Participant numbers continue to rise

Until last year, few people in China had ever used a bobsleigh, and the vast majority still cannot tell the difference between it and the skeleton.

Despite that, China's winter athletes are hoping to occupy places on the winners' podiums at the 2022 Winter Olympics, which will be co-hosted by Beijing and Zhangjiakou city in Hebei province.

"It took Russia about seven or eight years to go from almost zero to three gold medals, so we hope we will also win medals in some new disciplines in 2022," Ren Hongguo, China's winter sports chief, said on Tuesday.