China makes skeleton debut at Winter Olympics

Geng Wenqiang has become the first Chinese athlete to compete in the skeleton at the Winter Olympics, finishing in 13th place.

CRI's Fu Yu has more on the history and prospect of skeleton in China.

China's national skeleton team was put together in 2015 after Beijing won the bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

Few athletes in China had experience in the sport, because it does not have a large fan base in the country.

Many of the early members of the skeleton team were athletes from other disciplines. Geng Wenqiang himself used to be a long jumper. He made the switch as soon as he received notice that China was building a skeleton team.

Geng Wenqiang competes in the game. [Photo: Xinhua]

Geng says there are some similarities between the two sports that helped his transition.

"I used to be a long jumper. Skeleton also requires a fast initial speed, which means you have to be explosive from the get-go. I still need to work on my initial speed because compared to the world's athletes I'm still a long way from them in terms of my start."

The leader of China's skeleton team Hu Jie says Geng and his teammates had to train abroad because there was no track available for them in China that they could use to practice.

"A lack of talent was our biggest problem. We also didn't have the tracks and the gear. As you know, Beijing's Yanqing District is constructing a track for the Winter Olympic Games. One of the reasons I think skeleton is not a widespread sport is because of the high cost of the tracks."

Despite a late start in China, skeleton has attracted a lot of attention among some of the country's well-known athletes. Olympic sprinter Zhang Peimeng has joined the national skeleton team, and he has set his sights on the 2022 Games.

Hu Jie says she hopes Zhang will help to raise the profile of the sport in China.

"If we want to improve, to achieve our goal of reaching the podium, we need to find better athletes. This is where Zhang Peiming comes in. He is a representative of China's best athletes, so we were elated when he joined skeleton, because he will lead more people to learn about this sport."

China's skeleton team is currently training under Canadian Olympic silver medalist Jeff Pain.

For CRI, this is Fu Yu in South Korea.