Medals at all costs at winter Olympics

Shanghai – A Chinese kungfu monk rockets down the halfpipe, his robe fluttering behind him, bald head glistening in the sun, to claim snowboard Olympic gold.

It may sound like a sequel to hit comedy film Cool Runnings, but for Beijing 2022 hosts China this is no joke.

China is so worried about its lack of winter Olympians and losing face on home soil that it is plundering the martial arts schools of Buddhist monasteries in the search for a star.

Frantic sports chiefs have plucked 125 teenagers from the renowned Songshan Shaolin Temple in Henan province in the hope their martial arts prowess can translate into medal-winning acts on the snow.

The latest batch of 23 students left for Beijing on Monday for initial training in freestyle skiing and other Olympic disciplines, the Henan Daily newspaper said. Medal-hungry China is turning to kung-fu schools as part of what it is calling “cross-discipline candidate selection” for Beijing 2022.

More than 600 prospective Olympians – boys and girls – have been handpicked so far in Henan alone, Xinhua news agency said.

China’s General Administration of Sport said the national search was designed to “enrich the talent pool for ice and snow disciplines”.

It is easy to see why: at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February, China won just nine medals, only one of them gold. –