Chapter 12: How outstanding can the performance of a cross-dressing male singles player be...?
Latvian time is more than five hours behind Beijing time. When the first group of men's singles practice began, the Beijing provincial team members had just finished lunch.
Li Tan sat down at his desk right on time, waiting for the match to start. Song Qiao, far away in Harbin, was also waiting in front of his computer. Yu Qian sat beside him, looking somewhat reserved.
Song Qiao explained, "Feng Simai didn't draw a good position for his appearance; he's in the first position of the third group. However, he's quite strong. I heard from Li Tan that Xia has temporarily controlled his development phase."
Each contestant's short program lasts about six minutes. Including six practice sessions, it takes forty-two minutes to complete a group of contestants. By the time Feng Simai took the stage, it was almost 3 p.m. in Beijing.
Upon hearing Xia Yuezi's name, a hint of unease flashed across Yu Qian's face.
She rubbed her fingers, her knuckles slightly swollen and wrapped with several layers of elastic tape, her voice low and hoarse: "It's good that I can finish the race safely; getting a medal is an extra bonus."
“Dr. Yu is still as optimistic as ever,” Song Qiao noticed the bandage on her hand and asked, “Are there many athletes getting physical therapy lately? I see your tenosynovitis has flared up again. How about I give you a leave of absence so you can go back and rest for a few days?”
Yu Qian spread her hands, saying indifferently, "It's an old problem, just like your athletes' ankles, it just looks scary."
Seeing that Song Qiao was about to say something more, Yu Qian quickly interrupted, "Look, the competition has started."
After the sixth training session, the athletes gradually left the field.
Feng Simai wore a black shirt version of the Costten, with the vest tightly fastened to his body. Before going on stage, Xia Yuezi even borrowed a curling iron from the makeup artist to style Feng Simai's hair. Combined with his delicate features, he had a subtle air of a noble young master.
Xia Yuezi had a pack of tissues on her left for the athletes to use. Hearing the announcement, she looked at the boy who had just wiped his nose and said, "Keep your balance and just skate freely."
Feng Simai used the same programs from last season for both of his programs this season.
The International Skating Union (ISU) stipulates that a program cannot be used for more than two consecutive seasons. Skates with sufficient budgets may change their programs every season to avoid judges getting tired of them, but some skaters with tight budgets exploit loopholes in the rules, using the same program for two seasons and then returning to it after a one-season gap.
There was once a pairs figure skating duo who skated the same program for three seasons. Eventually, even the judges couldn't stand it anymore and told them privately that the program had improved a lot. The male partner was still dumbfounded and modest, completely unaware of the stiff smile on the other person's face.
In the past three months, Feng Simai has maintained good weight control and has been able to quickly regain her balance even as she grows taller. The only problem is that she has stopped progressing in terms of difficulty.
But it's okay. There are nearly three months of free time between the end of the preliminary rounds and the start of the finals, which will allow the child to build muscle. Xia Yue glanced out of the corner of her eye at the area in the stands surrounded by red national flags, thinking that perhaps Yang Yiyan could train with them as well.
The boy on the ice lowered his head slightly, looking calmly at the ice surface. When the music started, he raised his hand slightly and gave the stands a flirtatious glance.
He extended his right hand to invite the other person to dance, his left leg sliding back, swaying his body to the rhythm of the violin music, as if testing the other person.
As the skating speed slowed down, Feng Simai turned his left foot outward and lifted his right leg backward, landing cleanly on the ice. At the same time as his right foot landed, his left foot landed on the ice again.
Xia Yuezi exclaimed "Beautiful!" This was the first advanced triple jump combination in the men's singles short program today.
The audience's emotions were gradually stirred up. Feng Simai jumped into a side squat turn, stayed in place and turned ten times, then half-raised his body and turned into a back squat.
Feng Simai's rotation speed was not fast, but his axis did not shift, and the position of rotation did not drift. His excellent body proportions made the rotation look very graceful.
Amid cheers from the audience, 2A landed successfully, and the program entered its second half. The athlete's emotions became even more intense, almost overflowing, and he transmitted this emotion to every part of his body.
