As we all know, figure skating is divided into four events. The organizers of previous competitions have a common principle in arranging the order of appearance of each event, which is to put their country's strongest event at the end.
As early as half a year ago, the schedule for the Milan Winter Olympics was announced. As the most popular event in winter sports, figure skating is still the first to appear. The order of appearance in the team and individual competitions is: women's singles, men's singles, pairs, and ice dancing.
On the day after the pre-match training, Caveira held his face and asked his two friends: "How do you plan the team competition the day after tomorrow?"
Lu You held Xie Yunjun's arm and wiped the skates with a towel: "We will only participate in the short program, and the free skating will be left to the seniors."
Erica raised her hand: "The two Canadian pairs seniors are old and can't keep up with the energy. They will skate the short program to save their energy for the individual competition later. Carlo and I will skate the free program."
Caveira shrugged: "I won't participate in either event. I will cheer you on from the audience when the time comes."
After exchanging information, the three looked at each other, and Erica was the first to snap her fingers: "Oh, this year's team competition will be worth watching."
That's right. Before Pyeongchang, the United States, Canada and Russia had the most balanced development of their projects. If the Olympics were likened to the Spring and Autumn Period, then from Sochi to Pyeongchang, the team competition was purely divided into three parts.
But this balance was broken at the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics four years ago, with Italy and China joining the battle, and this year Japan may be added.
However, the ice dance of Rabbit Village and Sakura Country are both weak points. Both countries have the disadvantage of three-to-one. At present, it seems that the Big Goose, which is strong in four events, is most likely to win the gold medal.
While they were talking, the music on the field reached the second to last group, "The Avengers" sounded, and Italy's doubles leader Bellec pulled her male partner onto the field with a murderous look on her face. She looked in the direction of the American team with a sharp look as if she wanted to kill someone.
Suddenly, a tall brown-haired man on the American team trembled.
Lu You raised his eyebrows: "Is this the hero who betrayed the team during the Olympic preparation year, abandoned his female companion, changed his nationality and worked for Mi Lijian?"
"Yes," Caveira looked at the brown curly-haired man with disdain, "It's the real-life story of the farmer and the snake - I'm going to spit first, ugh."
Erica curled her lips and said, "When Bellec teamed up with him, he was already the Italian doubles champion. It was just that his original partner was diagnosed with a heart disease and gave up figure skating, so Bellec had to choose a new partner."
"Bellek spent three years training a nobody to become a top male companion. He spent a lot of money and energy, but he ran away at the most critical moment. Italy is really in retrograde this year."
It is interesting to say that Italy, the host country of this year's Winter Olympics, had a highlight moment at the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics four years ago, but with the retirement of Margaret's group of veterans, their reserve forces could not keep up, and their world status in the past four years can be said to have dived straight in the opposite direction.
Men's singles skating has little presence in the world. If they are not careful, they will lose the qualification for free skating. Women's singles are slightly better. If they work hard, they can compete for the top ten. The two doubles events are also in an awkward situation of being neither better than the best nor worse than the worst.
Not only can Italy's pairs skating not keep up with the extremely difficult events of China, Japan and Russia, but it is also being outperformed by the United States, Canada and France in ice dancing. Now the number one male partner in pairs skating has been poached by the United States. Italy is really unlucky in this Olympic year in its own backyard.
As the saying goes, enemies become more jealous of each other when they meet. Bellec's performance of "Avenger" was full of murderous aura.
When passing by the American team, the girl raised her middle finger at them, raised her leg, and slashed the American team straight in front of the ice skates, performing a show of slashing a scumbag with a knife in front of the live camera for all the audience.
After the music ended, Belek smiled at his former male partner and said, "I wish you fall every time you jump, miss one turn in each spin, and never straighten your arms when you lift them."
Not cursing about things like not being able to catch the ball or slipping her hand during lifting, which might affect her female companion's life, was the last kindness shown by the Italian No. 1 sister.
The pre-match competition ended on February 9th, and the next day, the Milan Winter Olympics figure skating team competition officially started.
The order of performance in the short program of the team competition is still determined by the world rankings of the participating players. When the Israeli players began their performance, Li Xiaoyue, who was the second to perform, was so nervous that she almost poked through the foam baffle in front of her.
You know, the resources and support of the national second team are completely different from those of the first team. As a player of the second team, Li Xiaoyue spends most of her time in various B-level competitions. The Four Continents Championship she participated in last month was the highest-level competition she has ever participated in in her life.
If it weren't for Jiang Shi's explosive performance in bringing back two tickets for the country, she might have remained in obscurity in the second team until her retirement.
Every athlete has an Olympic dream. But when Li Xiaoyue really approached the stadium, she was so nervous that her eyes turned black and her legs became weak.
Seeing Zhao Zixuan, a veteran athlete who had competed in three Olympics, coming over, Li Xiaoyue wiped the cold sweat from the tip of her nose and said, "Brother Xuan... No, Captain Zhao, this is my first time participating in the Olympics and I'm a little inexperienced. I just wanted to ask, if I don't skate well, will it affect our country's performance on the stage?"
Zhao Zixuan patted her shoulder and said, "It's not that exaggerated. Just relax and skate."
"I'm still here behind you. If nothing else, Lu You, Xie Yunjun, and Lin Yinian can just grab the points back. You know how powerful these three little perverts are."
