1 . Over the weekend, social media was excited about a heart-stopping gymnastic routine and we have UCLA athlete Katelyn Ohashi to thank. The routine itself is only ninety seconds long, but the 21-year-old athlete jumped, flipped, turned, and showed off her incredible talent across the floor to a combination of R&B and soul music. Ohashi earned a well-deserved perfect 10 from the judges and her performance eventually led the UCLA to victory at the end of the competition.

But the best part? This isn’t the first time she’s gone viral — it’s the second time in a year she’s achieved eye-catching fame, and it’s for good reason. At the 2018 Pac 12 Championships, Ohashi performed an awesome floor routine set to a combination of Michael Jackson’s hits.

Ohashi exudes (流露) joy in her performances, and she’s not afraid to smile widely when she knows she’s done well. It’s acceptable, because it’s clear she’s having fun, a rare sight in the field of professional sports. Born in Seattle, Ohashi did four years on the USA Gymnastic’s junior national team, and won the 2013 American Cup. But behind the scenes, things weren’t so great.

Ohashi was under intense pressure competing at the elite (精英) level. Fans told her she wasn’t good enough, and she was under pressure to be thin. Ultimately, she decided to walk away from elite gymnastics to become a college athlete. She underwent surgery for a broken back and two torn shoulders in 2014. These injuries kept her away from the sport until 2015 when she joined the UCLA Bruins gymnastics team for the 2015–16 season.

“There was a time when I was on top of the world, an Olympic hopeful. I was unbeatable until I wasn’t,” Ohashi said. “It hurt. But it also took me finding Ms. Val and the UCLA and having a different goal and path to follow, to finally find joy and love within the sport again, which I haven’t been able to feel in a long time.”

2 . Of all the stories of Olympic medalists, the most touching one is that of weight-lifting champion Oscar Figueroa.

During his athletic _________, the 37-year-old man had the chance to _________ in the Olympic games four different times. But he met with plenty of heartbreak and _________ before he finally succeeded.

In the 2004 Olympic games, Figueroa made his first _________. Because he wasn’t satisfied with his result, he looked _________ to competing in the Beijing 2008 Olympic games to prove himself. _________, just two weeks before the event, his hand was _________, which set him back in his weightlifting and _________ him the chance. By the London Olympic games in 2012, Figueroa took home the silver medal.

In spite of all, he’d already _________, he still aimed higher. In 2016, he headed to Rio to __________ the highest prize and he did. After his final lift, he __________ his shoes and put them on the stage, indicating that he would __________ from the Olympics. Amazingly enough, he took home the gold that year!

No matter how hard he felt, he never gave up, serving as a __________ example of hope, perseverance, and determination. Oscar Figueroa is the __________ Colombian man to have even taken home the gold in his field. He said he was __________ for the whole country in the competition in an interview.

3 . Of the many events held as part of the X Games — an annual world extreme sports event, Zhong Chengzhan likes skiing most, despite having lost the use of both legs in a skiing accident some nine years ago.

Before the accident in 2013, which left him with paraplegia (截肢) of the upper limbs, Zhong was a committed X Games fan and was already involved in activities such as snowboarding, bicycle climbing, paragliding and nautical sports. He’s also the owner of Kailas, a climbing wear and equipment company founded in 2003 that is a household name to outdoor enthusiasts worldwide.

Zhong’s passion for the X Games grew out of his love for snow and ice, which he first developed on a cycling trip from Sichuan Province to the Tibet Autonomous Region when he was 21. After his accident, Zhong continued to ski and discovered that there were still many sports that people with disabilities could do.

In 2015, he traveled to Austria to learn how to ski in a wheelchair. He visited a number of resorts in Australia, New Zealand and Germany for training over the following two years, which helped him master the skills he’d need to ski in a wheelchair. His persistence paid off. Zhong took fifth place in the National Disabled Alpine Skiing and Snowboarding Champions in January 2018.

The 44-year-old plans to organize a grassroots ski team of disabled people and hopes to encourage more people to join. With his skill as a wheelchair skier improving, Zhong set up another company in 2014 to focus on the design, research and production of wheelchairs, helping to fill a gap in the domestic production of high-end wheelchairs.

With the conclusion of the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, Zhong feels the improvement of sports facilities and equipment will encourage more people with disabilities to participate in parasports.

4 . Jacky Hunt-Broers ma, who lost one leg to cancer, is seeking to break a world record by completing 102 marathon runs. She set her goal in mid-January. And since then, she has been running the distance of a marathon. Most of the time, she averages just over five hours to complete a run. If she keeps successfully completing marathon runs every day, she will reach her goal by April 28.

Until five years ago, she was not very active. But then she looked into running and decided to give it a try. The sport ended up being quite costly. Currently, she runs on an artificial leg made of a strong, light material known as carbon fiber. The material, which is designed specially for running, costs about $10, 000.

