI technology used by Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) can automatically generate the highlights of the event and assist in editing work, which greatly improves the production and editing efficiency.
In addition, the virtual OB truck and the "cloud broadcast" technology have realized the cloud-based broadcast equipment and remote personnel services, reducing the expensive investment of related equipment and manpower for the broadcast truck and the competition site. According to OBS during the Winter Youth Olympic Games, their "live cloud" will become the main channel for distributing live signals for the Paris Olympics, and the number of subscriptions to the "live cloud" by rights-holding broadcasters has increased by 279% compared to the Tokyo Olympics.
It will be interesting to see how many of the new ways to play at this year's Winter Youth Olympic Games will be invested in the Paris Olympics in the second half of the year. (Note-takers: Wei Hua, Xu Shihao, participating reporters: Ji Ye, Lu Xingji, Zhao Jiantong, Wang Chunyan, Lu Rui) (end).