Feature: China-U.S. athletes showcase Olympic spirit more than competition

BEIJING, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Olympic Games is not only about contention for top honors. There is always a moment when something goes beyond the competition and exhibits what the Olympic Games truly is.

With the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games going past its halfway mark, athletes from China and the United States have demonstrated sportsmanship and friendship on different occasions, which is well in line with "Together" added to the Olympic motto last year.

After glancing at the scoreboard, Ashley Caldwell from the United States shouted when rushing to China's freestyle skier Xu Mengtao to congratulate her on winning gold medal.

"Taotao, Olympic champion! I'm so proud of you!"

Like her close friend Xu, fourth-placed finisher Caldwell is also competing in her fourth Olympic Games, and perhaps nobody else could understand Xu's emotion better than her at that moment.

The warmhearted compliments from Caldwell have touched many Chinese netizens.

"I'm really moved by her shouting at that moment. This is the spirit that Olympic Games really wants to convey," a netizen wrote on China's Twitter-like social platform Weibo.

"They are rivals, but friends as well. This moment is pretty touching," another one commented.

"Taotao (Xu Mengtao) has been pushing triples for longer than I have, and I respect her wholeheartedly. For her to win the gold medal in her own country is an incredible accomplishment and it brought tears to my eyes just as much as sadness did," said Caldwell.

Bing Dwen Dwen, the Beijing Winter Olympic panda mascot, has gone viral in recent days, while also becoming a symbol of friendship between Chinese and American curlers.

After the United States beat China 7-5 in the mixed doubles curling round robin on February 5, Fan Suyuan and Ling Zhi presented their American rivals, Christopher Plys and Vicky Persinger, with a set of commemorative pin badges featuring Bing Dwen Dwen.

The four competitors posed together while displaying the pin sets. The American duo later displayed the pin sets on Twitter, saying that they were "honored to receive these beautiful Beijing 2022 pin sets in a wonderful display of sportsmanship by our Chinese counterparts."

"Friendship first, competition second," one netizen commented below the post. It is a guideline that China came up with for sports in the early 1970s to convey the significance of cooperation rather than confrontation, and played a big role in developing "Ping-Pong Diplomacy" between China and the United States.

"They're just beautiful, something super unique. These will be on my desk for a very, very long time," Plys said.

"The pins are beautiful and so special. We'll remember this forever," Persinger echoed.

The Chinese duo also wished their American counterparts good luck in upcoming competitions.

In return, the American curlers gave pins to Ling and Fan.

Happy to receive the pins from Plys, Ling said he would like to invite Plys to his hometown of Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, a city boasting a long history of ice and snow sports. Plys once competed at a tournament in Harbin.

"Chris told me he likes Harbin. He mentioned the Harbin Ice and Snow World. I sincerely welcome him to travel to Harbin when the pandemic is over," Ling said.

"So awesome. A real human to human interaction. Good job," another one commented.

Also on the curling ice, when China met the United States in the men's round robin on February 13, sportsmanship was once again thrust into the limelight.

In the sixth end when the U.S. was in a leading position, five-time Olympian John Shuster admitted that they touched China's stone unintentionally and asked for the umpire's judgment.

Despite being in an inferior situation, China chose to overlook it and continue to play.

The 39-year-old Shuster gave a thumb-up to China's sportsmanship. "I thought they did a tremendous job, and I commend them for being great sportsmen."

With six days to go from the closing of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Olympic spirit, sportsmanship and friendship will undoubtedly become more of people's lasting memories about the Games than performance on the playing field.