Tibetannet

Looking back at previous Olympic Games, the African plateau regions of Kenya and Ethiopia have proved to be a fertile breeding ground for middle- and long-distance Olympic running champions.

Can the Tibetan Plateau, the “third pole” in addition to Antarctica and the Arctic, also produce middle- and long-distance Olympic running champions? It would make up for China’s “lack” in this area at the Olympics.

Tobgye, born in 1994 in Dagze County, Tibet, is traveling to the Rio Olympics this year to participate in the men’s marathon event. A boy who grew up in the countryside, seeding barley, raising yaks, and doing farm work, he nonetheless showed potential early on in middle- and long-distance running events.

In 2009, Tobgye entered the Tibet Sports School to being systematic middle- and long-distance running training, and soon stood out in national and international competitions such as the National Youth Championships. In recent years, Tobgye has traveled to Africa to train, thereafter participating in the Asian Games, Asian Championships, and other competitions. He has grown from a child cowherd to a national top-notch athlete.

In March of this year during the Chinese Olympic track and field team trials, Tobgye ran a time of 2 hours 13 minutes and 16 seconds, becoming one of three men who will represent China in the men’s marathon event at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Tseyang Shenjie, another Tibetan athlete from Qinghai Province, will lead the Chinese women’s team in the women’s walking event, fighting at the Rio Olympics for gold in the women’s 20 km walking event. At the 2012 London Olympics, she earned a silver medal in the 20km women’s walking event, which was the first time a Tibetan athlete from China had medaled at the Olympics.

Kelsang Tsering, Tobgye’s mentor and coach, said that ability to adapt to the high altitude has given Tibetan children good heart and lung functions, developing certain innate advantages towards endurance events.

Can Tobgye and Tseyang Shenjie, these two Olympic athletes from the Tibetan Plateau, win gold for China in Rio? We will wait and see.