Xu set to soar at record fifth Games

Inspired by China's ambition of developing into a global sporting power, Olympic champion skier Xu Mengtao has vowed to start over again and round off her career with a record fifth Games appearance.

After finally landing on top of the Olympic podium at her fourth Games on home soil, the tears of joy wept by Xu as she celebrated her freestyle aerials gold could have been a perfect end to a career that had been beset by injury-enforced setbacks and near misses.

However, having approached the Beijing Games as her last Olympics, the 32-year-old recently had a change of heart.

"I want to try to compete at my fifth Winter Olympics in Italy in 2026," Xu said after a meeting at the headquarters of China's winter sports governing body to study the reports of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

"The moment I won gold at Beijing 2022 I felt like it was time to call it a career. But after a long break, I realized deep down that I still love the sport so much that I cannot let go.

"Now that I've fulfilled my destiny and completed a 'grand slam' in the sport after winning the Olympic gold medal, I can continue with a free mind to enjoy the sport out of my pure love for it.

"I might not end up with another medal in Italy but I can pass on my experience to the younger generation to help the national program remain on top in aerials."

A world-class contender in the sport since her international debut in 2007, Xu saw her hopes of finishing atop the Olympic standings crushed by injuries and poor execution at her first three Games. However, she eventually held her nerve to stomp a high-difficulty final run to secure the long-awaited gold medal at the Beijing Games in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province.

Xu's steely will — embodied by the steel screw pinned into her left knee following surgery after the 2018 Pyeongchang Games — represents the Chinese sports community's unrelenting pursuit of excellence against all odds, which earned resounding acclaim among delegates attending the CPC National Congress last week.

Xu, a Party member representing China's winter sports teams at the meeting, said to learn and study the development blueprint designed by the country's top leadership for the sports sector during the congress was enlightening and encouraging.

"I feel more obligated now after taking part in the meeting to help promote sports participation and the fighting spirit of China's sports teams among the general public," said Xu.

"As an athlete, we can also do our part in helping build our nation into a modern socialist country in all respects beginning from training harder and winning more glory on the sports field."

Should she continue training and qualify for China's 2026 Olympic roster, Xu will become the first athlete in China to compete at the Winter Games for the fifth time and the world's first aerials skier to do so.

Highlighted by Xu's successful run, the host nation made history at Beijing 2022 by collecting its best-ever haul of 15 medals, including nine gold, to finish third in the medal standings, the highest since China's Winter Olympics debut in 1980 at Lake Placid, New York.

The uplifting performances of Chinese athletes have significantly raised the profile of winter sports in the country, with about 346 million people getting involved in ice and snow sports and related activities, according to the General Administration of Sport of China. This has laid a solid foundation for China's goal of building a strong international sporting powerhouse by 2050, as outlined in a State Council plan in 2019.