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When Greece implemented the second national blockade, Manso Valsamidis was not caught off guard as it was during the first blockade in the spring. The 21-year-old is already ready to build a "rock climbing base" in his home.
Valsamidis lives in Thessaloniki, a city in northern Greece, and studied medicine at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, the largest in Greece. He is also a rock climber and has won the Greek Junior Rock Climbing Championship. .
At the end of March this year, in order to control the new crown epidemic, the Greek government implemented a travel ban nationwide. Valsamidis missed the climbing training.
Recently, the second wave of the epidemic has struck, and Greece, which has just relaxed restrictions for a few months, has once again become nervous. The Greek government announced that in order to avoid "unbearable" pressure on the medical system, the country has entered a state of lockdown again starting on November 7. The lockdown lasted for three weeks, shops and restaurants were closed, unnecessary cross-regional travel within the territory was forbidden, and the nationwide curfew from 9 pm to 5 pm the next day...
On November 7, a man walked through an empty street in Athens, Greece . Xinhua News Agency/Ou Xin
"Learning from the experience during the first blockade, this time I made a plan and can conduct comprehensive training (at home)." Valsamidis told Xinhua News Agency reporters.
He built himself a climbing wall in the living room of his apartment.
Due to the small interior space, the climbing wall can only be built on the wall behind the sofa in the living room. Valsamidis selected a number of wooden blocks of different sizes and shapes, and installed them at different positions on the whole board that had been nailed to the wall to form the handle points or footsteps needed for rock climbing.
On November 10th, Manzo Valsamidis was training on a homemade rock wall at his home in Thessaloniki, Greece. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Dimitris)
removed the sofa, vacated the ground in front of the climbing wall, and placed anti-fall cushions. After completing these preliminary preparations, Valsamidis grabbed the handle point with his bare hands and jumped up. Go to the wall and start training.
Valsamidis started to get involved in rock climbing ten years ago when he was 11 years old living in the northern Greek city of Xanthi and was a swimmer. In 2010, the swimming pool was closed for renovations and the city government built a climbing wall for training. Valsamidis fell in love with the sport when he saw the climbing wall.
"I have liked climbing trees since I was a child. I also tried other sports during the period when I couldn't swim, but I fell in love with rock climbing, which is more challenging." Valsamidis said that he likes the kind of leaving the ground, The feeling of being close to rocks and nature.
Nowadays, the virus is raging, and getting close to nature has to give in to epidemic prevention. Thessaloniki, where Valsamidis lives, is the second largest city in Greece with a population of 1.1 million. Since the beginning of the fall, it has become one of the regions with the fastest growth rate and the most cases in Greece, and it ranks first among the regions with the most daily diagnoses in Greece.
On November 3, a man walked through a closed shop on the streets of Thessaloniki, Greece. Xinhua News Agency/AFP
People's living habits have to be changed. But like many people living in this city, Valsamidis did not view the impact of the epidemic completely negatively. Instead, he was abiding by the blockade measures and staying at home as much as possible while saving strength for the future.
He admitted that compared with training in professional venues before the epidemic, the limitations of indoor training have caused him to lose some training effects, but he still actively maintains communication with the coaches and tries to arrange indoor training according to the training schedule before the epidemic.
On November 10th, Manzo Valsamidis was training on a homemade rock wall at his home in Thessaloniki, Greece. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Dimitris)
"I won't be lazy." Valsamidis said, " I see the lockdown period as an opportunity for me to make more progress, noIt only refers to my training, but also includes my studies , because I don’t need commuting time, I have more time to learn and train. "Z5z
also hopes to visit China and climb the Great Wall after the epidemic is over. He said that he has seen some rock climbing activities held in China's rock cave areas, and the scenery is spectacular. "I want to try it too." What's interesting about
is, Xinhua News Agency reporters responded enthusiastically to Valsamidis’s English report on overseas social media. Foreign netizens left messages expressing their respect (envy) and admiration. Great, we should all learn from him. "Z2z
After reading the story of Valsamidis, how do you plan to climb the mountain in 2021?
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Producer: Xu Haijing Yan Junyan
Reporter: Yu Shuaishuai Li Xiaopeng
Camera: Angelos Chazis
Editor: Tang Zhiqiang Sun Hao Sui Li Xi Xu Xiaolei
Video Editor: Sun Shuo
