Crammed on every available surface in Zhang Wenquan’s crowded Beijing home are Olympic memorabilia — from mascots and torches to flags, banners, clothes and cuddly toys.
The Chinese superfan scours the Internet for rare souvenirs and snaps selfies several times a week by the countdown clock to next month’s Winter Games in the capital.
Beijing is to become the first city to host the Summer and Winter Olympics — a dream come true for the construction firm worker.
Photo: AFP
Zhang’s interest was first piqued when he became glued to the 2000 Sydney Games as a high-school student.
“I saw China win many gold medals and felt inspired,” the 35-year-old said.
When the Games came to Beijing in 2008, he worked as an official volunteer — a life-changing experience that sparked his passion for collecting Olympic souvenirs.
Wearing a Beijing Winter Games scarf and sweatshirt emblazoned with its mascot — plus a headband reading: “Come on, Winter Olympics” — Zhang shows off the array of merchandise covering his home.
The house is so full of piles of boxes that he has been forced to sleep elsewhere.
He estimates that he has so far spent at least 400,000 yuan (US$62,943) on 5,000 souvenirs.
Zhang daily scours eBay for new listings, with the most expensive find being a US$1,900 torch from the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.
He has row upon row of the mascot Bing Dwen Dwen for next month’s Winter Games — a panda wearing a shell made of ice — in various colors and sizes.
In 2008, Zhang helped with scoring at Beijing’s Wukesong Baseball Stadium — a photograph from the time shows a scrawny, bespectacled young man in a sky-blue Olympic jersey proudly holding a baseball bat aloft in an empty arena.
In his cluttered house, a framed certificate of participation hangs on the wall.
Zhang was intoxicated by the atmosphere in 2008, a time of extraordinary national pride.
China won 48 gold medals and displayed growing strength as a global power.
Zhang was not successful in the competitive selection process to be a volunteer this year, but hopes to obtain tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies — as well as his favorite sport, figure skating.
He currently makes frequent trips to Beijing’s Olympic sites.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in