i Lingshu is about to set out for Beijing to referee the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Meanwhile, umpires all over the world are joining her in this international multi-sport event that is to take place in less than a month.

Li, 35, is currently an athletic training professor at Faculty for Physical Education of Shanghai International Studies University (SISU). After working as a curling umpire for nearly 10 years, she has now a unique role to play—the deputy chief timer at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. She and three other Chinese have been awarded positions as international technical officials at the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022; this is the first time that Chinese will work as curling umpires in the Winter Olympic Games.

“Curling is a sport without boundary.” Li said, “We are here because of love, and we all hope this sport would become better.” 

Li was chosen to be a curling coach in 2011 when the government was trying to promote winter sports in southern cities in China. Taking the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as an opportunity, Li believes that it would be a window for the outside to know more about China as well as a good chance for more and more Chinese people to watch and enjoy winter sports. 

After passing the national referee examination, Li got a chance to serve as a referee in 2015 for the test competition of the 13th Chinese National Winter Games in Urumqi, Xinjiang, where she met many experienced umpires and learned a lot from them. “They are so patient and warm-hearted,” She says. “To be a professional umpire like them has been a dream of mine since then.” 

Curling, one of the oldest team sports, started in the 16th century in Scotland and was later introduced as an Olympic sport at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, according to the World Curling Federation. Each of the players on a team takes a turn sliding a 44-pound granite weight (the stone) down a sheet of ice toward a target area of four concentric circles. Good teamwork is the key in curling games. 

“I feel supported by my teammates when I am curling.” She says. “This sport brings people closer.”

In 2016, Li came across an American who gave up his career as a pilot because of his passion for curling at a curling club in Utah, America. “He once gave me several books on curling,” Li says, “I was surprised at first because we were not that familiar with each other. I even thought that he wanted to sell books to me”. 

Those books, carried from Canada, were given to Li as a gift to help her be a better curling umpire. “He told me that all he wanted is winter sports like curling can have a better future in China.” Li smiles.

At the beginning, most Chinese “knew little” about curling while the sport were more popular among countries such as Canada. Beijing’s successful bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics accelerated the development of winter sports in China. The Winter Sports Development Plan (2016-25) issued in 2016 by the Chinese government is a long-term plan that aims to increase people's interest in winter sports and engage some 300 million people in ice and snow sports by the end of 2025.

“Curling is an elegant sport.” Says Zhang Xin’pei, who in her first year took a curling class taught by Li. “We all fell in love with this sport after taking Prof. Li’s class.”

Last year, Li opened an elective course named “Winter Sports” to promote those sports among the youth, with a plan to turn this class into a MOOC and open it to the public for free. “I hope more people know and like winter sports.” She says. 

Cao Ya’ru, who took this class this semester, says it was a good way for students to know more about winter sports. “Prof. Li even taught us how to operate the professional timekeeper in class.” She says.

Several months ago, Li went to Beijing to take part in the Olympic test events. Li and her colleagues were working on a new timing system, making sure that there would be a fair timing mechanism for each athlete in the coming Winter Olympics. “Everything is in order,” Li says. “We are a real team”.

Working with other international technical officials is very inspiring. She was surprised to find that one of her colleagues never uses a smartphone in his daily life. “It is rare in the digital era”, she says. “But I totally agree with his idea that smartphone is very distractive”.

Concentration is essential to every umpire, especially when in a cold environment. According to the World Curling Federation, a full game of curling generally consists of 8 or 10 such ends and takes approximately two hours to complete. It is hard to stay focus for a long time.
Li is ready for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

“The passion for sports unites us,” Li says. “After the pandemic, I hope I can referee in more international games, and that there will be more Chinese umpires on the world stage in the future.”