3月26日，在亚洲青年领袖论坛中国—阿联酋青年领袖对话会上，花样游泳世界冠军钟輗发表了主旨演讲。

全文如下：

尊敬的各位领导、来宾、青年朋友们：

大家好！我是钟輗。作为一名曾经的花样游泳运动员，广州这座美丽的城市对我来讲并不陌生。这里曾举办过第九届全国运动会，是我参加的第一届全运会。这里也曾是亚运会的主办城市，是我第一次参与国际组织工作的地方。而今天这里对我来说又是一次意义非凡的经历，我很荣幸作为青年代表第一次在亚洲青年领袖论坛中国—阿联酋青年领袖对话会中发言，与亚洲各国青年朋友们相互交流，增进友谊。今天我想跟朋友们分享三个方面的内容：

一、为梦想而拼搏，终会有收获。10岁那年，经过层层选拔，我有幸被选入到了北京花样游泳队，成为了一名专业的运动员。竞技体育是非常残酷的，在我13年的运动生涯当中，训练贯穿着整个职业生涯，不分春夏秋冬，更不分节日假日。每天不但要在游泳池里泡8个小时，还要承受各种跑步、力量、专项等高强度的训练，即使生病也要雷打不动地完成当天的训练内容。

所有看过花样游泳比赛的人都说：“花样游泳真美呀，你们是怎么在水里把腿举起来的，又是怎么可以做到整齐划一的呢？”大家可以试想一下芭蕾难不难？在水里跳芭蕾只会更难。伴随着音乐的每个动作，都是经过成千上万次在水中和陆地上的反复磨合，才有了最后精彩的呈现。

记得那时候，因为长时间的高强度训练，我作为队里的主力兼项队员，不能按照正常时间吃饭，有时常常就在泳池边吃。导致后来我患有严重的萎缩性胃炎，有一次甚至还在训练中晕倒。但尽管这样我依然咬紧牙关，从未错过一天训练。

经过多年的训练和拼搏，我获得了花样游泳世界冠军、国家健将等荣誉，荣获了全国五一劳动奖状和首都劳动奖章，担任过广州亚运会亚奥理事会的委员以及奥林匹克公益宣传大使，同时还有机会参与到北京冬奥会的工作中。

回看那段拼搏的历程，回想那段艰苦的训练，是什么支撑着自己在不懈奋斗中一路走来呢？是青春的梦想，是梦想着为国争光，为荣誉而战，梦想着能够不断登上领奖台，让五星红旗在异国他乡冉冉升起。当梦想实现的那一刻，我想起一句话，在暗处执着生长，终有一日会馥郁传香。

二、永远保持勇敢，永远迎接创新。因为职业训练的紧迫，很多专业运动员文化知识学习的机会非常少。我的观点是要勇敢地去迎接挑战，哪怕是接受另外一个完全不同类型的挑战。所以我在忙碌的训练之余就自学了外语，希望自己除了追求运动成绩以外，还有文化知识的加持，来丰富自己的精神世界。没想到后来，语言成为了我打开世界的另一把钥匙。

2015年，我有幸作为退役运动员代表公派赴韩国留学一年，深度参加了国际奥委会培养国际化体育人才的学习项目。除了面对全英文的授课和全新的知识领域，还有来自世界各地的优秀运动员。九个月我要完成20多门课程和50多项大大小小的作业和考试，面对巨大的压力和挑战，我把它当作是一次自我革新的宝贵经历。从开始要花一天晚上才能挤出一页纸的作业，到最后可以用英文写论文并做陈述，从开始胆怯到不敢发言，到最后可以和同学们自由交流，同时有机会参与到平昌冬奥会的工作。回想当初勇敢地迎接挑战，勇敢地选择从零基础去学外语，我相信这是我做出的最正确的选择。

三、无私奉献的精神是永葆青春的力量。2017年经过国际奥委会委员的推荐，使我有机会加入到北京冬奥组委工作。作为冬奥组委对外联络部唯一非外语专业的工作人员，体育成为了我工作中的通用语言，它还是一种无形的纽带来拉近彼此的距离。

