中国申办冬奥会的里程碑

Since first debuting in the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York in 1980, China has since moved on to win a total of 53 medals over the past 10 Winter Olympics, including a dozen gold medals.

China's first Winter Olympic medal came in Alberville in 1992, when Ye Qiaobo earned silver in both the 500 and 1-thousand meter women's speed skating events.

Her medals in speed skating were the first of many for China in that event, including China's first gold at the Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002, when Yang Yang took gold in the women's 500 and 1-thousand short-track speed skating events.

"The day of the competition is the most difficult for me. I keep shouting on the ice and even after I leave the ice, I still can't stop shouting. That's the way I encourage myself."

Yang Yang is now a member of the International Olympic Committee.

However, one of the most dominant Chinese speed skater in recent memory is Wang Meng.

She took home the women's 500m, 1,000m and 3,000m relay short track speed skating titles in Vancouver 2010 to become the most decorated Winter Olympian in China.

"It's the spirit of sports that supports me. I was completely exhausted. My teammate Zhou Yang gave me the best support. The gold medal belongs to the whole team. Though I was tired, it was worth the effort."

Traditionally, Chinese women have been more dominant than the men when it comes to Winter Olympic medals.

However, Chinese men have managed to find their way to gold.

Han Xiaopeng took the gold medal in the men's freestyle skiing event in Turin, Italy in 2006.

"I knew it was possible to rank among the top three if I could perform at my best. I also knew I had the possibility of winning gold. But at that time, I never even considered I would end up as the champion. I was afraid if I did, it would put even more pressure on me."

His gold also represented China's first Winter Olympics medal on the snow, rather than on the ice.
And one of China's most internationally-recognizable contributions to winter sports has been its Women's curling team.

The team, skipped by Wang Bingyu, surprised the world in 2009 by winning the Curling World Championships, then managed to follow that up with a bronze medal in 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Now Beijing is chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, as host, China will be allowed to field an athlete in every one of the events.

This will likely put a lot more emphasis on winter sports development in China over the coming 7-years.

For CRI, I'm Shen Ting.