Delegation members of Serbia and volunteers pose for selfies at the Olympic Village for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in Yanqing District of Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 31, 2022. Delegation members and volunteers celebrated the Chinese Lunar New Year, or the Year of Tiger at the Olympic Village on Monday. (Photo by Xiao Shaowen/Xinhua)

Delicious food, warm-hearted volunteers, strict anti-epidemic measures, perfect snow venues ... athletes from the US shared with the Global Times how they received attention and felt satisfied in the closed loop as they are going all out at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. 

Speaking of passionate volunteers, Nicholas Goepper, an American freestyle skier who came to China for the first time, said "My favorite part of every day is counting how many smiling volunteers I see waving at me from my room to the cafeteria and back. Every time I meet 10 volunteers, 10 of them will do the same thing," making the gesture of a "love." 

Darian Stevens, the lone American to qualify for the Freeski Big Air Final, said that she had a lot of interaction and fun with the volunteers. She also praised the anti-epidemic measures in the closed loop, which shows China's outstanding performance in controlling the virus and displays the resilience of Chinese society and the country's ability to pool wisdom and strength from all sides to cope with various difficult situations to host a safe Olympic Games.

Finishing runs in Big Air Shougang, Alexander Hall from Team USA said "The jump looks really good. They pretty much just spliced a mountain jump and put it in the city. It's pretty perfect-looking."

"It adds a good dimension to our sport and opens people's eyes as to what it is and the fact that you can, with the right facilities, also do it in the city," he added. 

Big Air Shougang, the venue for freestyle and snowboard big air events, is a ski jump platform built on top of a former steel mill, which was shut down more than 10 years ago. It is the only snow event venue in downtown Beijing. 

Colby Stevenson from the US also said "a lot of times the city big airs they build with scaffolding, they're pretty sketchy and it can be scary to do your bigger tricks, but this one looks a lot safer, with a steeper landing and it should be awesome."

A heartfelt moment caught in a vlog posted by American snowboarder Tessa Maud on social media documenting her first-ever Olympics opening ceremony went viral online. "Welcome to China!" The greeting from a Chinese volunteer and Tessa's interactions with him touched not only the snowboarding phenom herself but also netizens worldwide.

"That guy who said 'welcome to China' literally just makes me tear up every time, because they are so nice. All the volunteers are so sweet and so kind. They are just so happy that we are here. We feel so welcomed," Maud said in the video as she wiped away her tears.

Julia Marino from Team USA, who finished second in women's snowboard slopestyle at the Beijing Winter Olympics, also talked to reporters about life in the Olympic village and her favorite food. 

The contestant said "her favorite food is dumplings and she has eaten about 200 of them since arriving" in an interview with NBC on Sunday.