2 . “The atmosphere here at Rio de Janeiro is electric! If China wins this point, they will walk out of the stadium with an Olympic gold medal. Zhang Changning serves. Over the net, Popovic dives for the ball. She only just reaches it... and it’s sent straight back to her by the Chinese spiker Hui Ruoqi. Popovic can’t get the ball back this time... and that’s it! It’s over! It’s gold for China! Look how the crowd has gone wild. You can see the joy and pride on the faces of the Chinese fans. And there we see the Chinese players embracing, with tears of happiness in their eyes... It’s a dream come true for China! The Chinese women’s volleyball team is Olympic champion once again!”

The Chinese women’s volleyball team holds a very special place in the nation’s heart. In the 1980s, the team burst onto the international volleyball scene with several major world titles, and an amazing three-set victory over the United States in the final of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. They became national heroes overnight. There was gold once more at Athens in 2004. But winning gold in Rio paints the most vivid portrait of the team’s competitive spirit.

In Rio, the Chinese women’s volleyball team needed all of its fighting spirit after it was assigned to the “group of death”, where it faced several strong opponents in the group stage matches. Despite reaching the quarter-finals as the fourth team in the group, with just two wins in preliminary matches, they were not going to give up. Every single member of the team gave their all to the fight, including Hui Ruoqi who had had heart surgery less than five months previously.

Their perseverance paid off with an epic comeback against the defending champion Brazil in the quarter-finals. Next, the Chinese team defeated the Netherlands in the semi-final matches, having lost to them in the preliminaries. At last, showing a strong will and the steeliest nerves, they played a close match against Serbia to seize gold in the final.

But fighting spirit alone was not enough to guarantee victory. Strong team spirit also contributed greatly to their success. Cooperation between team members is essential. If each individual does her job and works well with others, then the end goal can be achieved. In fact, strong team spirit is more important than the skills of individual players. Zhu Ting, named Most Valuable Player at the Rio Olympics, also identified this as the special ingredient in the team’s success: “Teamwork is the key to China’s victory. Thanks to my teammates’ hard efforts, I had the opportunity to show my spiking skill.”

Together, the Chinese women’s volleyball team has fought their way through ups and downs. Led by well-known Chinese volleyball player and coach Lang Ping, they have continued to aim high. Lang is only too aware that as soon as a team steps off the victory podium, they need to start from zero to prepare for new challenges ahead. In this way, the team begins its journey to the next Olympics.

6 . Have you heard of the following events?

Sheep shearing (修剪)

It’s a big sport in New Zealand, which proudly hosts the annual Golden Shears International Championships. Held in the town of Masterton in March, the four-day event seeks to identify the world’s fastest sheep shearer. The event is not all about shearing; live bands bring a party atmosphere to it. It’s attractive to many tourists.

Lucha libre

It’s a form of freestyle wrestling with a devoted fan base in its native Mexico. Competitors are famous for their well-made masks, which keep their identities a secret. That’s until they are defeated in the fight, which often requires losers to show their faces. Don’t forget to bring some loose change: when viewers are impressed by a victorious wrestler, they throw money at them. You may enjoy the event once a year.

Lawnmower (割草机) racing

This annual sport now has its own governing body—the British Lawn Mower Racing Association (BLRA). It has a 30-race championship that runs from May to October. Most races are part of larger rural events, such as the Cranleigh Show in Surrey, where viewers can experience other events. The BLRA remains un-commercial and donates all profits to organizations that help people who are poor, sick, or in difficulties.

Wife carrying

Every year a small town of Sonkajaervi in Finland hosts the event: the International Wife Carrying Championships. During this competition, husbands have to carry their wives along the track which is 250 m long and features several barriers on land and a 1-m deep water pool. Two couples start at the same time and run as fast as they can. The winning couple is the one that completes the course in the shortest time.

10 . Created after Beijing successfully became an Olympic candidate (候选人), the Beijing 2022 Education Program is part of the host's wider efforts to encourage its people to participate in winter sports. The program has already gone beyond its original target of engaging 300 million people in snow and ice activities. And by involving schools, children and young people, the program ensures that its Olympic legacy (遗产) will continue to reach the young audience long after the Games.

In a push to engage the younger generation in ice and snow sports, schools and educational authorities have developed a curriculum (课程) that includes winter sports knowledge and history, practical classes for beginners, and an introduction to becoming a winter sports coach. Winter sports clubs have also been set up in schools all around the country, allowing children to develop ice and snow sports skills in the warmer south as well as the cold north.

Sports education is proved to have a positive effect on physical and mental health. It also helps to reduce stress, and build team and organizational skills. When COVID-19 made outdoor participation harder, organizers made sure that children and teenagers could follow a digital Olympic curriculum. Some classes were conducted through websites and broadcasters, with the online materials viewed more than 140 million times. Videos, courses and games were all part of digital efforts to bring the Olympic Games and winter sports closer to the young. Short videos have gone popular, attracting more than 70 million viewers online.

Thanks to sports education, more and more young people have expressed interest in becoming professional athletes. To keep them practising ahead of the next Olympic Winter Games, Mini Winter Olympics will be organized every year. The last ones attracted more than 1, 700 children and seemed to keep growing.