2017年，国际奥委会主席巴赫到访北京冬奥组委总部，我有幸作为部门代表和巴赫进行短暂的交流。当被他问到为什么你一个夏季项目的运动员参与到冬奥会中，我用英语回答道，很遗憾在2008年北京奥运会时我只参加了测试赛，没能在家门口参加奥运会。但是幸运的是北京再次举办冬奥会，我可以以另一种身份圆梦奥运。这段话给巴赫主席留下深刻的印象。

在冬奥会期间，我作为对外联络部亚洲区的联络经理，在赛前和赛时负责23个亚洲区的代表团，并为他们提供跨领域、全流程24小时的在线服务，同时帮助他们解决赛前各种大大小小的问题。

沙特作为第一次参加冬奥会的亚洲国家，同时也是第一个参加冬奥会的海合会国家，是最晚获得参赛资格的代表团。面对新晋入选的沙特代表团，我从赛前3个月就通过邮件、视频电话反复确认流程、进展和细节，全程关注他们的参赛情况，对他们每个问题都会从0到1不厌其烦的介绍组委会的有关政策，协助他们做好各类赛前的准备工作。沙特代表团的成员非常感动，团长Hamad在冬奥会结束后对我说：“你是最好中的最好。”

那一刻，我深刻地感受到，通过自我奉献、通过无私的帮助他人所带来的快乐，这种快乐让你拥有永葆青春的力量。即使我现在从比赛场上万众瞩目的运动员变成了为世界各地运动员服务的幕后工作人员，我也感受到自己再一次实现了人生的宝贵价值。

这是我与青年朋友们分享的三个内容。现在的我继续积极发挥着自己在体育和国际交流上的作用，推动体育的民间外交和国际交流，组织青少年体育俱乐部和各国驻华使馆的互访交流，用体育这一通用语言讲好中国故事，传播好中国声音。

文明因交流而多彩，文明因互鉴而丰富，体育精神是人类文明的宝贵精神财富。

我愿与亚洲各国的青年朋友们一道继续努力，以体育促交流，以文化促融合，为推动构建人类命运共同体贡献青春力量。谢谢大家！

Zhong Ni says there is no boundary to sport and no limit to dreams

On 26 March, Zhong Ni, world champion of synchronized swimming, delivered a keynote speech at the China and UAE Dialogue between the Youth Leaders of the Asia Youth Leaders Forum. Following is the full text of the speech.

Excellencies,

Distinguished guests,

Dear young friends,

Good afternoon. I am Zhong Ni. As a former synchronized swimming athlete, I am no stranger to this beautiful city of Guangzhou, where the 9th National Games was held, my first National Games. This was also the host city of the Asian Games, where I worked in an international organization for the first time. Today, this forum is another great experience for me. I am honored to be here as a youth representative at the Asia Youth Leaders Forum and address the China and UAE Dialogue between the Youth Leaders to exchange ideas and foster friendship with youth from Asia. Today, I would like to share three ideas with you.

First, it will eventually pay off to work for your dream. After rounds of selection, I, at the age of ten, was lucky to join the Beijing Synchronized Swimming Team and became a professional athlete. Competitive sport is brutal. training permeated my 13-year career in sport, regardless of seasons and even holidays. Every day, I had to soak in the pool for 8 hours, and went through like running,

strength training, and specialized training, at high intensity. Even if I got sick, I had to finish the day’s training as usual.

All that witness a synchronized swimming match say that synchronized swimming is so beautiful and wonder how we lift our legs in the water and how we can stay in sync with each other. Try to imagine whether ballet is difficult. Ballet dancing in the water will only be more difficult. Every move to the music undergoes thousands of repeated adjustments in the water and on the ground for the final wonderful presentation.

