Blog: Short Track Speed Skating — China’s Strongest Winter Olympic Event

From Lake Placid in 1980 to Pyeongchang in 2018, the Chinese Winter Olympic Games delegation has won 62 medals, including 13 golds, 28 silvers, and 21 bronzes.

Short track speed skating is undoubtedly China’s best event: among the 13 gold medals, 10 were in this sport, while the country won one each in speed skating, figure skating, and freestyle skiing. Fifteen of the 28 silvers and eight of the 21 bronzes were from short track speed skating.

China’s women’s short-track speed skating team train ahead of the Winter Olympics on Thursday in Beijing. Photo: VCG

Short track speed skating consists of men’s and women’s 500 meter, 1,000 meter, and 1,500 meter races, plus relay events — men’s 5,000 meter and women’s 3,000 meter. Beijing 2022 will also have a 2,000 meter mixed relay. These races will be held shortly in the city’s Capital Indoor Stadium, with a total of nine gold medals to be awarded.

At this year’s games, advanced ice-making systems have been installed, which emit less carbon and minimize harm to the environment. The ice will have a surface temperature of around minus 7 degrees Celsius and a thickness of about 3 centimeters.

Short track speed skating athletes train ahead of the Winter Olympics at the Capital Indoor Stadium on Monday in Beijing. Photo: VCG

Zhang Xinping and Yang Zhanwu are coeditors of the “Fun With Winter Olympics” book series published by the Sun Yat-sen University Press.

This article is partly excerpted from the book series and from the Oriental Sports Daily.

Translated by Zhou Hui, Xie Guixia and Huang Xiaotong from the School of International Studies at Sun Yat-sen University

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