BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping on Thursday urged Chinese winter sports athletes to strive for "a splendid life" and devote their youth and strength to the motherland and the people.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in the reply to a letter from Chinese snowboarder Su Yiming.

In the letter, Xi extended congratulations to Su and other athletes in ice and snow sports for their outstanding performance at the Beijing Winter Olympics and put forward expectations for them.

Su said in his letter that he was born in a great country and raised in the best times, and he felt very lucky to have realized his dream through hard work.

Xi said that the new era is the era of dream chasers, and also the era for young people to realize their dreams.

Xi expressed in the letter his hope for young Chinese to keep the motherland at heart, aim high, and have their feet firmly on the ground.

In his letter to Xi, Su expressed his resolve to continue working hard and serving the motherland.

The 18-year-old snowboarder won gold in the Beijing 2022 men's snowboard big air and silver in the men's snowboard slopestyle.