"I hope that every female can be her own compass in life," said a teary Xu Mengtao, China's first woman aerial skiing Olympic champion and now a star of the country's hit reality television show Sisters Who Make Waves.

Xu, 32, took home one of two "breakthrough role model" awards - alongside 54-year-old disco icon Zhang Qiang - in the latest season of the show, which centres on female celebrities over the age of 30.