Li Xiaoyue grabbed the hem of Kosten's skirt and bit her lip. Hearing this, the little girl felt even more pressured. She lowered her head and said, "I'm sorry, I'm holding you back."
Zhao Zixuan, the straight man who treats ice skates as his wife, was stunned for a moment. He totally didn't understand why Li Xiaoyue was becoming more and more anxious.
A few minutes later, when Zhao Zixuan finally realized that Li Xiaoyue's current state was extremely unstable, he, as the captain, said seriously: "Li Xiaoyue, raise your head. Do you know that you are standing in a position that many people dream of?"
"The national team chose you and sent you to the Olympics, which means you are the most suitable among all the people."
When Lu You came out carrying a bunch of bananas, he saw Zhao Zixuan with a stern face scolding Li Xiaoyue. Although this guy was only 1.75 meters tall, he couldn't stand Li Xiaoyue, a short contestant who was only 1.5 meters tall.
The little girl pursed her lips and looked young, pitiful and helpless standing in front of him.
Zhao Zixuan said in a serious tone: "What did you say when the team transferred you from the second team? What did you say when you were sent to Jianglin for training? Were the vows you made with great ambitions at that time just nice words to coax people?"
"You are not young anymore. This is your first time participating in the Olympics, but it may be your only chance to win an Olympic medal in your life."
“For the players who have come this far, who doesn’t want to win and who doesn’t want to stand on the podium.”
"After retiring, will you regret not being able to help the Chinese team advance further, or will you proudly tell others that you also contributed to the team medal? Think about it carefully."
Zhao Zixuan was like a dean of education. He finished scolding Li Xiaoyue in a very disappointed manner. Then he turned around and saw Lu You squatting beside him and eating a banana. His character almost couldn't hold back.
Ah, four years ago he was also a young hunk who was afraid of holding everyone back and causing the country to miss out on medals, and he even needed his junior sister to comfort him.
Lu You was very kind and didn't expose Captain Zhao's image. He raised his hand towards Li Xiaoyue and said, "Xiaoyue, come and have a banana."
Li Xiaoyue sniffed, took the banana handed to her by Lu You, and was halfway through eating it when the scores of the Israeli women's singles short program came out, with a score of 68.93. Because she fell, she would be deducted one point.
Li Xiaoyue, who was about to go on stage, had just put down the banana when Zhao Zixuan pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her: "Wipe your mouth before you go."
Li Xiaoyue wiped it twice randomly, and Lu You hugged her. After watching the little girl skate nervously to the center of the ice rink, she gestured to Xie Yunjun in the audience.
Xie Yunjun spread out the cheering cloth with Li Xiaoyue's picture printed on it, and Jiang Shi also quickly raised two signs, with "Go China" in his left hand and "Li Xiaoyue Will Win" in his right hand, while Si Nan and Xu Zhen held the national flag.
Yuto Nakazaki, who was sitting next to him, was Li Xiaoyue's favorite single skater. He had been asked for help by Lu You a long time ago, and at this time he was holding a small moon pillow in his hand and said, "Damn it, daddy."
Xie Yunjun walked over and lifted up the 1.67-meter-tall Nakazaki Yuto by the waist of his pants so that Li Xiaoyue on the field could see her idol more clearly.
Yuto Nakazaki, who suddenly ascended to heaven, was disheveled in the wind.
Li Xiaoyue pursed her lips and smiled, now she felt a lot more relaxed.
She looked at her teammates who were cheering for her, and at the friendly yellow-skinned and black-haired compatriots in the audience. Amid their expectant gazes, Li Xiaoyue clenched her fists and slowly placed them on her heart.
“Representative of China, Xiaoyue Li.”
The radio called out.
Yes, just like Captain Zhao said, being able to represent the country in the Olympics means that I am already the best. Even if my strength is small, I must strive to shine and fight for my dream without hesitation.
Representative of China.
I currently represent the People's Republic of China.
So, even if we can move up one place or get one more point, it would be good.
"Li Xiaoyue, I'll leave it to you."
Li Xiaoyue said this to herself until the melody of "A Whole New World", the ending song from the movie Aladdin, sounded. The girl in the green skirt stretched out her hand and pointed at the five Olympic rings on the ceiling.
For her, the Olympic Games arena is the brand new world described in the lyrics, sparkling and desirable.
"No one can deny us, no one can restrain us"
"No one will laugh at us for dreaming."
She doesn't have a quadruple jump, or even a triple Axel, but she also wants to show her best self to the audience, to her tolerant teammates, and to her parents who are watching TV far away in her homeland.
She wants to leave her own mark in Olympic history, even if it means she is like a moth to a flame.
Accompanied by the singing of human voices, Li Xiaoyue lightly tapped the ice to rise up. It was a set of 3Lz+3T, which was also the most difficult combo jump she could do at present.
Zhao Zixuan looked at Li Xiaoyue on the field. The national second team and the first team did not often train together. Logically, the people from the two teams should not be very familiar with each other. The reason why Zhao Zixuan dared to educate this little girl so seriously was because they were both from the capital city team.
Before he joined the national youth team, Li Xiaoyue was a little girl who followed him to learn the double jump and wore pink in every competition. On the day she was selected for the national team and had to leave the city team, Li Xiaoyue secretly cried for a long time.
She said: Brother, I will go to the national team to find you.
Now, the little girl in pink who is always bright in memory finally stands side by side with him on the same field, working together for a common goal.
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