If Russians can be seen everywhere in the women's singles competition, half of the men's singles competition is occupied by Japanese ice fans, and the ice dance fans are evenly divided between Canadian and American fans, then at the pair skating competition, the five-star red flag is the most common one flying.
The Winter Olympics is, after all, a sporting event that takes place every four years, and figure skating is extremely entertaining. In addition, before the start of the Winter Olympics, the central bank had deliberately begun promoting Jiang Yu as the favorite to win the gold medal, so the attendance for today's pairs skating short program was full.
Some spectators who don’t know much about figure skating also came to witness the highlight moments of their country’s Olympic athletes with their own eyes.
"Next, please invite the fifth group of players to do six minutes of pre-match practice. Repeat, please invite the fifth group of players to do six minutes of pre-match practice."
"Next, it's turn to group 5..."
The bilingual announcement sounded, the staff pushed open the thick foam baffle, and two Chinese faces slid in from the entrance. Lu You adjusted his breathing and skated on the ice with Xie Yunjun.
A loud voice suddenly came from the one closest to the ice surface—
An old man with a national flag painted on his face and a victory scarf on his head stood up and waved the small flags in his left and right hands: "Athletes! Come on! Stand up!... Hey? Why are there two children? They don't seem to be the champion pair I saw on TV?"
Xie Yunjun turned his head, placed his index finger lightly on his lips, and made a silencing gesture towards the source of the sound.
Immediately, an ice fan patted the uncle on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, is this your first time watching a competition?" a little girl asked with a smile. There were a bunch of identical paper bags neatly stacked at her feet. The little girl picked up one of them and said, "This is for you. The etiquette for watching figure skating competitions is quite special. Please try not to make loud noises before the athletes finish their program."
"There is a printed brochure in the paper bag. You can take a look at it before the game starts."
Ren Chengfu touched his big belly embarrassedly and said, "I'm sorry, sister. I watched more basketball games before, so I don't understand these."
Li Yan smiled and shook his head, pointing at the paper bag: "The one you saw on TV was the Jiang-Yu combination, but now it's another pair of young players from our country who are on the field. The manual contains a brief introduction to all the players participating today."
Ren Chengfu reached into the paper bag and took out a palm-sized manual, and then took out a blanket, a bottle of water, two mascot dolls and a garbage bag.
Li Yan listed all the details: "The ice rink is very cold. The blankets are for ice fans to keep warm. When you finish drinking water, remember to put it in the garbage bag and take it away. As for the dolls, you can throw them into the ice rink after the players finish their game to express your love."
Ren Chengfu felt a sense of authority, nodded, and began to read the booklet carefully.
The booklet is very detailed, not only does it include photos and competition trajectories of each pair of players, but it also has Q-version characters carefully drawn next to them.
Printing factory owner Ren Chengfu's eyes lit up.
…
After the ice fans quieted down, Xie Yunjun smiled towards them, causing Li Yan and a group of female ice fans to cover their hearts and lie back on their chairs happily.
In the following practice time, he and Lu You completed a three-twist and a 3A throw.
According to the current ISU regulations, the pairs short program is accompanied by aerial jumps, twists, and throws, and the ban on quadruple jumps has not yet been lifted. In order not to fall too far behind in points, Lu You and Xie Yunjun included the Axel triple throw jump in their short program and free skating.
Compared with other throw jumps where the male partner plays a leading role, the particularity of the 3A throw forward jump determines its high requirements for the jumping ability of the female partner, and the male partner is secondary.
So Lu You, who had completed the sixth exercise, took a deep breath and went to take painkillers.
There are a total of 19 teams of doubles athletes participating in this year's Winter Olympics, from 14 different countries. They are divided into six groups, with three people in each of the first five groups and four people in the last group.
Xie Yunjun drew the second place in the lottery yesterday, so the order of the fifth group is: Ivlova & Mosokov (Russia), Lu You & Xie Yunjun (China), Margaret & Feiqi (Italy).
Jiang Ran and Yu Botao were lucky enough to catch the last one in the last group, which was the king's position.
The one competing on the field at this time was Lu You and Xie Yunjun's old friend, YM of Big Goose. While checking the Coaster of the two children, Lu Tingsong said, "I didn't expect that they also made it to the second to last group."
That's right. YM was promoted to the same group as Lu You and Xie Yunjun. In order to accumulate enough points this season, the brother and sister have been flying around the world and participating in various competitions.
I can only say that they are all ruthless people.
YM's selection for the Olympic short program is Albinoni's "Andante in G Minor". This piece of music itself is quite special. It was restored using manuscript fragments found in the ruins of a library during World War II. The background of its creation is completely unknown, and how it is performed depends entirely on the contestant's personal understanding.
This is undoubtedly a piece of music that is very challenging for the contestants. I don't know how the coaching team approved it. Ivlova and Mosokov, who have just reached adulthood, obviously cannot control this violin piece. The sense of disconnection between the two and the music is so strong that the soundtrack almost becomes a background board for showing off their skills.
A few minutes later, YM's short program ended and he temporarily ranked first with a score of 75.23.
