Silver screen star: Snowboarder Su makes Olympic history for China
Silver medalist Su Yiming celebrates after the men's snowboard slopestyle final at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, north China's Hebei Province, during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on Monday.
The 17-year-old Su Yiming made history for China, winning the silver medal in the men's snowboard slopestyle final at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on Monday.
Scoring 88.70 points in his second of three runs at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, northern Hebei Province, Su became the first Chinese male snowboarder to step on the Winter Games podium.
The gold medal was grabbed by Canada's Max Parrot, the Pyeongchang Olympic silver medalist, with 90.96 points in the second run.
Su Yiming in action during the men's snowboard slopestyle final.
Su expressed his gratitude to his motherland, parents and friends afterwards, adding that the medal belongs to everyone who supported him. He said that his goal was to put in his best performance. Even in the second run, he did not relax because he knew he could do better.
The teenager said he was excited to stand on the podium with his idol, another Canadian Mark McMorris, who took bronze with 88.53 points.
"I do not know how to express that feeling because I never had it before," Su said.
Su, a native of northeast China's Jilin Province, turns 18 on February 18. He began to learn skiing at the age of 4, thanks to his father, a skiing enthusiast. And owing to his talent and hard work, Su made the national team in 2018.
Su played "little Shuanzi" and displayed his skiing skills in the movie "The Taking of Tiger Mountain."
The teenager is a rising star in both sports and entertainment.
Many Chinese were impressed by his acting chops in Hong Kong director Hark Tsui's 2014 war epic film "The Taking of Tiger Mountain." Su played "little Shuanzi" and displayed his skiing skills in the movie.
Ahead of the Olympics, both Tsui and the film's producer Huang Jianxin expressed their best wishes for Su through a short video.
Having devoted all of his time to training and competitions to prepare for the Beijing Games, Su said that post-Olympics he plans to continue with his high school studies and is looking to enrol in an ideal university but will not give up his enthusiasm for acting.
Su Yiming and California-born Chinese freestyle skier Gu Ailing feature in a 2017 documentary.
Su and California-born Chinese freestyle skier Gu Ailing used to receive skiing training together years ago. Zhang Shaobo's 2017 documentary "Shao Nian Zhi" (Ambitions of the Young) captures scenes of the duo communicating with each other and exchanging snowboards.