Compared to solo performances, tango is better suited for pairs or ice dance, especially for emotionally complex pieces like "Por Una Cabeza." However, Feng Simai's performance has already surpassed the level of his age group, and even exceeded most adult men's singles performances.
This expressiveness will be his most powerful weapon after he moves up to the senior level, and even if the judges want to lower the score, they won't be able to do it very obviously.
Coach Yamada, who had already realized this, looked serious and glanced at his own brat without leaving a trace.
Thinking about how every time he explained the background and content of the selected pieces to Yoshino Fujiwara, Yoshino still skated like he was drinking ice water every morning, Coach Yamada's expression darkened even more.
When 3F landed on the ice, the atmosphere reached its climax. Yang Yiyan even stood up and cheered while holding her doll, waving her flag so fast it left afterimages.
She and Feng Simai rarely trained at the same time. The last time she saw him perform live was when the coach had just taken over him. Although that performance was also very moving, it was nowhere near as good as this one.
When the program ended, Xia Yuezi received a particularly enthusiastic round of applause, and many cameras nearby pointed their lenses at her, but the coach himself seemed oblivious, only staring at the children on the ice rink.
No wonder this program won the ISU Best Program Award and will be cherished by skating fans in the future. Xia Yuezi asked herself honestly, she could not have skated such a program when she was fourteen or fifteen years old.
With the enthusiasm of the ice skating fans supporting them, the referees didn't go too hard.
With a technical score of 37.94, a program content score of 35.72, and a short program score of 73.66, it currently ranks first and is the first short program to break the 70 mark.
Feng Simai wiped his sweat with a tissue while smiling at the camera. Both the mentor and student remained calm in the face of this score. Feng Simai had achieved a similar result last season, while Xia Yuezi knew that his limit was not here, and that even this P score had been lowered.
The two head coaches, who were far away in China, were so excited they almost jumped for joy. Li Tan, in particular, almost used his landline to call the skating association and tell them to prepare for the second leg of the competition.
Fujiwara Yoshino was in the last group. When Coach Yamada came over to announce the scores, he was relaxing on a yoga ball with a calm expression on his face, as if he had already guessed it.
Coach Yamada said, "Yoshino, I must remind you, you lost to him last time."
Fujiwara Yoshino picked up an unopened bottle of mineral water, took a slow sip, and then said, "Coach, we both made mistakes last time, but mine was more serious. This time, I will definitely not let myself fall in the same place again."
In the distance, the sounds of other athletes' training jumps slamming into the ground could be heard, like muffled thunder, interspersed with the laughter of those who had finished the race.
Coach Yamada, rubbing his receding hairline, glanced at Yoshino Fujiwara, who continued training, and could only pick up a water bottle from the side in frustration, then stand guard beside him.
………………
The women's singles match started at 4 p.m., which was already late at night in China, but that didn't stop people who love the sport from watching the match on their screens.
The ranking prediction posts on the forum have been in an uproar for a long time, with predictions that the champion will be either Nina from the United States or Polina from Russia, interspersed with a few words of encouragement for the local players.
Yang Yiyan was banned from the internet before the competition and didn't see these messages. Instead, Yang's mother was restless and only closed the webpage forum when her daughter appeared on the ice rink.
In the video, Xia Yuezi is standing by the barrier talking to her, while a girl wearing a Russian team uniform stands next to her; she will be the next one to go on the field.
Yang Yiyan skated to the middle of the ice rink, closed her eyes and slowly relaxed, waiting for the music to wake her up.
In the stands, Feng Simai sat with an ice dance duo, exchanging a few words every now and then, and they seemed to have a good relationship.
An You quietly leaned closer to inquire: "I heard from my coach that your senior sister has a very strong blade jump, and the Beijing team is planning to focus on training her."
Although Feng Simai was older than her, she arrived later, so calling her "senior sister" was not wrong.
The other person glanced at him and looked at the girl who was completely absorbed in her performance on the ice rink: "Yes, but she's the only one who stands out in the youth group of the team."
