Chapter 71 The Day Before Departure for Sochi

A loud crash of ice falling echoed across the ice rink, followed by a cry of pain from the boy, drawing the attention of those around him.

Since the end of last season, Lin Ye has been building muscle and trying to stabilize his 4S (four-times freestyle) routine. However, he prefers toe jumps, and his success rate with 4S is not as high as with 4T (four-times freestyle). Even if he manages to land, he still has some missing rotations.

Xia Yuezi glanced at her once and then looked away, focusing her attention back on Yang Yiyan.

The training camp is more than halfway through, and three rounds of selection competitions have already been completed. Each child has made progress to varying degrees.

Yang Yiyan's awareness of making amends has gradually been established. In the free skate of the last selection competition, Yang Yiyan made a triple turn on her 3F. After turning once, she lifted her foot to connect with a 2T, changing the first jump of the triple jump to a 3LZ. In the second half, she added a 3F+3Lo.

However, after three qualifying matches, the woman she was most worried about in the women's singles was not Yang Yiyan, but Zhang Mengyi.

As the women's singles jump coach, she has a thorough understanding of each athlete's physical condition in order to provide detailed training arrangements for the four female singles athletes.

Logically speaking, the longer a career lasts, the more serious the injuries should be. However, the data she obtained from the team doctor showed that the one in the worst physical condition among the four was not the oldest, Jiang Shuyu, but Zhang Mengyi.

This physical condition refers not only to injuries and illnesses, but also to a comprehensive assessment of various physical indicators. In addition to a series of common injuries and illnesses such as back injuries, waist injuries, and knee wear and tear, Zhang Mengyi also experienced exercise-induced amenorrhea.

Exercise-induced amenorrhea is a phenomenon that occurs in many female athletes and is generally related to factors such as body fat and stress. Even without amenorrhea, female athletes in sports closely related to weight may experience menstrual irregularities.

Take Xia Yuezi herself as an example. Even though she is a power athlete, she still needs to control her weight during puberty, but she only gets her period every two or three months, which does not meet the conditions for exercise-induced amenorrhea. After puberty gradually passes, she gets her period every two months during the season, and her body fat increases during the off-season, which will return to normal.

If Zhang Mengyi were still in the most critical period of puberty, she wouldn't have said anything about experiencing exercise-induced amenorrhea. However, the problem is that Zhang Mengyi is almost eighteen years old, and her epiphyseal plates have already closed. Neither her height nor her weight has shown any upward trend, which proves that her puberty has reached its end, yet she still experiences amenorrhea.

Xia Yuezi spoke with Zhang Mengyi as soon as she received the medical report. Zhang Mengyi had just finished training and still looked tired. After learning Xia Yuezi's purpose, she smiled self-deprecatingly.

"Of course I know that I can't overwork my body if I want to extend my career, but this is the kind of training I've received since the junior group. Even if I want to change it now, it's not that easy."

If it were really that easy, she wouldn't have fallen out with Wang Can and gone to find a foreign coach on the eve of the Olympics.

During the time she couldn't go abroad, she could only bring bones and meat from the cafeteria back to make soup, gradually supplementing her calcium and increasing her bone density, so that she could pick up her lost jumping ability again after going abroad for training.

However, this situation couldn't continue indefinitely. Xia Yuezi and several other women's singles coaches discussed asking the training team's nutritionist to create a reasonable diet plan so that Zhang Meng could build up her muscle mass without changing her weight.

Thinking of this, Xia Yuezi couldn't help but sigh, which startled Yang Yiyan, who thought that Xia Yuezi had done something wrong.

Xia Yuezi noticed Yang Yiyan's unease and gently patted her shoulder to comfort her.

The arduous and tedious training camp continued until the end of January, at which time the results of the selection competition were also released.

Yang Yiyan and Zhang Mengyi, Lin Ye and Feng Simai ranked first and second in their respective events, securing their tickets to the Sochi Winter Olympics. The athletes who ranked third and fourth will represent China at the Four Continents Championships.

The Four Continents Championships and the Winter Olympics were held only ten days apart. Although the individual medal competition took place in the middle and later stages of the Winter Olympics, the team medal competition began on the very first day of the Winter Olympics.

To ensure that athletes have more energy to compete for the Olympics, the leadership came up with this method of allocating quotas, which also helps to stabilize other athletes.

It was precisely because a team event was added to this year's Winter Olympics that the head coach of the training team convened a meeting with the Olympic athletes after the athletes from the four continents left the stadium.

"This team competition uses a points system, with rules similar to the World Team Championships established by Japan. However, the Winter Olympics has an elimination system. After the short program in the four events, points will be used to rank the teams. The top five countries in the points ranking will enter the final, which is the free skate competition. Finally, the teams will be ranked according to their total points."

"In this Winter Olympics, apart from ice dance, all other events have two slots, especially pairs, which has a full quota and can take turns on the ice. Everyone knows the strength of our country's figure skating. Reaching the finals in this team event is already a huge breakthrough. It would be even better if we could get on the podium."