But Jacky says her investment has been well worth it. The biggest struggle used to be that she had to admit part of her body was gone. “Running really changed my life,” she said. “It helped me accept myself as an amputee (截肢者). It gave me a sense of freedom. I fell in love with the process of pushing my body further just to see what I could do.”

However, she has faced both physical and mental difficulties during her record-breaking attempt. On one recent day, Jacky said she felt like giving up at 24 kilometers and began to cry. “I had a total emotional breakdown. I was like, ‘I just can’t do this.’” she said.

Jacky is documenting her progress online and has also gained a large social media following. As she nears the end of her goal, Jacky is hoping to inspire a single thought in others. She tells people, “You’re stronger than you think and you’re able to do so much more.”

5 . “You need a guide,” says Mike May, 68, who was blinded at the age of 3. May started skiing at 27, on a beginner track, holding onto a guide’s poles — in what he calls “horse and buggy style.” Within days, he was unattached and following his guide’s voice down the hill. “It was extremely liberating.” says May, who went on to win multiple medals in the world competitions now known as the Paralympics, and hit 65 miles per hour to set the world record for speed skiing by a completely blind skier.

May suggests using only guides who lead rather than follow you. You want a skilled skier with a loud voice. Once on the track, keep 4 to 15 feet between you and your guide. A good guide will use rhythm to indicate spatial directions; a long turn might sound like “Tuuuuurn left. Gooo, gooo.” Listen for other noises too: A blip (哔哔声) in you guide’s voice might mean a bump ahead; if their skis start scraping (刮擦), prepare for ice; sudden quiet indicates powder.

Always wear a brightly colored vest that identifies you as a blind skier clearly. Still, don’t assume others will take in its meaning; May thinks that fewer than 50 percent do. The biggest barrier for blind skiers is often transportation to the mountain. In college, May sometimes hitchhiked (搭便车) to the Sierra Nevads, hours away. He doesn’t recommend it. “Hitch-hiking with a seeing-eye dog and your ski equipment is not a simple task,” he says.

Ski lifts can be tricky, but you can always ask the operator to slow the lift down if you feel nervous. At the top of the run, ask your guide to give you a play-by-play so you know what’s coming. “I always like to take the same run over and over again,” May says. “That way I get a mental picture and can start to relax and really open up to the experience.”

7 . On Monday, Xu Mengtao won her first Olympic gold in women’s aerials (空中技巧) at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. It was not hard to see what it meant for Xu: When the score 108. 61 came up with a “1” by her name, she pointed one, then two fingers to the sky and let out a scream.

“Xu is one of the handful of women to consistently try the high-risk triple flips (三周空翻) over the years,” said American Ashley Caldwell, another triple-flip enthusiast who finished fourth. “While triple flips are not unheard of among the women, the list of athletes who have tried them consistently is short. At the last two Olympics, only four of the 12 finalists tried triple flips in the final round.”

Women’s aerials is a sport full of risk-takers but all the risks are very calculated. Since the competitions go through a series of qualifying and elimination (淘汰) rounds that include only one jump each, only a select few over the years have been willing to give up the certainty of a solid score with a double flip for the triple flips.

Xu doesn’t adopt the strategy and keeps trying the triple flips. “It adds extra some might say unnecessary risk to the early rounds,” Xu once said. “But I’m OK sacrificing some good competition results to make the sport look good.”

Failures at the last three Olympics tested the limits of how much Xu was willing to sacrifice. In meet after meet, from Vancouver to Sochi to Pyeongchan, her strategy kept her away from the gold medal but she kept pushing anyway.

“It’s a sense of mission accomplished. This is a winning night for women’s aerials, too,” Xu said after the award ceremony. “If a lot of girls are doing triple flips up there and I fall, there would still be a lot of girls who would do well. If I mess up, that’s OK.”

With the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games underway, Wang Meng,     1     four-time short track speed, skating Olympic champion and head coach of speed skating national team, is once again winning waves of hurrahs(欢呼声)from millions of Chinese     2    (viewer). But this time, the praise is not for her excellent show on the ice,     3     on the microphone as she delivers passionate,     4    (humor) and unique commentary on the events.

Paired with Huang Jianxiang, a popular Chinese sports commentator, Wang, one of China’s most decorated Olympic athletes,     5    (start) her commentary career on the first day of the short track speed skating competition via Migu, a branch of China Mobile that provides digital content and     6    (relate) services.

When skater Wu Dajing crossed the finish line and was waiting for the final result, Wang slapped the table and roared: “My eyes are     7     rulers. I’m sure China has won!”

During the race, Wang, from Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province,     8    (bare) sat down. She jumped up and down, waved her arms and cheered for the Chinese team. Her comment quickly became a catchphrase on Chinese social media,     9    (help) the 37-year-old attract even more fans.

She encouraged each team member and called them by their nicknames,     10     led to her receiving countless thumbs-ups and laughs on Migu.