Golden pair sets a shining example

It was a golden moment, but the path to Olympic glory had been littered with obstacles and heartache. Finally, after 15 years, their dream of winning pairs figure skating gold at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was realized, albeit after a fair share of disappointment. Sui Wenjing and Han Cong hope that their story will attract more people to winter sports and set an example for the younger generation to bravely pursue their dreams.

"We are born in a great time with great opportunities," said Sui during China Daily's exclusive interview with the pair.

"All we need to do is to fight toward the hope and seize the chances. We need to keep our passion and fight for our dreams. I never doubted myself and failure is never my option. But there are different definitions of success for different people.

"For me, my success is to always be better than the version of myself a second ago. And that same belief will support me to achieve more in the future."

Sui, 26, and Han, 29, shone brightly at Beijing 2022 in February, as they claimed their first Olympic figure skating pairs title. The triumph was China's second ever Olympic title in the discipline. The first was won by Sui and Han's coach, Zhao Hongbo, and his partner, Shen Xue, at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

"I always like to say that great moments are born from great opportunity," Han adds. "For us, the opportunity occurred thanks to our perseverance over the past 15 years. We achieved great results as we have won all the possible gold medals that we could have since we were junior skaters."

However, the pair's journey toward the podium of Winter Olympic glory was strewn with misfortune. After winning the world championship for the first time in 2017, the following year, Sui suffered a stress fracture in her foot and missed the 2018 Grand Prix season.

They returned in time for their Olympic debut in Pyeongchang 2018, where they won the silver medal, just missing out on the gold secured by Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot of Germany by tiniest of margins.