Olympics-China’s snowboard fans flock to buy panda boards, goggles

By Winni Zhou and Mari Saito

ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – Canadian Mark McMorris might not have received gold in Monday’s slopestyle last however his resolution to experience a snowboard adorned with an image of a large panda, a beloved nationwide image in China, sparked an instantaneous procuring spree.

When requested about his board at a media convention on Monday, bronze medal winner McMorris stated he created it for the Beijing Olympics with out realising the Video games mascot could be a happy-looking panda in a full-body ice shell that resembles an astronaut go well with.

Memento outlets have already bought out https://www.reuters.com/life-style/sports activities/china-boost-supply-winter-games-panda-mascot-souvenirs-2022-02-06 of the massively standard Olympic panda mascot, with clients ready for hours in lengthy queues solely to go house empty-handed.

McMorris stated pandas had all the time been his “spirit animal”.

“I actually wished it to have a feel-good graphic and put a panda on it,” stated the Canadian boarder, who collaborated on the snowboard with Vermont-based snowboard manufacturing firm, Burton.

After photos of McMorris holding up his board went viral, China’s on-line procuring brokers, referred to as ‘daigou’, who dwell abroad and assist home clients purchase abroad items, rapidly started working.

They posted a whole lot of photos of the Burton board on RED, a Chinese language social media and e-commerce app that resembles Instagram.

“I’m positive it’ll definitely develop into the most well-liked board,” one agent stated, including that the board was not but accessible however providing to pre-order them for Chinese language shoppers.

China’s Su Yiming, a former baby actor, rapidly cemented his celeb standing https://www.reuters.com/life-style/sports activities/snowboarding-chinese-fans-express-frustration-over-sus-first-round-2022-02-07 by profitable silver within the slopestyle last.

Consumers have been additionally eager to purchase the identical goggles worn by Su and U.S. born-Chinese language skier Eileen Gu, who has develop into a darling amongst younger netizens and luxurious manufacturers.

Each names have been trending closely on China’s Twitter-like social media platform Weibo since their Olympic debut.

On Tuesday, Gu received https://www.reuters.com/life-style/sports activities/freestyle-skiing-chinas-gu-wins-gold-medal-womens-big-air-2022-02-08 gold in girls’s freeski Large Air last.

Snowboarding and snowboarding are each rising sports activities in China, significantly among the many center class in China’s first-tier southern cities.

China lately stated it had already surpassed its goal of getting 300 million folks to take part in winter sports activities by the Beijing Video games.

(Enhancing by Peter Rutherford)