Doctor from Heilongjiang serves as Olympic umpire

Liu Xin arrived in Chongli district of Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, on Friday to begin his first round as an umpire at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

Liu, 39, a stomatologist - a doctor who deals with conditions of the mouth - at First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, will be chief umpire at the starting points of the slopestyle freestyle skiing and halfpipe freestyle skiing events.

"For the past 14 years, I have participated in different skiing competitions, including some important international events as an umpire," he said. "However, I still felt quite nervous and excited when I got the official invitation to participate in the Winter Olympics from the General Administration of Sport of China on Jan 6. I'm also proud of being a participant in the event in our country."

Liu began to learn Chinese martial arts at age 6 to strengthen his body. He was athletic.

"I was delighted to find that there was a martial arts association after I was admitted to Harbin Medical University in 2001," he said. "I joined the association and never stopped training in my five years at the university."

He won the championship in the college student martial arts competition in the province.

In 2006, Liu volunteered to help with an international college skiing competition at Yabuli ski resort in Heilongjiang, where he encountered professional skiing.

"Standing at the starting point of the international skiing competition for the first time, I was instantly attracted by the white snow track at an altitude of more than 1,000 meters," he said. "After the competition, I began to learn skiing and quickly mastered the skills due to my years of practicing martial arts."

Meanwhile, he began to register for different training courses for ski umpires and obtained provincial-, national- and international C-level ski umpire certificates.

"In different international competitions, I got lots of opportunities to communicate with foreign athletes and umpires, which helped me improve my understanding of freestyle skiing and English," he said.

About a year ago, when General Administration of Sport of China began to recruit umpires for the Beijing Winter Olympics, Liu signed up right away and submitted supporting materials.

"Every day I spent several hours of my spare time preparing for the event, including learning the Olympic rules, broadening my ski knowledge and practicing technical skiing terms in English," he said. "I received several online training courses and exams and finally got the chance."

It is a "huge test" for both athletes and umpires in freestyle skiing, he said.

"I will try my best to do it well because it is great honor for me to participate in the event as a doctor from Heilongjiang."