Chapter 99 Survivor: I Am Also a Warrior

The literal translation of "I'm A Survivor" is "I am a survivor," but in the lyrics it is romanticized as "I am a warrior."

The story tells of a premature baby who was given a death sentence by doctors but survived and became a single mother. Despite her tragic life, this mother never wallowed in self-pity.

Correspondingly, the singer of this song, McTye, also suffered misfortune, having experienced a failed marriage and the tragic death of a band member in a plane crash.

Therefore, this song may not be the most famous of all her tracks, but it can easily touch people's hearts.

As the guitar intro began, accompanied by the sounds of other instruments, Yang Yiyan, stepping on rhythmic beats, gradually glided away from the center of the ice rink before the voices could be heard.

Her gliding and edge shifting were very clear. As she entered the turn three, she slowly raised her hands and pressed down to glide out, like a baby struggling to grow. Every breath she took was a struggle against fate.

Then lift your right foot, turn around again, bring the blade under your foot inward, find the right moment to jump off the ice, and after landing, maintain the single-leg posture and spin upward again.

Seeing Yang Yiyan land the 3F+3Lo jump, the spectators excitedly raised and waved their red flags or support banners. The fact that she was able to land the jump shows that Yang Yiyan is gradually emerging from the shadow of last season.

The two coaches on the sidelines still couldn't relax, especially Xia Yuezi. The simpler something is, the harder it is to present. She worked with Yang Yiyan to fill in the content and became more aware of the performance difficulty of this program.

The two-minute and forty-second short program was divided into three parts.

The tiny baby escaped the clutches of death. This was the first and most important hurdle in her life. She finished with a series of jumps, then quickly followed up with a twist and slide to enter the second part, the growth period of her life.

The choreographer made appropriate adjustments to the gradually accelerating melody, giving the dancers time to slow down and buffer. A second before the drum set sounded, Yang Yiyan entered the front swallow position, her hands, which were originally behind her back, gradually opened and then turned into a side squat.

The drumbeats intensified the emotional surge, and the ice skating fans in the stands unconsciously clapped along, clearly feeling the acceleration of the combined spins.

Yang Yiyan turned half her body to the side, tilted her neck upwards as she tried to raise it, and opened both arms completely upwards, as if questioning why the heavens were unfair to her. After turning around a certain number of times, she immediately switched feet and stood up to perform an upright spin.

Xia Yuezi was also counting the beats behind the barrier. The short program only had so much time, and even though the choreographer had made some changes to fit the program's timeline, it still looked a bit rushed.

After we get back, we'll still need to spend some time getting used to each other.

The interlude following the climax was lengthened, with a short section of drums inserted, which was dull but not intense.

Yang Yiyan stepped into the second half of the movement, placing her weight on the back edge and using her core and momentum to push her body forward. Then she followed up with a three-step turn, a bracket step, and a twist. Even if many figure skating fans can't distinguish the footwork movements, they still find the smooth and flowing movements pleasing to the eye.

After completing the entire footwork routine, Yang Yiyan achieved a new level of ice rink coverage. Utilizing drumbeats and expansive movements, she leaned her upper body down for most of the performance, transforming herself into an ordinary woman struggling in hardship.

This movement still ends with a three-turn spin, followed by a windmill spin pose, before moving on to the next rotation.

Xia Yuezi stood to the side, nodding repeatedly: "It seems that the foreign teacher's class during the summer vacation wasn't a waste of time."

Meng Xin smiled as well: "It's not just about gliding, it's also about physical fitness, otherwise you really can't glide down this set of steps."

After 3lz was completed, the program truly entered its third part, which was also what Yang Yiyan really wanted to express.

The climax of the song plays again, this time with even more intense emotions than the first half.

"This is a girl who was born to be eliminated, a victim of a tragic fate, a person who should have been abandoned."

Many figure skating fans know Yang Yiyan because she won a medal in a youth event and continued to shine afterward.

As her popularity soared, more and more people wanted to interview her, asking all sorts of questions, from her future to her early years, but very few people asked about the middle part of her timeline.

Her fans, who knew her before, were gradually captivated by her dazzling performance, almost forgetting her past and that she was also a child who was almost abandoned.

The unfinished version that Xia Yuezi saw in the dance studio was far less refined than it is now. Even the dance movements were rough, and it was obvious that the dancers hadn't been learning for long. But it was this dance that stunned her.

Because she saw in Yang Yiyan a vibrant life force and a self-awareness that had not yet been fully disciplined.

That evening, Xia Yuezi went back and listened to the song again. She closed her eyes and kept replaying the dance in her mind. Gradually, a tear slid down her cheek.

On the ice rink, Yang Yiyan leaned back, her head almost level with her hips, and a very standard bob step appeared on the ice. Then she returned to her original position, swung her arms forcefully, and landed a 2A, jumping directly from the judges' table to the audience on the other side with an amazing distance.

