A journey of ice and snow sports development

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics ended in applause. While cheering for the sports posture of athletes from all over the world, have you ever wondered what makes us love ice and snow sports so much? Is it the jumping color in the pure white world? Is it the thrill, strength and beauty of the aerial leap? Is it a beautiful figure dancing the tip of a knife on the mirror-smooth ice?

More likely, our desire for speed, freedom and flying is engraved in our genes.

So, how did these competitive sports in the world of ice and snow develop to such a world-famous scale today?

In the initial stage, when primitive humans still need to struggle to survive in the cold environment in winter, a pair of simplest skis and poles can help them walk in the ice and snow, and they can also chase their prey at a faster speed and avoid the attack of wild animals. The rock paintings in Altay, Xinjiang discovered in 2005 (at least 10,000 years ago) show primitive skiing and hunting scenes.

Many skills of hunting animals will eventually be used against the same kind in the war, and they will be improved day by day in the process of dealing with the same kind. Skiing is no exception. In special terrain operations, the level of skiing skills can even determine the outcome of the war. During World War II, Finland confronted the Soviet Union, and once relied on light squads with flexibility, superb skiing skills and familiarity with the terrain to suppress heavily armed Soviet heavy troops with air superiority.

Therefore, the predecessor of ice and snow sports is actually the combat capability competition in the army. /kloc-in the 0/7th century, the Norwegian army appeared skiing downhill, jumping over obstacles, skiing archery and other competitions, and later new events such as platform skiing appeared. Until now, ice and snow sports are still a must-have item in the winter training of many countries' armies, and military delegations take part in the annual Winter Games in China.

As the world situation tends to be peaceful, ice and snow sports appear more as entertainment projects in cold areas. With the improvement of people's living standards, ice and snow sports are becoming more and more popular. /kloc-in the 0 th and 8 th centuries, a number of figure skating clubs appeared in Britain, which later flowed into the United States and Canada and became all the rage.

There was no ice and snow in the original modern Olympic Games, let alone the "Winter Olympics". With people's growing interest in ice and snow sports, figure skating joined the Olympic Games on 1908 and ice hockey joined the Olympic Games on 1920. However, these sports have natural requirements for seasons, so the Olympic Games have to be held every four years and for half a year. The long process from winter to summer consumes a lot of manpower and material resources.

Finally, Coubertin, the "father of modern Olympic Games", held the first Winter Olympics in 1924, which lasted for a hundred years. The number and scale of activities are increasing, and more and more countries and regions are participating. Generations of athletes have dared to challenge the limits and set new records, fully demonstrating the Olympic spirit of "higher, faster and stronger" and making the ice and snow sports more familiar to the world.

The just-concluded 24th Beijing Winter Olympics has greatly aroused people's enthusiasm. From the opening and closing ceremonies, which conveyed the unique poetry and romance of China people, to the figures of athletes dancing in the air and the charming ice piers, the beauty and charm of ice and snow were shown to the public. I believe that during this period, ski resorts and skating rinks all over the country will be popular for some time. After all, spring is blooming. Outside these places, the only exercise related to ice and snow that we can do is to defrost our refrigerator.

Qi Business School 12 28-day writing training camp (18), 1074 words, a total of 28,970 words.