【鹿鹿逛索契】Final Day：Chinese Still in winter sports 'second tier'

Chinese athletes have taken home a total of nine medals and are ranked 11th in the medal tally at the Sochi Winter Olympics. This means China still lags behind the top nations in winter sports. Deputy chef de mission of the Chinese delegation Xiao Tian explains. "Overall, winter sports in China are restricted by economical, geographical and natural factors. We only have a short history of winter sports and the overall foundations are very weak. Among the 98 events across seven sports competed in at this Olympics, we only earned medals in 9 events across three sports." Biathelon athlete Song Chaoqing finished 63rd in the 7.5 kilometer sprint event at this Olympics. She's among the very few who practice this sport in China. "China started late in this sport, unlike with table tennis and diving. If the state and people in our country care about our sport as much as the summer sports, if more people understood and participated in this sport, we would definitely get better. This sport needs a lot of investments, including training, scientific research and also lots of other support." But compared to the difficulties of developing winter sports on a professional level, according to Zhang Litao, headmaster of a skiing school based in Beijing, the market for commercial winter sports is huge and still growing. "From the statistics we have, the skiing population in Beijing is between 5 to 6 million. For our ski resort alone, the number of tourists has risen by 15% this winter compared to last winter." Why is there such a gap between the huge market for the sport and the lack of talents in the national delegation? Chinese director Ying Da, also a commentator for ice hockey for the Sochi Winter Games, cited hockey as an example to back up his theory. "We are at a transitional period. Our national hockey team is run by the state using the old system. It has been proved that winter sports requires a huge amount of investment and can result in big consumption. The old rigid management style doesn't work. We need marketisation. Winter sports, especially ice hockey have the potential to attract a huge market." Whilst admitting marketisation might work with ice hockey, Xiao Tian argues that it doesn't always work with every sport. "Whether or not the national athlete performs well does not necessarily relate to the popularity of a sport. We need to popularize winter sports so more people are playing, but in the national team, we must have good and sound training and top-level design." Meanwhile, Beijing sport bureau chief Li Yingchuan says China's joint Beijing-Zhangjiakou bid for 2022 can also help promote winter sports in China. "The development of winter sports is lagging behind compared to summer sports. Through bidding to host the winter Olympics in Beijing, we want to promote the development of winter sports in nearby regions like Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei." China has never hosted a Winter Games but the 2008 Summer Olympics marked a key milestone in the country's emergence onto the world stage.