In the sea of my life, a boat sails by

Leaving its mark on the beach, proof of a well-cherished experience

Showing my gratitude to the harbor of PUMCH

The place where my dreams take roots and blossom

I appreciate the warmth I felt during the Winter Games

It quietly evaporates the winter sweat on my forehead

To this memorable journey, I wave my goodbye

To the challenging mountains ahead, I forge ahead with calm smiles

At the thought of the Winter Games, mixed feelings came up. Before Beijing 2022, the Olympics does not seem personally relevant to me. It was the epidemic and the mission as a doctor that brought me to the Olympics.

This year’s Chinese Spring Festival in the closed loop felt a bit different from previous years as we shared the beauty of the moon far apart and told our parents to take care over the phone, hoping that time would spare them from aging. After that, on February 4, 2022, the 2022 Beijing Winter Games opened and when the Torch was lit and the theme song Snowflakes was played, our story with the Olympics was in full swing.

In the first month of this lunar new year, 128 PUMCHers were assigned to different venues where they were busy running around and attending to different matters; for all their hard work, they were always rewarded with  sincere gratitude from guests from all around the world.

Some moments of life can be too good and too beautiful to be attributed to mere chance but to precious luck.

On February 20, right before the closing ceremony, the medical team for the Olympic Family received an invitation from President Bach’s team to the conference room for his appreciation. Mr. Bach congratulated China on its marvelous achievement of winning nine gold medals and said: “I was there when the Chinese delegate won the first gold medal, and I was there when the Chinese delegate won the ninth gold medal; I’m literally their mascot!”

He presented gifts to us one by one and thanked the PUMCH team for providing medical services for the Games and wrote: “Thank you very much for caring and keeping us healthy.” We, on behalf of PUMCH, also presented him the gift selected by the PUMCH President personally: a tie, a silk scarf, a commemorative medallion and a stamp album for the centennial celebration of PUMCH. Mr. Bach listened to our explanation of the meaning of these gifts with great interest. When we mentioned that the old buildings of the PUMCH had evolved from originally “the King’s palace” to “the palace of modern medicine in China,” Mr. Bach gave us an approving look and took pictures with us.

The medical station team has long impressed the international medical team for the Winter Olympics with their on-site first aid ability, foreign language proficiency, and the strong support of PUMCH, their “home front.”

Mr. Richard, the IOC Medical Director, led his team members to both medical stations for a group photo, and both sides exchanged thank-you letters. After receiving the thank-you letter signed by each of us, Mr. Richard read the content word by word on the spot and was deeply touched. He bumped elbow with us and said: “I look forward to the early end of the epidemic so that we can take off our masks and hug each other the next time we see each other.”

When Mr. Richard, who is 6.6 feet tall, said such touching words at the moment of farewell, it conjured up the melancholy images of the poem “Farewell to Cambridge” and also inspired the bright spirit of “Think not you have no friends, you are well-known to the world.”

Another “big man,” Yasuhiro Yamashita, President of the Japanese Olympic Committee, also expressed such touching sentiment. As a former judoka, he experienced two Olympic Games during the COVID-19 pandemic. He uttered: “Having traveled a bumpy journey, I am not the age for sentimentality, but I am still deeply moved by the Beijing 2022 and contributions made by that medical staff.”

Time passes like a shooting star, but there is always something that illuminates our lives at a certain point, just like this Winter Olympics. When the Olympic Flame was extinguished in the closing ceremony and the theme song Snowflake was played again, young volunteers started shedding tears; people from various countries gathered together will soon be separated, but the hearts that were once close will not become distant over time or space, and the kindness and fondness we harbor for each other will not fade away.

The experience of providing medical services for the Winter Olympics with all our passion, enthusiasm, and sincerity is a valuable and profoundly cherished chapter of life for us all; we will indeed look back at this period of our life with nostalgia over a cup of tea, against a spectacular sunset when we get old. I believe each PUMCHer who has served the Olympics is driven by their faith, just like the boat that carries us in the sparkling sea under the bright sunlight.

Written by Chen Gang from the Department of Nephrology

Translator: Liu Haiyan

Editor: Chen Gang and Wang Yao