China’s Olympic delegation at the Paris 2024 Olympics achieved its best overseas performance since it participated in a Summer Olympics abroad, winning glory for the country and the people. The impressive performance once again inspired Chinese people’s patriotic sentiment and love for sports. Luo Hongtao, China Central Television’s sports and youth programme reporter who had just returned from Paris, was invited to the Olympic Culture Lecture, an Olympic culture promotion programme of the 15th Beijing Olympic City Sports Culture Festival, at Beijing City University Space City Campus on 19 September. She delivered a lecture themed “Pride of China at the Olympic Games”, in which she shared her stories as a reporter since the Atlanta 1996 Olympics with students from the School of International Culture and Communication of Beijing City University, and introduced the history of the Olympic Movement, especially the extraordinary journey of the Chinese delegation to participate in the Olympic Games. She also encouraged the young students in Beijing, the first and the only city in the world that has hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics, to carry forward the Olympic legacy, practice and promote China’s sporting spirit and the Olympic spirit, and meet challenges in practice to prepare themselves as a new generation of reporters.

As an experienced sports reporter, Luo Hongtao has engaged in interviews and reports for multiple editions of the Olympic Games. She gave the young students a vivid and inspiring lecture based on her rich reporting experience and profound sports knowledge, starting with a review of the development of the Olympics over the past century. She enumerated the memorable “China moments” at the Olympic Games before and after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and provided an in-depth interpretation of the Olympic spirit with inspiring stories at the Olympic Games. When she talked about the story of Wu Chuanyu at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, the students were deeply moved, noting the tough beginning of the new China’s sports journey. When telling the story of Luan Jujie, the women’s foil champion at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics, Luo encouraged the students that no matter how great the challenges are, with sufficient perseverance and determination, they would be able to overcome difficulties and achieve their goals. When it comes to Pan Zhanle, the Paris 2024 Olympic champion and current world record holder of the 100m freestyle event, the students were greatly motivated by his motto “dare to dream” about pushing the limits of humanity.

（Luo Hongtao engages with the students）

In the “Q&A” session, Luo Hongtao answered a range of questions from the perspective of a professional reporter and a witness. She encouraged the students to integrate the Olympic spirit into their own growth process, dare to challenge and surpass themselves and contribute what they have learned to China’s progress in sports communication.

（A student asks questions）

The students said that they were honoured to communicate face-to-face with the experienced sports reporter of China Central Television and deeply impressed by the Olympic themed lecture, gaining a more comprehensive and deeper understanding of the Olympic Games and China’s sporting spirit. They promised to embrace the Olympic spirit and actively engage in sports in the future.

According to the host, the “Olympic Culture Lecture” is intended to help universality students get a deeper understanding of the centuries-long Olympic history, the Olympic spirit and the glorious journey of the Chinese delegation, and to inspire students to live up to Olympic motto of “Higher, Faster, Stronger – Together” and contribute to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

A chief with Beijing City University said that this event was an important component of the university’s educational and social service missions, aiming to impart positive energy to all faculty and students through Olympic stories and inspire them to build upon their strengths and strive for excellence, thus contributing to the building of a country strong in sports and culture. Luo Hongtao’s lecture not only disseminated Olympic knowledge but also spread the Olympic spirit. She vividly recounted the historic moments on the Olympic stage based on her own experiences and observations, enabling the students to gain a deeper understanding of the Olympic journey, appreciate the Olympic stories and resonate with the Olympic spirit. Into the new era, university students, as the main force of the younger generation, should practice and carry forward the Olympic spirit and take action to tell the story of China’s involvement in the Olympics.

After the end of the lecture, Luo Hongtao and the participating teachers and students watched the ongoing “Olympic Journey Through Time” exhibition on campus. It is learned that the Beijing Olympic City Sports Culture Festival was launched by the Beijing Olympic City Development Association in 2010 and is an IOC-certified flagship Olympic legacy programme. The “Olympic Culture Lecture” is part of the festival’s Olympic culture promotion programme. As this year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, a series of thematic exhibitions, lectures, symposiums and other popular forms of activities will be held to bring the Olympic culture into public institutions, schools and communities and disseminate Olympic knowledge and culture among the public, especially young people, so as to pool strengths and boost people’s morale to promote the high-quality development of the capital.