Yang Yang runs with the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games at the National Stadium in Beijing on February 4, 2022. (Xinhua/Cao Can)
Olympic champion Yang Yang is embracing infinite possibilities of life by transitioning to different roles.
by sportswriters Wang Junbao, Ji Ye
HARBIN, June 23 (Xinhua) -- For China's short track speed skating icon Yang Yang, life is a story of embracing infinite possibilities.
In 2002, Yang won the women's 500m gold medal in Salt Lake City, representing China's first ever gold medal at a Winter Olympics. Over 20 years later, Yang is active in various fields such as sports, public welfare, and international organizations.
Yang believes that if you do not set limits on life, you can create more miracles.
In order to encourage everyone around the world to participate in sports, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) set June 23 as Olympic Day, which falls on Friday this year.
On Friday morning, Yang took her daughter to the ice rink for figure skating practice. On exactly this day ten years ago, Yang saw her dream on the ice rink continue, as her Feiyang Skating Center officially opened in Shanghai. The center is now one of the most popular venues for local people to practice skating.
In China's endeavor to engage 300 million people in winter sports through staging the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Yang not only led more people in south China to participate in winter sports, but also had her children take up figure skating.
After retiring from her sporting career, Yang has been active in various fields of work: from serving as an IOC member, as well as a council member of the International Skating Union (ISU), to chair of the athletes' commission for the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee (BOCOG), and vice president of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). She also founded Champion Foundation, a public welfare organization, and operates the Feiyang Skating Center. She has used her variety of experiences to convey the Olympic spirit and encourage people around to constantly break through.
"The peak period of my workload was from 2015 to 2018, when I worked in five committees within the IOC, as well as the ISU and BOCOG. I also had to take care of my three-year-old son and newborn daughter. I was too busy to remember who I was, but they were all treasures in my life," said Yang, adding that life is about seeking breakthroughs in difficult situations.
Flag bearer Yang Yang leads the Chinese delegation into the Olympic Stadium at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, on Feb. 10, 2006. (Xinhua/Bao Feifei)
Yang participated in three Olympic Winter Games during her 23-year sporting career. At her Winter Olympics debut in Nagano in 1998, the overall winner of the World Championships targeted winning an Olympic medal, even gold, but was disqualified in both individual events.
"For me, victory was just around the corner, but so far away as well," recalled Yang, who was uncertain after Nagano whether she would compete at the next Winter Olympics, due to her age and injury history.
One month later, she decided to give it a shot and began to prepare for the 2002 Winter Olympics, where she achieved a breakthrough not only for herself, but also for her country.
Yang believes that it sometimes requires breaking the constraints of the status quo to make the impossible possible.
At Yang's final Winter Olympics in 2006, she became China's first female flagbearer at the opening and closing ceremonies of an Olympics.
Due to giving birth, Yang missed most events in 2016 as she was ready for the ISU election, and did not have the opportunity to promote her candidacy concept to member associations. But before the election, she took her two-month daughter to Norway, South Korea and the United States consecutively in a period of over one month, leaving a deep impression on ISU members. Later she was elected as the first female Speed Skating Council member for the ISU in its over 100-year history.
Yang Yang speaks after being elected vice president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in Katowice, Poland on Nov. 7, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhou Nan)
In 2020, Yang took office as vice president of WADA, marking the first time that a Chinese has entered the highest leadership of that organization. Two years later, she was re-elected for another three-year term until 2025.
"I have gone through many transitions in my career path, from athlete to entrepreneur, then to the management of international organizations, where I have had to overcome many obstacles such as language, culture, managerial experience and social experience.
"Despite being a mother of two, I don't want to give up my career, so life inevitably becomes more challenging for me. But I believe that difficulties are also opportunities. Curiosity, no limits, and difficulties will only make you better and stronger," said Yang.
Yang said that the Olympics has brought her infinite glory, and she has been given the opportunity to participate in the Olympic cause after retiring. As a promoter of the Olympic spirit, she says she will continue to work hard to spread it and create more possibilities for more people. ■
