The competition at the Sixth Asian Winter Games in chilly
Changchun was red hot, but it was not only the performances of the
champions that warmed spectators' hearts.
James Michael Hillier, a men's skier from Chinese Taipei, was
just one of a number of athletes whose exploits helped them stand
out from the crowd.
Born in Canada but representing Chinese Taipei, Hillier cut an
unusual figure in the freestyle skiing aerials last Thursday. He
jumped from the lowest kicker and was the only competitor to use
poles, but was pleased with his sixth place finish out of
seven.
"I've had a lot of fun here. I'm happy with how I jumped," said
Hillier, who specializes in half pipe and slalom.
"I've had no training for the aerials and I just came here to
compete. The aerials event is kind of similar but not what I
do."
In the competition, four athletes from the Chinese mainland led
by Olympic champion Han Xiaopeng swept the top four places.
"The Chinese athletes are really very good. They've been
cleaning up the podium," said Hillier, whose training comes while
he attends college in Canada.
"I'm a good skier as well. I'm a kind of general skier.
"I ski for fun and I have to go to school. I'm a good student.
So it's hard for me to ski because I want to get good grades.
"I don't get to ski as often as I like to. Before I went to
university, I used to ski 150 days a year, but now I have 30-40
days a year."
But this lack of skiing time is not denting his ambitions.
"I've done half pipe in slope style competitions. I made the top
10 at the world skiing invitational for half pipe slope style, and
I also competed at the US Open," he said.
"I'm going to the World Skiing Invitational this year in April.
I want to do some FIS (Federation International de Ski) half pipe
events but I don't like to miss too much school so it's kind of
hard."
Hillier was not the only amateur athlete at the Winter Asiad,
which wrapped up on Sunday. Two Mongolians stole the show, and a
medal, in the freestyle aerials, despite performing only the
simplest of jumps.
Ochirbat Otgonbayar jumped from the lowest kicker and did a
single flip, while his female teammate Maral Unenbat jumped beside
the kickers and landed without any movement in the air.
"It is the first time I've competed in aerials and I feel very
happy about it," said Unenbat, who has been skiing for just three
months.
But according to competition regulations that one team cannot
sweep all the medals in one event, Unenbat shared bronze with
China's third placer Zhang Xin. With that bronze, Mongolia surged
to fifth in the medal table, behind China, Japan, South Korea and
Kazakhstan.
The same passion was shared by three young Philippine figure
skaters.
They may have skated rather slowly and struggled to land simple
jumps, but representing their tropical country at a winter sport
was an honor.
"I'm enjoying skating here since it's the first time the
Philippines has sent figure skaters to the Asian Winter Games,"
said Anne Clarisse Roman, 16, who had just three months to prepare
for the event and finished 15th out of 16.
The broader spread of athletes at the Games excited Asian sports
officials.
"The success of the Games has given the Olympic Council of Asia
(OCA) the confidence to promote winter sports well in Asia," said
Samih Moudallal, vice-president of OCA.
"OCA is full of confidence and expectation for the development
of winter sports in Asia."
(China Daily February 6, 2007)