After a video posted by Czech ice dancer Natalie Taschlerova showing how much she enjoyed life in Olympic Village and how happy she was when she received a gift bag with Bing Dwen Dwen inside, the 20-year-old Czech athlete shared her excitement with the Global Times on Wednesday, saying that she almost cried when she received the mascot souvenir and has been enjoying her first trip to Olympics to pursue her dream.

"Thank you so much for all this… cant describe my feelings! We are here!!" "First night with my panda… good night everyone," said Taschlerova in a vlog that recently went viral on Chinese social media, as she thanked the Beijing organizing committee after receiving a gift bag with items to celebrate the Chinese New Year, as the Winter Olympics 2022 is about to take place during the most important Chinese traditional festival. In pictures the Czech ice dancer showed to the Global Times, themed couplets, lanterns and paintings drawn by youngsters for the Olympics inside the gift bag could be seen, underscoring the warm invitation to foreign athletes to celebrate not only the highly anticipated sports gathering but also the Chinese New Year.

"I almost cried," she told the Global Times when she saw that the Olympic mascot was among the gifts, noting that with her teammates, they had been talking about buying those panda-shaped keychains and pillows as they were so cute.

Also, the Czech athlete enjoyed some traditional Chinese food in the Olympic Village including Chinese New Year items such as dumplings and spring rolls, which were her favorite.

As this is Taschlerovas first Olympic Games, she said she was a little bit nervous at the beginning. Flying from Prague to Beijing and going through all the anti-COVID-19 steps was a long procedure, but she found out that the experiences inside the Olympic Village were amazing.

"The rooms are amazing… and everything is so clean… [Village staff] theyre keeping everyone safe," she said. Athletes need to take daily tests, which is not comfortable but Taschlerova said the purpose is to ensure everyone is safe, enabling them to compete at the Games.

A record number of 114 Czech athletes will compete at the Beijing Games, the Xinhua News Agency reported. And the previous record number of Czech contestants at the Winter Olympics was 93 at the PyeongChang 2018 Games in South Korea.

Czech ice dancer Natalie Taschlerova shows a Bing Dwen Dwen mascot souvenir she received in Olympic Village. Photo: Courtesy of Taschlerova

 

Although the athletes in the upcoming Games have to live inside the closed-loop given the limitations from COVID-19 protocol, the 20-year-old ice dancer said she doesnt feel like "we are in the bubble," as the village is so big. "They can go walk for one hour here around, and they'll see some new places that they didn't see yet," she said.

Although there was certain hostile sentiment inside The Czech Republic toward the Beijing 2022 games, for example, Jan Lipavsky, the new Czech foreign minister, urged the Czech government to avoid comments that support the Games. Czech President Milos Zeman said in mid-January that he opposed the abuse of the Olympic idea for political purposes, and that it wouldnt have any impact if some "political bigwigs" were not present amid US-led calls for a so-called diplomatic boycott of the Games.

For Czech athletes, such a tactic of politicizing the Games is unfair for athletes who have been training hard and trying to pursue their dream amid unprecedented challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's kind of pretty unfair for us, for the athletes, because they are mixing things together which have nothing to do," Taschlerova said, noting that she is trying to not listen to those claims of politicizing the Games and enjoy the journey as much as she can.