CRI听力:Nothing Is Impossible in Sochi

Don't be surprised if you come across two-time Summer Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva in Sochi.

The pole-vault queen has a special job at the winter games - she's the mayor of the Olympic Village.

"It's my first winter Olympics, so I really like it. From my job and the job of my volunteers depend the whole future of our games of our people of our hospitality. We really hope the athletes and coaches and representatives like our village like our Sochi and they will do their best."

Although it's highly unlikely that Isinbayeva will ever compete in the Winter Games, some winter sport athletes actually did start their careers in warmer environments.

Snowboarder Zhang Yiwei, a new Chinese fan favorite, is one of them.

"I actually started out practicing gymnastics, but later I changed my major to do snowboarding. The program was newly established back then, so I became a part of it."

Zhang is not the only one who has changed his sport and become popular.

US bobsledder Johnny Quinn used to be an American footballer, but he got famous even before the four-man bobsleigh final.

His tweet about breaking through the bathroom door in Sochi lit up the Internet with 7,000 retweets.

"I was in there for about an hour, and my roommate was in the wait room at the time, and my other two teammates Nick and Dow were in the other room so I was kind of banning on the wall to see whether I can get their attention. And as I get to the door, it's kind of cracked, and then my fist went through the door, so it was time to get out of there. Now that everyone's safe, the door's been fixed, my teammates are definitely giving me a hard time about it now."

Maybe it's not so surprising to discover former summer athletes competing on the ice. But famous entertainers showing up in Sochi do cause a stir.

Famous Chinese producer and director Ying Da is working here in Sochi as a hockey commentator. He has his son to thank for his new job.

"I wasn't interested in ice hockey before. When I was studying in the US, I often watched hockey games, basketball, American football, and even baseball. I fell in love with hockey because of my son. Maybe my son is born for hockey. He really has a passion for it, and it has brought me here."

Ying Da's son Rudi Ying has been recruited by the Boston Junior Bruins after he led the Beijing Tigers to win The Bell Capital Cup in Canada.

But all of the above are not surprising compared to one of the world's most successful crossover musicians' participation in the Games.

World-famous Violinist Vanessa Mae Vanakorn has crossed the border between music and sport and become an Olympic alpine skier in the giant slalom race in Sochi.

"For me, playing a show is all about interaction, and sometimes I have done this in a race when I hear somebody say Go Vanessa I kind of turn around and say 'thank you.' In a show, you can do that, but here time doesn't stand still for you. But Hey, I'm here because this is in a way the greatest show on earth."

Vanessa finished only 50 seconds behind gold medal winner Tina Maze. But she completed her run, something seven other competitors failed to do.

She finished last out of all of those who crossed the finish line, but a respectable 67th out of 90 racers overall.

If I have learnt anything here in Sochi, it's that nothing is impossible.

For CRI, I'm Ding Lulu in Sochi, Russia.