I remember that due to long-term high-intensity training, I, as the main athlete for several sports, could not eat at normal time. I often ate by the swimming pool. Later, I was diagnosed with severe atrophic gastritis. I even passed out during training once. But despite this, I gritted my teeth and never missed a day of training.

Looking back on the hard work and thinking back to the arduous training, I wonder what got me through all those. It was the dream of youth – a dream of winning glory for the country and fighting for honor, a dream of making it to the podium repeatedly and seeing the five-star red flag rise in a foreign land. The moment my dream came true, the phrase came to me, “Growing regardless of the dark will one day bring fragrance.”

Second, stay brave and stay ready to embrace innovation. Due to tight training schedules, many professional athletes have few opportunities for academic learning. My point of view is to face up to challenges, even if they are challenges of a completely different type. Therefore, despite busy training, I was learning a foreign language by myself, hoping that in addition to pursuing sporting results, I would have cultural knowledge to enrich my spiritual world. Unexpectedly, language became a key for me to another world.

In 2015, I was lucky to be sent to South Korea as a representative of retired athletes for a year for a program of the International Olympic Committee to train international sporting talents. I was surrounded by English-taught classes, new fields of knowledge, and outstanding athletes from across the world. In 9 months, I had to finish more than 20 courses and over 50 assignments and exams. Faced with immense pressure and challenges, I saw it as a valuable experience of self-improvement. I went from a night’s work for a single page at the beginning to writing a full paper and presenting it in English at the end, and from being too timid to speak at first to communicating freely with my classmates by the end. Besides, I had the chance to get engaged in the Winter Olympic in PyeongChang.

Looking back on how I bravely accepted the challenge and chose to learn a foreign language from scratch, I believe that was the most correct choice I made.

Third, selfless dedication is the power to stay young. In 2017, I was recommended by IOC members to the Organizing Committee of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. As the only member of the Liaison Department that did not have a language degree, sport became the lingua franca in my work. It was also an invisible bond that brought people closer. 

In 2017, when IOC President Bach visited the headquarters of the Organizing Committee in Beijing, I was lucky to represent our department and talk with him for a short while. When he asked me why I, as a summer sports athlete, was engaged in the Winter Olympics, I replied in English, “Unfortunately, I only took part in the test event at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics and could not compete in the Games in my own country. However, luckily, Beijing is hosting the Winter Olympics, and I could realize my Olympic dream in another role.” This left a deep impression on President Bach.

During the Winter Olympics, as the liaison manager for Asia in the Liaison Department, I was charged with 23 Asian NOCs before and during the Games, providing them with 24-hour online services spanning different fields and the entire process, while helping them with all kinds of problems before the Games.

As a first-time participant in the Winter Olympics and the first GCC country to take part, Saudi Arabia was the last NOC to qualify. This newly qualified Saudi NOC was my responsibility. Three months before the Games, I confirmed their process, progress, and details repeatedly via emails and video calls and followed up on their schedule for the Games. To every one of their questions, I would patiently refer them to the relevant policies of the Organizing Committee to assist them with their pre-Games preparations. The Saudi NOC was rather appreciative. The head of the delegation, Hamad, said to me after the Games, “You are the best of the best.” 

At that moment, I truly felt the joy brought by dedication and selfless help to others, which imbued us with the power to stay youthful. Retiring from competing in the spotlight as an athlete to working behind the scenes as a staff for athletes, I felt that I had once again fulfilled myself.

That’s all I would like to share with you. Now I continue to play my role in sport

and international exchanges to promote people-to-people diplomacy and international exchanges in sport, such as organizing mutual visits and exchanges

between youth sports clubs and diplomatic missions in China. I want to use the common language of sports to tell Chinese stories and spread Chinese voices. 

Civilization is enriched by exchanges and mutual learning. Sportsmanship is a precious spiritual wealth of the human civilization. I would like to work with youth from across Asia to promote exchanges through sport, and integration through culture, and contribute youthful effort to the building of a community with a shared future for humanity. Thank you.