Li Yan smacked his lips, feeling a bit of toothache: "Why is the second to last group's score already rushing towards 75? What kind of gods are these contestants this year?"
At this time, Ren Chengfu had finished reading the manual and was thinking about how high the commercial value would be if he took advantage of the Olympic Games to produce some athlete postcards. Although the official real-life posters of the Olympic Committee were already everywhere, no one had ever produced board-drawn fan art like the one in the booklet.
Hearing Li Yan's sigh, he asked the younger generation openly, "Is 75 points impressive? What does that mean?"
Li Yan thought for a moment and said, "The champion of last year's Pyeongchang Winter Olympics only scored 76 points in the short program."
Ren Chengfu doesn't know much about figure skating, but he couldn't help but worry: "The next one will be our country's skater, right? It will be very stressful to perform behind such a strong group of skaters."
Li Yan: Uncle, how can I tell you that if there are no mistakes, their score can reach 80 points?
Li Yan's words are not groundless. The scores at the Winter Olympics are generally a little higher than usual. Although this is inseparable from the athletes' great efforts to perform at their best, the Winter Olympics is indeed the competition where SB (season record), PB (personal record) and even WR (world record) are refreshed most frequently.
As the announcement was made, a bright yellow piece of clothing quickly jumped onto the ice.
Guan Lin, who was sitting at the commentary desk, immediately stopped explaining the replay of YM's wonderful skills. She flicked the microphone and said, "Let's turn our attention back to the ice rink. Our country's Lu You and Xie Yunjun are on the ice now."
Guan Lin began to introduce the various battle achievements of Lu You and Xie Yunjun, giving them plenty of space.
Finally, the former number one in women's singles changed the subject: "At 16 and 17 years old, they are the youngest skaters in pairs skating. I believe that they will become the favorites to win the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics after years of development."
This is a disguised way of giving everyone a shot of prevention, so that after the competition, Lu You and Xie Yunjun will not be led by some black fans because their results did not meet public expectations.
Male commentator: "Audience members who are familiar with the Lu and Xie duo should know that their short program is "Beauty and the Beast". The two contestants used this program to get second place in the team competition half a month ago, laying a solid foundation for the bronze medal in the team competition."
The sound of the piano flows on the ice.
Mr. Beast knelt down and invited him to dance. The girl in the yellow skirt lifted her skirt and saluted her prince.
This piece of music is not a classic selection in the figure skating world, nor is it a tribute program like "Memories of the Forbidden City" or "Defense of the Yellow River", nor is it a timeless masterpiece like "Turandot" or "The Pearl Fishers" chosen by other predecessors. It is just a fairy tale known to everyone.
But as they are in their prime years, their undying youthful spirit and dreamy fairy tale are the perfect match.
In the dreamlike waltz on ice, Lu You and Xie Yunjun spread their arms as if dancing on the carved tiles of an ancient castle. The ice skates under their feet spun lightly, and when they changed the direction of sliding with one foot, layers of ice mist danced with their movements.
They left two identical sliding tracks on the ice.
Li Yan in the audience said: "Bracket step, a kind of sliding step, is similar to Choctaw step. It is often used to connect jumps to get higher GOE points. Lu Xie is about to complete the jump."
Guan Lin's voice continued to ring out.
"Philips triple jump."
"Twist three times, and you'll be graded as level four."
"Three sets of hand-held hip lifts, rated level four."
In the real-time updated score table, the representative color of grade 4 is green, the representative color of grade 3 is orange, and those below grade 2 are all red. At the end of the first half of the program, there was a beautiful green number 4 on the score table of Lu You and Xie Yunjun.
With 3ATh as the dividing line, all technical movements in the program that require taking off and rising are completed in the first half.
And in the remaining minute, the dance party in the castle is about to reach its climax.
Lu You smiled and took Xie Yunjun's hand. He tilted the ice skates under his feet, fell on his back, drew a big circle with the front outer blade, and danced in circles under the starry sky.
The front outer helix, another technical element, was rated as level four.
The next action is the follow-up step.
The girl in a yellow evening dress shyly reaches out her hand to the one she loves. Her brave, resolute, free and fearless figure has already entered that lonely heart.
I am willing to embrace your terrifying appearance, melt your frozen heart, dispel the darkness that shrouds the castle, and I am willing to accept all your hidden imperfections.
This pure beauty is enough to move every audience present.
Accompanied by the melodious tune, Lu You and Xie Yunjun stood vertically facing the referee's seat, hugged their knees and started a squat rotation.
This is an amazing synchronized rotation for two people.
The Yuna Spin posture requires an almost abnormal amount of waist strength, but they performed it impeccably. When they changed to a bend and turn, the two of them raised their hands in unison, like the elegant crystal figures on a music box, with their arms crossed up and down to form a beautiful shape.
Finally, Xie Yunjun pursed her lips, raised her head and lifted her sword together with her female companion, and completed the final Biellmann spin accompanied by the lingering sound of the music.
Guan Lin's voice rang out along with the applause: "Using a knife as a pen and ice as paper, our young players have written for us a fairy tale that is as timeless as time."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
