For almost 100 years, the Winter Olympics has been a celebration of snow and ice sports around the world. It is a special event that only happens once every four years.

Although the Winter Olympics started with just five sports across nine disciplines (分项) in France in 1924, it has grown to have seven sports across 15 different disciplines and has been held in 12 countries across three continents (大陆) so far. In 2022, Beijing hosted the 24th Winter Olympics successfully.

China has come a long way and achieved many goals since it took part in the Winter Olympics for the first time in 1980. In this short period of time, Chinese players have won medals (奖牌) in six of the event’s sports. Short track (短道) speed skating has been an area of expertise (专长) for Chinese players.

________ The Ministry of Education (教育部) has set a goal of building 5, 000 special schools by 2025 to improve winter sports education.

The government has also been encouraging primary and middle schools to add winter sports to their courses. Many provinces and cities have already acted on this suggestion. Classes will be set up in schools in northern China to boost interest in winter sports. In southern China, schools can work with ice rinks (溜冰场) and winter sports clubs.

Beijing has already set a good example. Nearly 840, 000 students in the city have begun to take winter sports lessons, including skating and skiing lessons, China News Agency reported.

The year 2022 will be a big year for sports in China. That’s because it will hold not only the 24th Winter Olympics in Beijing, but also the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou.

On Aug 6th, 2018, the official emblem（会徽）for the Hangzhou Asian Games was released（发布）. The city won the hosting right for the 2022 Asian Games in 2015. It will be the third Chinese city to host the Asian Games after Beijing and Guangzhou in 1990 and 2010.

First held in 1951, the Asian Games is the largest multi-sport event in Asia. It also means a lot to China. The Beijing Asian Games was the first large international sports event to be hosted by China, China News Service reported.

To make the Games a great success, Chinese people worked hard to prepare. Beijing built a great number of roads and gyms, including the famous Beijing Olympic Sports Center and Asian Games Village. The Games helped the world see China and its achievements. Since then, China has improved its global image（国际形象）, China Youth Daily reported.

For the 2022 Asian Games, Hangzhou has already started building 33 sports venues, according to China Youth Daily. The themes of the Hangzhou Asian Games are “green, smart, economical（节俭）and civilized”. All the Games' buildings will be environmentally friendly.

The 2022 Winter Olympic Games was held in Beijing, China. Now let’s learn about some of the sports events at Winter Olympic Games.

	Curling is a team sport played by two teams of four players each team on a rectangular (矩形 ) area of ice. The game is played with 16 large granite (大理石) stones. Each stone weighs 19.96kg. The team with the most points wins the game.
	Players ski down ramps (坡道) to compete in the sports events. Skiers can reach distances up to 115 yards on the normal hill. Players must hold their skis in a V-shape before landing. Five judges rate (评判) each jump on distance, form and landing.
	Ice hockey is played between two teams. Each team can have at most six players on the ice during the game. That's five skaters and one goalkeeper. Games include three 20-minute periods, with a break after the first and second periods.
	There are five events in Figure Skating at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, including men’s singles, women’s singles, ice dance, pairs and the team event. Figure Skating is a sport that combines (结合) skating with dancing. You can enjoy beautiful music and graceful (优雅的) movements in it.
	Speed Skating is a racing sport that is played on ice and the players must race with each other by travelling to a certain distance. In this sport, the players require body-balancing and very high concentration during movement at high speeds. The skater that reaches the finish line first is the winner.