Olympic gold medalists portrayed in Shanxi artist’s polymer clay sculptures

This polymer clay sculpture depicts Yang Qian, who won the first gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games. Her event was the women's 10-meter air rifle. [Kou Ning/For chinadaily.com.cn]

Starting with Chinese shooter Yang Qian, who won the first gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games in the women's 10-meter air rifle on July 24, Yang Li has finished seven polymer clay sculptures of Chinese athletes who won gold medals at the Games.

Besides Yang Qian, who is depicted celebrating with a heart-shaped gesture, the athletes include Hou Zhihui, Sun Yiwen, Wang Shun, Ma Long, Quan Hongchan and Guan Chenchen.

Yang, a fine arts teacher at the Shanxi Vocational College of Art in Taiyuan, North China's Shanxi province, started creating polymer clay sculptures in 2015. She has a solid foundation in art and experience in various handicrafts, such as headwear, dolls and vivid figures.

Before creating a sculpture, she usually watched videos and photos of the athlete and then made the basic shape using clay.

"Then I will put the sculpture into the oven for firing, which helps keep the sculpture for long time," she said. "Last, I will paint it in different colors."

Yang's creativity hasn't ended since the Games closed.

"I want to make sculptures for all the champions and hope to give them as gifts," she said.