This year, only Yang Yiyan and Yin Yunrong from the Beijing team were assigned to the first leg of the Grand Prix for the Youth Group. Based on her performance at the Asian Open, as long as she doesn't make any mistakes in her two programs, she will definitely get the spot in the second leg.
Seeing Yang Yiyan land on the 3rd floor, the girl sitting next to An You peeked out and said, "It's still better than our ice dance, right? There are so many people in the country, and we can't even find a few pairs that can get the lowest technical score."
Ice dance is the least popular of the four figure skating events. Many people can't even tell the difference between it and pairs figure skating. Chinese ice dance has fallen so low that it can't find any good talents in the junior group and has to rely on the top male and female skaters who have already moved up to the senior group to go to the junior championships to grab a spot.
Even more critically, the two former stars once told reporters that they discovered the rhythmic dance patterns taught in China were wrong after they went abroad for training, and they had to relearn them overseas.
After Yang Yiyan stepped into 2A, Polina, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but be surprised. Her coach, on the other hand, remained calm: "Her height is average, but her rotation speed is very fast. Her coach is very clear about her weaknesses and added something to the program to raise the goe."
After completing the last set of jumps, Yang Yiyan's posture became more graceful. Although her performance was not the best among the women's singles, her ballet posture was very solid, and every movement was pleasing to the eye.
If the Russian coach's initial impression of Yang Yiyan was one of cleverness, his expression turned serious after seeing her consecutive jumps and Pearl Bellman.
Yang Yiyan's consecutive jumps were very light and graceful. Her skates barely grazed the ice, and very little ice shards were splashed out. This kind of jump was very popular with the judges. In addition, with Pearl Bellman's unique style, he was sure that this Eastern girl with excellent core strength had already made her mark on the judges' list.
When Polina went onto the ice, she saw Xia Yuezi and Yang Yiyan hugging each other and saying something in Chinese that she couldn't understand.
She glanced at it once and looked away. Perhaps after the competition, she could go and chat with this Chinese athlete and become friends with her, but right now, she had to win this gold medal.
Yang Yiyan's short program score was 63.67. After seeing this score, no one posted on the forum for a long time, until someone posted a photo of the two of them sitting and waiting for their turn, with Yang Yiyan's score at the bottom.
The comments section exploded, with some even comparing Polina's recent results.
Polina received strong support from the Russian judges. On her first appearance on the international stage, she scored 28 points in program components and 67 points in the short program. Nina, who competed after her, had a World Junior Championships medal and received no less favorable treatment than Polina.
Afterwards, skating fans quickly turned their attention to the allocation of spots for the second leg of the competition. When they discovered that Yang Yiyan only had one leg, they immediately focused their criticism on the Skating Association.
Because figure skating is a highly subjective sport, disagreements over scores are commonplace, and online arguments can pile up to several stories high. However, figure skating fans don't target the athletes unless the athletes do something truly outrageous. As a result, criticizing the figure skating association when there's a problem and criticizing the judges when there isn't has become commonplace in figure skating.
Yang's mother sat in front of the computer, raised her arm and shouted, her eyes fixed on the girl who had rushed into the coach's arms, her eyes moist.
As the person who has been with Yang Yiyan the most, she knows better than anyone how difficult it has been for her on this path. Take her recent weight control, for example. Every night when she goes to cover her with a blanket, she can hear her stomach growling with hunger. Sometimes, when she eats protein, it doesn't taste good, so Yang Yiyan will pester her to make some seasoning with vinegar or soy sauce and mix it into the salad.
Even though I've tried many times to persuade her to give up being an athlete and just treat figure skating as a hobby, I can't bring myself to say it when I see her sweating profusely during training, still full of enthusiasm, and still going back to the ice the next day even after falling and getting bruised all over.
She took out her phone, intending to call Xia Yuezi, but then remembered that there might be reporters interfering with her, so she tapped on her text message instead.
When Xia Yuezi received the message, it only contained this one sentence: "Don't let her get hurt."
A note from the author:
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