The Chinese pair join fellow Summer and Winter Games athletes Christopher Coleman (US, Bobsleigh 1992, 1994), Neil Eckersley (Great Britain, judo, 1984, 1988), Kader Klouchi (Algeria, long jump, 1992), Cameron Myler (US, luge, 1988, 1992, 1994) and Laurenne Ross (US, skiing, 2014, 2018) in displaying their artworks virtually at venues around the Beijing Olympics zones.

“​I think diving itself is art, an art in the air, an art of the body challenging its limits. Today I write and paint, which is also art, an art of using actions to reflect my thinking,” Gao, who won 3m springboard gold in Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992, said.

“As a diver, I have often been described as someone who ‘dives like a fish’. Water and ice are linked. The painting also signals the nexus of the Summer and Winter Olympics, as Beijing is the only city in the world to host both the Summer and Winter Games.

“This painting expresses my happiness that the Winter Olympics are coming to Beijing. The Chinese characters in the painting mean: ‘happy fish swimming in the water across five colourful continents’.”

Ye is the first Chinese speed skater to become a world champion, winning all-round titles in 1992 and 1993. She won the 500m silver medal at Albertville 1992, becoming China’s first-ever Winter Games medallist.

“Since ancient times, there has been a Chinese archaism saying that one would rather eat without meat than live without bamboo, which means that bamboo is a symbol of lyrical elegance and grace,” Ye said of her painting. “Bamboo symbolises integrity, unadorned elegance, safe, lofty and unyielding character, confidence and vitality.

“Bamboo means progress: each step is like each section of bamboo, inspiring everyone to constantly move forward. I hope my bamboos can make a wish to all the athletes to keep fighting for their good results.

“The Chinese characters in the painting mean: ‘stay virtuous even when you are little known; stay humble when you are well known’.”

British judoka Neil Eckersley, who won -60kg bronze at the 1984 LA Games and also took part in Seoul 1988, took up painting to deal with the loss of his older brother. As someone with dyslexia, he said painting allowed him to express himself without having to use words.

“There are huge parallels between being an artist and sportsman,” Eckersley said. “I see them both as being a discipline and I needed discipline in my life just to keep me ticking over.

“For me, both opportunities came at the right time. As a young kid when I first got involved in sport I was nine years old and an undiagnosed dyslexic. I was labelled very early on as a troublemaker.

“When I walked on to that judo mat as a young kid it was an amazing opportunity to allow that energy and hyperactivity to be channelled in an amazing way through the sport.

“Tragically, I lost my older brother, and to help me deal with the anxiety, stress and grief, one of my friends asked me if there was anything at school I was drawn to. Because of my dyslexia, it was sport and art. They were the only things to give me positive feedback.”

Coleman is a two-time Olympian at the 1992 and 1994 Olympic Winter Games (Albertville, France, and Lillehammer, Norway) in four-man bobsleigh. After retiring, he took up photography. He is self taught and takes photos using whatever he can get his hands on, including mobile phones and full-frame mirrorless cameras.

“In sport you’re training physically and repeating a task over and over again trying to achieve perfection,” Coleman said. “In art, you exercise the mind and, through practice and repetition, learn to express yourself through different media; sculpture, painting, photography, music, etc.”

Klouchi represented Algeria at Barcelona 1992, having switched from triple jump to long jump less than a year before the Games. He set the French long jump record in 1997 and in 1998.

“Art and sport are intimately linked in my opinion, insofar as these two activities facilitate the discovery of oneself,” he said. “One is spiritual or mental and the other physical. Both are modes of expression. For a long time I thought that sport and painting were means of escape, of forgetting, a form of freedom.”

Myler’s dream of becoming an Olympian began during her very first ride on a luge sled after the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid. The sport provided her with the welcome challenge of testing her physical and mental limits. Cameron competed in four Olympic Games, won 11 World Cup medals and was National Champion seven times.

Her work has been exhibited at the United Nations, the National Arts Club and the iconic New York Athletic Club, as well as in juried shows and gallery exhibits across the country.

Myler’s photos were the inspiration for a ballet called Zoom, which was performed by Dance Alive National Ballet.

Ross takes a camera with her everywhere and tries to see the world from a different perspective. She has been shooting with a film camera since she was 10 years old, and continues to practise this form of photography as she finds the arduous process of shooting and developing film an art form filled with magic.

She has collaborated on projects with Free Range Packs, the US ski team, Shred and Briko helmets, and more. She is now working on digital collages using photographs.

“Sport and art seem like completely disparate spheres of life, but I have found over the years that they are more connected than we think. Participating in sport allows one to find ‘flow’, and express oneself in the most authentic form,” she said.

“Art has a similar appeal; in creating art you can find a true state of flow, and express who you are in the moment. Both art and sport embrace goals and dreams: working toward something bigger than yourself.”