Veteran Winter Olympians: Embodiments of the Olympic Spirit

As the world descended on China for the Winter Olympics Games, the spotlight always goes to gold medal favorites or rookie talents. It is also important to remember that the Olympics Games aren't just about winners, records, and medal tables. Medals may soon gather dust, while records may be quickly broken and forgotten. The golden Olympic moments that resonate through the ages barely matter, including who won or lost, but involve something more profound than results: the human instinct for participation and achieving something beyond themselves. People’s Daily Online has picked six veteran winter Olympians, unraveling the true Olympic Spirit behind their stories. 

Claudia Pechstein: "The result of today was not so important, it was just to race and to be here. I am super proud."

Decades into a decorated speed skating career, Claudia Pechstein is still achieving firsts.

The 49-year-old German speed skater Claudia Pechstein became the oldest woman ever to compete at the Winter Olympic Games and the second athlete — and the only woman — to compete in eight Winter Games when she raced in the 3,000-meter speed skating event at the Beijing 2022.

In the women's 3,000 meters, Pechstein competed with young athletes, some of whom are at their twenties. Although she finished more than 20 seconds behind Dutch gold medalist, Irene Schouten, who broke the record that Pechstein had held for 20 years, Pechstein raised her arms and looked relieved as she crossed the finishing line, the gesture that she would often make when she took a spot on the podium in previous Winter Games.

"I was not too fast, but I smiled because today I got my goal to race in my eighth Olympic Games. This was important for me," Pechstein told the Reuters.

"The result of today was not so important; it was just to race and to be here. I am super proud," Pechstein said.