Winners, losers both gain from Winter YOG

 　　INNSBRUCK, Austria, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- The inaugural¹ Winter Youth Olympic Games is not only a memorable² moment for winners, but also a learning process for losers, since all the competitors here are young.

　　Chinese speed skating prodigy³ Yang Fan collected his second gold medal in men's 3000m on Wednesday, and afterwards revealed his success was all down to a rigorous training regime.

　　"I like to train crazily hard, till I am very tired. I think only this way can I get good results," Yang said.

　　The 16-year-old believed the success in Innsbruck will help to build a successful career in the sport. "It is good to have this success when I am still young," he said. "It builds my self-belief."

　　Seitaro Ichinohe of Japan was beaten to the second place with a huge deficit⁴ of near seven seconds. Ichinohe could not hide his disappointment.

　　"Six or seven seconds, that's really a huge difference," he said. "Of course, I will train very hard to close the gap on the Chinese skater."

　　DE Neeling Sanneke was also delighted to grab gold in speed skating women's 3000m, and the presence of her 81-year-old grandfather made it extra special.

　　"Without my grandfather I wouldn't even stand here right now," she said. "He was the one that introduced me to this wonderful sport."

　　In short track speed skating women's 1000m, the U.S. skater Warren Sarah suffered a stumble in the last lap of the final B, but the 16-year-old kept optimistic.

　　"The 2018 Olympic Winter Games will be my goal. Other events will be regarded as the process to gold medal," said Sarah with a smile.

　　Winners and losers made up the Winter YOG, which has reached its halfway⁵ mark in the ten-day competition.

　　Gilbert Felli, International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Director for the Olympic Games, said during a news conference that people are starting to fall in love with the YOG's concept.

　　"What was demonstrated in Innsbruck is that people are beginning to understand and fall in love with the Youth Games, which is something different and only for the youth," Felli said.

　　He believed the models provided by Singapore and Innsbruck for the Youth Olympic Games would give more directions to the future hosting city about how exactly to organize these Games.

1 inaugural   

adj.就职的；n.就职典礼

参考例句：

• We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
• Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。

2 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

3 prodigy   

n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆

参考例句：

• She was a child prodigy on the violin.她是神童小提琴手。
• He was always a Negro prodigy who played barbarously and wonderfully.他始终是一个黑人的奇才，这种奇才弹奏起来粗野而惊人。

4 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

5 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。