Winter sports grows more popular in China’s Hebei

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Hebei Provincial Bureau of Sports on Monday released their blue book about winter sports development in the province for the past year. Participation in winter sports and number of relevant facilities and equipment have been growing fast.

According to the blue book, total participation in winter sports for the past year in Hebei is 8.56 million, with an increase of 30.31 percent compared with that of the previous year. 3.44 million is direct participation to which skiing and skating respectively contribute 2.67 million and 611,600.

Winter sports becoming more popular has also promoted sales of relevant equipment in Hebei. /VCG Photo

With the theme of “Build a healthy Hebei with happy winter sports”, the province in north China in 2017 launched multiple winter sports events including both competitions and experiencing practice. Meanwhile, there were also various training programs and industry development forums related to the area. The total number reached 217 with an increase of 39.1 percent.

By far, Hebei has 37 ski runs and 33 skating rinks and witnessed birth to new sport-industry combinations including skiing towns. Moreover, The development of winter sports has also brought social and economic benefits as more jobs were created in related areas in Hebei.

The City of Zhangjiakou in Hebei will join Beijing to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. /VCG Photo

The number of winter sports athletes in Hebei has also grown a lot. The province in 2017 had 572 state-level athletes for winter sports-300 more than 2016-and 936 province-level athletes in the area. So far, athletes from Hebei have won 15 gold, nine silver and 14 bronze medals at both national and international events, according to the blue book.

Hebei’s City of Zhangjiakou will be hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics together with Beijing. The city will have eight venues, including five for competitions and three for non-competitive events. Skiing and Biathlon will be the events held in Zhangjiakou.