(7 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China – 07 January 2025
1. Wide of man diving into icy waters
2. Man swimming in icy waters
3. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) You Decang, 76-year-old swimmer:
++PART OVERLAID BY SHOT 2++
“The biggest benefit of winter swimming is that I’m 76 years old but I’ve never got a cold because I swim in winter and I feel very well. It brings me good health.”
4. Aerial of swimming
5. Various of woman in swimming costume walking out, and swimming
6. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Chen Xia, 56-year-old swimmer:
++PART OVERLAID BY SHOTS 5 & 7++
“I felt prickling all over my body. The water here is about 10 Celsius degrees lower than it in my hometown. But it still made me feel blissful.”
7. Woman swimming in water
8. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Yu Xiaofeng, 61-year-old swimmer:
++PART OVERLAID BY SHOT 7 & 9, 10++
“The scientific method of winter swimming means the sport doesn’t suit everyone. One has to practice according to the person’s own abilities before starting winter swimming. The second is that you have to overcome your psychological challenge because this is such a difficult sport. Then you need to win the support and consent of your family, whether they are happy with your practicing this sport. These are the three challenges of winter swimming. Once these challenges are overcome, you will feel the endless joy brought by winter swimming.”
9. Various of people diving into water and swimming
10. Close of woman swimming, pulls out to mid of her climbing up steps
STORYLINE:
Even when the mercury dropped below zero on Tuesday, about a dozen hardy swimmers’ enthusiasm soared during an annual ritual in northeast China’s ice city Harbin.
The swimmers had trained daily throughout the year for this moment.
Armed with determination, the athletes first had to carve out a pool in the Songhua River, thawing the 10-centimeter-thick ice that froze overnight. Then, they stripped down and, one by one, plunged into the bone-chilling waters of the pool that spanned about 10 meters long.
Some said their limbs were already numb when the air temperature was -13 degrees Celsius (8.6 degrees Fahrenheit). But they were determined to challenge themselves.
You Decang, 76, said proudly that winter swimming is a sport he never skips.
“I’m 76 years old but I’ve never got a cold because I swim in winter and I feel very well. It brings me good health,” said You.
Chen Xia, from the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, dived into the pool even though she was suffering from a cold .
She said the waters in her home city were about 10 degrees warmer than those in Harbin, which were about zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit).
The experience in Harbin strengthened her confidence in winter swimming, a sport she has devoted to for about two decades.
“I felt prickling all over my body,” said Chen, 56. “But it still made me feel blissful."
61-year-old Yu Xiaofeng said the winter swimming sport in her home city can be dated back to the 1970s. Some residents saw Russian Orthodox church believers performing baptisms in the water and thereby broke the ice to swim in the river. In 1983, some swimming enthusiasts established an association for the sport in Harbin.
Yu is an active member of the association. She said to people interested in winter swimming there are three aspects of preparation.
“Once these challenges are overcome, you will feel the endless joy brought by winter swimming,” she said.
AP Video shot by Caroline Chen and Olivia Zhang
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