Blades of passion

Wu Zhinai has devoted most of his life to passing on his love of ice and snow sports. Sun Ruisheng in Taiyuan and Zhao Jia in Beijing report.

With the Beijing Winter Olympic Games approaching, Wu Zhinai, despite being 86 years old, is still keen to take the opportunity to promote ice and snow sports in his hometown.

"It has been 80 years since I began to skate at the age of 6, and ice and snow sports have become an integral part of my life," says Wu, who is a retired physical education teacher in Taiyuan, capital city of North China's Shanxi province.

"I was good at speed skating when I was young. Now I mainly play ice hockey," Wu says, adding he is also skilled in various winter sports, including figure skating, short track speed skating and curling.

Wu has developed a habit of playing ice hockey or serving as a referee in an ice rink at least once every week. "Only on the ice do I feel at ease and comfortable," he says.

Before playing ice hockey games, Wu always grinds the blades of his skates first. "To me, skates in games are like weapons to warriors in the battlefield," Wu says, adding well-ground skates can prevent him from falling on the hard ice.

In addition, Wu always wears the same kit bearing a large number 12 that has accompanied him for over six decades.

Fan Yue, secretary-general of the Ice Sports Association in Taiyuan can't help but smile when talking about Wu, giving him a thumbs-up and praising him as someone who young people can learn from.

"As the oldest participant with the richest experience, his presence in games is inspiring to young ice and snow sports lovers," Fan says.

Given ice and snow sports are not very popular in his hometown, Wu says that his "biggest aspiration is to devote the rest of my life to promoting ice and snow sports and encouraging more children to participate".

He offers free training courses for teenagers, including speed skating, figure skating and ice hockey at various rinks in Taiyuan.

"I hope more young people will participate in and make their contribution to the development of China's ice and snow sports," he says.

He has also been involved in collecting and sorting materials concerning ice and snow sports in Shanxi province and intends to donate them to Shanxi Sports Museum.

His son Wu Yu, said his father not only taught him, but has voluntarily taught nearly 1,000 students, some of whom have become excellent athletes.

"They are as young as 5 or 6 years old, and the oldest students are in their 70s," Yu says.

"My father has witnessed the origin, development and changes of winter sports in Shanxi, devoted his love and energy to the ice and snow sports and created a series of 'firsts'," he says.

In 1956, when Shanxi University established its first skating team, Wu Zhinai, who was then a student in the school of physical education, many times led the team to participate in contests held in North China and achieved remarkable scores.

Wu served as a physical education teacher at No. 12 Middle School in Taiyuan after graduation, when he established the first ice hockey team for middle school students in the province.

He advocated introducing skating into school's teaching curriculum and taking students to engage in outdoor ice lessons, holding that children must be cultivated from an early age to develop their interest and abilities in winter sports.

Wu also served as a referee in the first National Winter Games in 1959 and was named among the first batch of China's outstanding sports referees in the 1980s.

After retirement, he opened the first indoor ice rink in Taiyuan－the Polar Bear Ice Rink－providing a platform for ice and snow sports lovers.

He also wasted no time in organizing a Polar Bear Ice Hockey Team in 1998, which now consists of more than 30 members with an average age of nearly 50.

"The greatest happiness in my life is ice and snow sports. They keep me happy and healthy," Wu said. "More importantly, I will continue to commit myself to carrying forward ice and snow sports in my hometown," he said.