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Visitors flock to Olympic Museum, Sports Lab in Nanjing

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The Youth Olympics in Nanjing have been a phenomenal success, and set to leave behind a lasting legacy. As ICS reporter Wu Yina finds out, the Nanjing Olympic Museum and the Sports Lab built for the Games have already attracted a lot of interest.

The Sports Lab also lets visitors get involved. Professional coaches will teach any interested young people after each performance. 

Just two kilometers from the Youth Olympic Village, the Sports Lab has been welcoming thousands of visitors every day during the Youth Olympic Games. Here, top international and Chinese athletes in roller sports, climbing, skateboarding, and wushu showcase their skills in performances twice a day.

The IOC Executive Board made the decision to add four new sports that are not on the Olympic program to be part of the YOUTH Games. IOC officials are hoping to attract more youth involvement in those sports to see whether they could eventually be included in the Olympics. One American martial arts performer says he hopes the IOC will again consider putting wushu into the program, though it lost out to wrestling for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

"It's very similar to ice skating and gymnastics that have required movements that can be judged. Each person may be able to do differently, so they can put in their own style, their own feeling. But when it comes down to it, if your style is not up to the standard of what the traditional martial arts is trying to do, then it's very easy to see where each member lies for scoring standpoint," American athlete Justin Benedik said.

"I know that each of the sport has a very specific element to it, which is very important. They have a national governing body, and they have very enthusiastic athletes. Those are all very important parts of it. I don't know what the magic is that makes a sport come on to the program, but as long as they are making the effort, that's really the most important part," IOC member Anita Defrantz said.

The Sports Lab also lets visitors get involved. Professional coaches will teach any interested young people after each performance. Organizers say the lab will become a sports park after the Youth Olympic Games.

"The park owners hope to keep this sports lab as a permanent project, so that residents and sport lovers can come here to play and exercise. And it's all for free," Sports Lab Deputy Director Sheng Youfu said.

And the Games have also created another cultural heritage - the Nanjing Olympic Museum. With an exhibition area of more than 5,000 square meters, it showcases nearly 600 items, including torches, mascots and medals of past Olympics, and the uniforms worn by Olympic champions. Its theme is "Pass on the Century-old Flame in Youthful Nanjing," and it has already attracted many foreigners.

"I want to visit because the Canada Olympic Games in 1976, and 1988 in Calgary and Vancouver, what I see the story to the Olympic story. I studied the Olympic story at the university and I want to know the real object," Canadian visitor Claude Paquet said.

For now, the Nanjing Olympic Museum is only open to athletes and volunteers. But after the Youth Olympics, it will open to the public free for six months, and then start charging for admission. Volunteers here say many residents are already coming here every day to try to get in.

 

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