Who says that fate has predetermined the beginning and no one is allowed to resist? If no one really wants to do it, then Yang Yiyan is willing to be the first.

She has always been a stubborn girl who would never back down, just like the song title suggests, a warrior in life.

Xia Yuezi knew from the moment she started working on the program's choreography that it would be difficult to skate, but she never doubted that Yang Yiyan would be able to capture the essence of the program.

Because what she's skating on is her life over the past 17 years and the blueprint she's building for the future.

The impact of this program is indescribable; even after the contestants finished their performances, they maintained an upward-looking posture, waving their hands high.

The nine judges looked at each other, struggling to score Yang Yiyan's actions in the final five art categories, as the screen in front of them kept playing back.

The program content score is out of 50, with each item worth 10 points. To differentiate between the short program and the free skate, and to avoid an imbalance between the technical score and the program content score, a weighting system is used to balance the scores.

Taking women's singles as an example, the weight of the short program is 0.8, and the weight of the free skate is 1.6. That is, after the scores of the five major events are obtained, they are multiplied by the weight to get the final program component score.

Yang Yiyan's performance and musical expression were impeccable, but her transitions and skating were not perfect. They wouldn't be willing to give her nine points, but seven or eight points doesn't seem that bad either.

Once in the waiting area, Yang Yiyan had calmed down and sat quietly listening to the coach's nagging.

"The first half of the stride was a bit too long, which made your subsequent jumps look rushed. The quality of the first jump is very important for the 3L1 combination. I told you before the competition that even if you don't get stuck, you have to make sure the points for the combination jump. You can't always rely on the 3L1 combination to make up for it."

Yang Yiyan apologized quickly: "I was wrong, I'll be more careful next time."

After watching Xia Yuezi finish her reprimand, Meng Xin continued, "Also, your single-leg gliding in your footwork has noticeably slowed down, especially the outward hook step, where your center of gravity is off."

After being reprimanded by the jumping coach and the footwork coach, Yang Yiyan slowly shrank her neck, blinked, took the coach's hand, and habitually leaned against her, revealing a mischievous expression.

Xia Yuezi put the towel back in her bag. Without even looking over there, she could tell from the gradually weakening voice that Meng Xin definitely couldn't continue scolding her.

She turned around and pulled the person back without saying a word, which frightened Yang Yiyan so much that she dared not continue. She put on a fake smile for the camera, trying to cover up the memories of the ice skating fans.

Photographers near the area found the scene interesting and asked Yang Yiyan in English if they could take a group photo. The camera then moved and captured the moment when the three of them leaned their heads together.

The scores were also released at this time.

With a technical score of 37.21 and a program content score of 31.24, the total score is 68.45, currently ranking first.

The scene instantly erupted in excitement. The more technically inclined figure skating fans in front of their screens, upon seeing the P score, immediately grabbed their phone calculators to analyze how many points Yang Yiyan could score with the best possible short program if she could return to her peak form.

After all, during the offseason, only training videos of 3F+3lo and 2A+3T were released, and there has been no news of 3A returning home.

Compared to the fans, the three on the chairs seemed quite calm. The technical score was a bit lower than Xia Yuezi had predicted, but the program component score had increased, and the final scores were not far apart. It seems that the judges had a high level of approval for this program.

The only people who seemed a bit down were probably Claire and her coach.

She didn't pay attention to the scores on the big screen, but she saw the second half of Yang Yiyan's performance while waiting in the wings, and with the cheers coming from all directions, she could probably guess what was going on.

However, as an athlete, Claire had already developed a strong heart to withstand pressure. She slowly exhaled, adjusted her state, and maintained her high level, becoming the only contestant in the entire competition to score 70 points in the short program.

Xia Yuezi stood in the aisle, looked up at the score on the screen, pursed her lips, and shifted her gaze to the judges' seat.

The Russian and Canadian referees sat on opposite sides of the table, both looking rather grim. If it weren't for the person sitting between them, they probably would have started fighting.

The player's P score is fine, but the technical score dropped by about three points compared to the real-time score. Even if the GOE changes, it shouldn't drop by that much. The problem must lie with the referee.

She leaned against the partition, watching the two people talking about the score sheet in the backstage corridor, and sighed deeply.

Yang Yiyan's combination jumps were not marked, but the score was negative. The replay angle was also not good enough, and only the double image of the skates on the ice could be seen. The coaching team could only guess that Yang Yiyan was on the ice at 3lo, even though they knew that Yang Yiyan would almost never make such a mistake.

There's no way to appeal objective things like GOE and P scores; even if you feel wronged, you can only swallow it down.

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Author's note: Cause I was born to be

The baby girl without a chance

A victim of circumstance

The one who ought to give up

But she's just to hard headed

Because I was born destined

The girl who was born to be excluded

Victims with tragic fates

The person who should have been abandoned

But she stubbornly refused to back down.

The moment I heard this song, I immediately thought of Xiao Yan [heart emoji]