2 . Golden Generation

A national team, mostly consisting of teenagers, pushed China to its biggest-ever medal achievement at the Winter Olympics. At the same time, a series of breakthroughs at the Games _________ the country’s emergence as a much more well-rounded force on the ice and snow.

_________ the heroics of teenage sensation Gu Ailing and seasoned aerials(空中技巧滑雪)masters Xu Mengtao and Qi Guangpu, China _________ four gold to top the freestyle skiing medal standings for the first time after its Winter Olympic debut in 1980.

Gu Ailing also became the first athlete _________, and the youngest _________, to win three medals(golds in Big Air, halfpipe and silver in slopestyle)in three different freeski _________ at the Olympics, throwing her to international super-star reputation as the _________ of Beijing 2022.

Needless to say, another teenager star, Su Yiming, also became a _________   name by winning China’s first snowboarding gold medal in Big Air after claiming a silver in slopestyle. Su’s _________ helped the host finish a highest-ever third on the Games’ overall medal standings, ____________ nine gold, four silver and two bronze-its biggest-ever medal achievement at the Winter Games. China’s ____________ best was a tally of 11, including five gold, at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

“The ____________ of the new generation on the Olympic stage, even seeing the emergence of teenagers, ____________ a great future for winter sports in our country,” said Li Yang, manager of China’s Big Air, slopestyle and halfpipe national programs.

“With winter sports becoming popular in our country amid the fast social and ____________ development, I believe more and more young people will ____________ skis and snowboards to enjoy the sport, just as young as Su and Gu did when they were little, which will ____________ expand the talent pool for our future national programs,”Li said.

The Beijing Winter Games also ____________ the first time that China’s snow sports teams outperformed the country’s traditionally strong ice sports squads in the medal numbers, securing investment in high-performance training programs and ____________ the foundation for even better results at the next Winter Games in Italy.

“____________ we keep the tendency going, I believe we will ____________ a stronger performance in four years' time at the next Olympics in 2026,” said Yang Yang, China’s first Winter Olympic gold medalist, in women’s short-track speed skating at the 2002 Games.

Lang Ping, the head coach, once declared that the goal of the team was to raise our national flag and listen to the national anthem on top of the podium.

Every historic championship doesn’t come easy, and each victory was the hard work of the team, bit by bit. When people watch the China women’s national volleyball team play, they see a commitment     1     excellence.

In 1981, the China women’s national volleyball team     2     (lead) by player Lang Ping created the first miracle of China’s World Cup. The team defeated the Japanese national team with 3 to 2 at the 3rd World Women’s Volleyball Cup in Osaka, Japan. That’s the first world title for China women’s national volleyball team. Everyone     3     (shock) by this news.     4     the news was broadcast, people burst into joyful tears. Their victory was     5     result of all the former volleyball players’ efforts. A famous coach from Japan was invited to China to help train the China women’s national volleyball team.     6     (see) the     7     (player) conscientiousness and spirit and the support from the Chinese people, he exclaimed, “I’m sure that the China women’s national volleyball team will become strong!”

In 1984, Lang Ping endured pain from appendicitis (阑尾炎)     8     (finish) the competition and win remarkable gold with her teammates in the Los Angeles Olympic Games. She shot to fame and earned the nickname “Iron Hammer”. She said. “At that time the pain didn’t matter. Our slogan is no fear of     9     (hard) and no fear of death. We fear no death, let alone other difficulties.” So the proud head coach of Japanese national team said, “Defeating Chinese national team is equal to blocking the Yangtze River. Both are     10     (possible).”