Woo hoo, imagine bringing 1, count'em 1 Olympian here to train for six monnths. Boy the money will just roll in! This should give license, to Colin and his band of peddlars, to travel the world given this coup. How pathetic is that!

I am totally underwhelmed - it isn't April 1st, so what gives?

Li JiaJun. Born October 15,1975. Chinese short track speed skater won 5 Olmpic medals. two siver, three bronze.

As of August 18th 2006, he officially retired from short track speedskating. According to Li, he will go to study in Canada later this year and continue his work as the assistant coach for the national team.

This information is available from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and has been their for sometime, therefore I suspect that Initiatives Prince George is trying to hook a free ride.

In any event it appears that all he will be doing is learning English and offering advice to the local speed skating club. Six months later its back to China to help the Chinese National Team kick our butts.

Only you folks could find some negativity in one of the best speed skaters in the world coming to PG at the total expense of China.

Who cares if it's six days or six months, the amount of knowledge that can be gained up by our local athletes and coaches will be HUGE!

This is a major coup for PG. If this works well there is little doubt more Chinese will follow.

You guys are unbelievable...maybe we should just lock the gate to PG and tell everyone to stay away!

Realitycheck. Im not knocking Li JiaJun. His record is impressive. I merely pointed out that he intended to come to Canada to learn English, sometime prior to August 2006, as it turns out he chose Prince George, and will give some instruction/coaching tips to the local team.

This can hardley be construed as a coup for Initiatives Prince George. Unless he is paying us for the use of the facilities, or we are getting some other benefit from his being here, I fail to see how this could be a coup. Free advice for the local skaters is appreciated, however this is a far cry from teams training here..

Dont forget that we already have 60 or more students from China at UNBC, taking various and sundry courses. This, at this point in time, is much more of a coup, than (1) retired Olympian, student.

Let see what happens as we go forward.

As a coach locally, regionally and provincially for many years, I look at this as a real plus up for the speed skating community.
It is not every day, never mind six month periods that we can benefit from a high level performance athlete, where it be in sport or business.

I am with Realitycheck. Give credit where it is due.
Infrastructure and facilities have attracted this guy to the City. Who is responsible for this is questionable, I suspect it is a collaboration of a number of groups.

Good stuff.............keep it coming!!!