China’s most successful Winter Olympics team ever is a motley lineup that includes the son of hockey legend Chris Chelios, a former child actor and a Louis Vuitton model, and it could be the future of sports in the country.
While China has long been dominant at the summer games, it had never enjoyed the same success in winter disciplines because it lacked a developed system of coaches, willing pupils and familiarity with ice and snow sports. To build this year’s 178-person delegation — more than double the number of athletes it sent to Pyeongchang in 2018 — China went on search at home and abroad for winners.
That formula for winning has brought the country a record number of gold medals in the Winter Olympics and its success could signal a new direction for how China develops sporting talent in the future. Still, it’s a strategy that’s fraught with uncertainty as it contends both with growing nationalism in China and a strong reliance on training up champions through a state system.