Australian journalist understands China on sports field

Tracey Holmes

Australian journalist Tracey Holmes knows many Chinese athletes perhaps better than lots of Chinese people do.

A presenter with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. who worked as media information manager at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the senior sports reporter has worked for 14 Olympic Games since 1992. She has also worked in China for about 10 years.

Sports events, she noted, could help forge people-to-people relationships, so as to build mutual understanding and trust, and help eliminate misunderstanding and suspicion.

In fact, Holmes has a strong connection with China.

Her paternal great-great-grandfather was a doctor of Chinese medicine surnamed Lin, who arrived in Australia from East China’s Fujian Province in the 1850s. During the country’s “Gold Rush,” he treated Chinese gold miners in Australia, where he later settled down. He married a local woman and changed their children’s surname to Holmes to avoid racial discrimination.

Tracey Holmes lived and worked in Hong Kong in the early 2000s, when she paid her first visit to the Chinese mainland.

In retrospect, she described the visit as “a journey of exploration” when her husband and her looked for an apartment to live in, and schools to send their three sons to.

They also went to tourist attractions such as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and Houhai Lake in central Beijing, where they skated when it froze in winter.

“I think what’s amazing about all of these places is they’re more than tourist destinations; they’re full of history,” said Holmes. “They’re full of the most amazing stories. You could spend a lifetime in Beijing or in China and never know all of the stories. There’s just so much to learn.”

After moving to China, Holmes worked for China Central Television (CCTV) and China Global Television Network for several years.

She has interviewed many Chinese athletes, including hurdler Liu Xiang, tennis player Li Na, and Lang Ping, coach of China’s national women’s volleyball team known as the “Iron Hammer.”

Holmes was impressed when she met former basketballer Yao Ming, who stands 2.26m tall. “I was looking up like that because he’s so big,” she laughed.

During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she worked as an anchor with CCTV.

“Beijing was just incredible in 2008,” she said. “The world was there for the first time and experiencing what Beijing had to offer.”

Talking about her working experience in China, she said: “I always feel very comfortable amongst the many friends that I’ve made while living in China, and I feel like I’m part of that group.”

Holmes’ latest visit to China was earlier this year for the Beijing Winter Olympics. “When I flew in for the Beijing Winter Olympics, what struck me was, I was looking at the window and you’re flying over Beijing for a long time because it’s so big,” she said.

She stressed the importance of people-to-people relationships enhanced by sports events. “When athletes of the world come together, that helps create understanding to create a better world,” she noted.