If a country that has qualified for the team event has two or more athletes participating in the Olympics, they can arrange their own short program and free skate participants during the team event, since participating in both individual and team events at the same time is very physically demanding.

Correspondingly, if a country that has qualified for the team event does not have any athletes participating in the individual event, in order to make up for the lack of athletes in all four events of the team event, a team event spot will be given to the athlete from that country who is missing an event.

In figure skating, apart from pairs which has reached the World Championships and offers some hope of winning medals in individual events, it is quite difficult for China to win medals in the other events. Even Yang Yiyan, who currently has one of the highest difficulty scores on paper in women's singles, still has to rely on the judges' favor.

Many athletes had their own thoughts after hearing this, especially the ice dance pair.

An You and Qiao Wen lost to the veterans in the selection trials and missed the Sochi Winter Olympics qualification, but even so, it does not mean that the two veterans are that strong.

After all, their best results in their careers were 18th place at the World Championships and 9th place at the Four Continents Championships. Now they are plagued by injuries, and even after intensive training and emergency repairs, their form may not be able to return to its peak. At best, they can only make it to the free dance in individual competitions, and it will be very difficult for them to climb any higher.

Among their teammates, the other three events all have athletes ranked in the top ten in A-level competitions. If they give up the individual competition and give their all in the team competition, they might be carried by their teammates and make history for Chinese ice dance.

Xia Yuezi sat with the other coaches, her own plans in mind. Then she heard the head coach point at Li Tan and say, "Coach Li, you have experience leading the team in the Olympics before, so you will be the team leader again this time. Also, there is an extra team competition this time, so remember to keep an eye on things after the last match."

The team competition rankings were determined immediately after the last round, followed by the finals. There was only a short break between the two rounds, during which the skaters for the free skate competition had to be finalized and the list submitted to the organizing committee.

The meeting was short, and besides discussing the team events, it also covered the issue of conduct in the Olympic Village. The athletes and coaches sitting below were given a thorough lecture.

Xia Yuezi was used to hearing this. There was always a pep talk like this before each Olympic Games. It was because the Olympic figure skaters were generally young. Apart from a pair of ice dance and pairs skaters, the other skaters were either just adults or minors.

The athletes who participated in the Four Continents Games have only been back for a few days, and the athletes who will participate in the Sochi Winter Olympics are about to set off.

Several children carried meat home and ate dumplings with their families, as if celebrating the New Year in advance. Even the coaches who stayed in Beijing and couldn't go home for the New Year were able to eat dumplings made by the cafeteria aunties.

After finishing their "New Year's Eve dinner," Xia Yuezi and Meng Xin went to a nearby supermarket to buy some ingredients and fast food.

As an international event, the Olympic Games are often organized by some generous host countries that prepare food according to the cuisines familiar to the participating countries. However, some host countries with limited funds can only prepare food according to their own country's dishes.

Yang Yiyan and Feng Simai both competed in Russia, and they both said that they couldn't get used to Russian cuisine. They would rather stay in the hotel and eat boiled cabbage made by their coach than look at the food in the restaurant.

Xia Yuezi took out her phone and looked for ingredients in the memo app. Meng Xin next to her seemed even more excited. When she turned around, she saw that her shopping cart was full of snacks, as if she had returned to the big shopping spree the day before a school field trip.

Xia Yuezi finally couldn't stand it anymore and pulled her hand away from the potato chips: "Alright, alright, take two bags to satisfy your craving. If you really want to eat, go eat Xiaoyan's. That girl must have brought a lot."

During the training camp, Xia Yuezi's room checks were always spot-on, almost giving Yang Yiyan a psychological trauma.

Meng Xin pouted and withdrew her hand: "That girl is so possessive of her food. Last time I took away a piece of chocolate from her, she chased me for half the ice rink and almost cried in front of me."

"Is that so?" Xia Yuezi picked up a plastic bag and started picking at the cucumbers in front of her.

"I wouldn't really cry, I just don't dare to make a scene in front of you, so I'm just clinging to you like glue."

Meng Xin clicked her tongue, tore off a plastic bag from the side and handed it to Xia Yuezi, then took the plastic bag full of cucumbers: "But I really didn't expect that I wouldn't be able to go to the Olympics as an athlete, but instead as a coach."

"You can't predict fate. When I took over Xiaoyan, she was in a state of being abandoned, but now she has become a pillar of our country's women's singles."

Xia Yuezi smiled slightly, her eyebrows curving upwards.

To be honest, she had thought that her fiery temper, which was avoided by countless coaches, could one day be worn down, let alone become a coach in a place she barely knew.

Meng Xin took the two plastic bags and walked towards the weighing area: "Actually, you spoil those kids quite a bit, but you're a bit strict when you're teaching them."

Xia Yuezi sighed: "What can we do if we're not strict? It's good that we two can play the good cop and the bad cop."

The positive atmosphere within Xia's group is largely due to the excellent coaching skills and personalities of the coaches. Even if Xia Yuezi says something harsh during training, Meng Xin is always able to comfort the child promptly, and once Xia Yuezi has recovered, she will proactively apologize to the child.

Therefore, even though Xia Yuezi was very strict with the children, not many students disliked her.