With a blaze of a skate, China received its first medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Saturday, and it became its first gold medal in a brand new Olympic event, the short track comprising both men and women relay. Dajing Wu crossed the finish line 2/200 before the Pietro Siegel of Italy, and hundreds of Chinese audiences cheered while ignoring the order not to cheer during the game to reduce the risk of the virus spreading.
Chinese athlete Fang Kexin, disappointed with his last gold medal, told reporters that he had been waiting too long for the Olympic gold medal, and he does not care about the pain and trauma he had to go through in the previous.
He said that when he is standing on the ground of competition, you cannot make any excuses and give your best. He further said that they would not give up for a moment, not even for a single second, and they would keep working hard.
The way to gold was challenging for the Chinese. Leaders from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates arrived in China; Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan made his presence known by posting a photo of him wearing a dramatic mask with the caption, “Visit China” on his Twitter account. President Biden and other Western leaders have said they would boycott the Beijing Olympics to protest China’s human rights abuses. Still, China drew enough crowds at Friday’s opening ceremony and claims that the “diplomatic boycott” is a failure.