Rising to the challenge

Team behind Olympic venue's development sees hard work pay off at World Cup event

A dedicated group of foreign professionals proudly surveyed the fruits of their labor on Thursday as the Genting ski resort in Hebei province passed another significant milestone in its 2022 Winter Olympics odyssey.

Bathed in golden mountainside sunshine, spectators oohed and aahed at the spectacular tricks and flips performed during the FIS Snowboard Halfpipe World Cup at the Olympic venue, situated in the Chongli district of Zhangjiakou, Beijing's co-host city for the Games.

Among the cheering crowd was Tyson Goodrich, a 40-year-old American who led a team of foreign and local staff in building the seven-meter-deep halfpipe ramp in time for the World Cup event and, ultimately, the Olympics.

"It's a hard job but the smiles on people's faces and the fun they enjoyed after riding ramps I built was invaluable," reflected Goodrich.

"I put my energy into this facility and the next day you have hundreds of people run through it and they get so much enjoyment from it. There are not a lot careers in which one person can give that to so many people."

Goodrich received an offer to work at Genting on the day Beijing won the right to host the 2022 Games - July 31, 2015.

His CV in course development is second to none, with his most recent Olympic experience coming at the 2014 Sochi Games in Russia, where he built the stopestyle course.

In Chongli, which will host freestyle skiing and snowboarding in 2022, Goodrich has reprised his role as developer-in-chief. After completing the halfpipe in 2016, he and his team revamped the entry ramp and extended the length of the slope this summer to generate more take-off speed for boarders to execute more challenging tricks.