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For 16-year-old Li Miaomiao, sore feet from wearing high heels for hours at a time and an achy jaw from constant smiling are worth the chance of presenting a medal to hang around an athlete’s neck during the Beijing Olympics.
The willow-thin high school student is one of 34 Chinese girls“training”to be an Olympic medal presenter at the Beijing Foreign Affairs School(BFAS), one of several state-run colleges charged with producing camera-friendly girls for awards ceremonies.
When not balancing books on her head to improve posture(体态)during medal presentation rehearsal(预演)sessions, Li and her class-mates study English, receive cultural training and look at pictures of past medal presenters and their uniforms.
Most important for Li, though, is the smile.
“I practice at home, and smile to the mirror for an hour every day,”Li said, beaming radiantly in a red waistcoat and high heels on the sidelines of a class.“I want to present my smile to the world, and let them know that the Chinese smile is the warmest.”
Apart from common-sense communication tips, such as looking directly at someone while talking to them, students are also informed the perfect smile consists of“only showing the eight top teeth”.
For Li Miaomiao, the perfect smile comes naturally – after having practiced for hours in the mirror.It no doubt helped Li become one of only seven girls chosen from dozens of applicants to present medals to winning boxers at an Olympic test event.
Being 16, Li is technically ineligible to become an Olympic medal presenter, where guidelines call for 18-25 year-old university students.But she rates herself a competitor, anyway.“I’m very confident.I think I have an 80 percent chance,”she said, flashing a winning smile.