Chapter 135 List: I believe I can perform well.
In every Olympic season, there are two Grand Prix events that are of utmost interest to figure skating fans: the French Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Final.
Those who follow sports competitions, to some extent, believe in metaphysics. Since the beginning of the 21st century, every year's women's singles Olympic champion has stood on the podium at the French Grand Prix, but they haven't necessarily won the gold medal.
The other Grand Prix Final is known as the "Olympic barometer," as the favorites to win gold medals at each Winter Olympics are always on the award list, especially the gold medalists.
With all these advantages, Yang Yiyan's popularity has soared, making the women's singles situation this year unpredictable, and the men's singles is no less so.
After all, in the free skate of the Grand Prix Final, apart from Feng Simai who lowered the difficulty level, no skater was completely clean.
The coaching staff can keep the online controversy under wraps for a while, but not for very long. However, the Chinese athletes participating in the finals are all quite resilient; after watching the drama unfold, they channeled all the pressure into motivation, preparing for the National Championships in less than a month.
Although some athletes who were in excellent form and far ahead of the domestic competition level could have secured their Olympic spots even without participating in the National Championships, they still went to the competitions they were supposed to participate in after returning from Japan and resting, in order to avoid giving others ammunition at such a crucial moment.
The final list was largely in line with the predictions of figure skating fans. Given the limited number of Olympic spots, all the skaters opted for the highest difficulty levels. What might have been slightly surprising for fans was the final spot on the men's and women's singles teams.
Zhang Mengyi's form has declined significantly this season, while the newly promoted girls are showing great momentum. However, the two did not manage to create much of a gap in the National Championships, and the veteran narrowly defeated her in the selection trials thanks to her mentality.
Song Ziqi's highest difficulty level is still 3A. Heilongjiang already has a male singles player who can jump a quadruple jump. In the end, just like in the women's singles, the two of them competed on stability and mentality. Song Ziqi also won very hard.
Xia Yuezi also heard her coach muttering something to her, saying that before the high-altitude training camp, Song Ziqi should improve the success rate of 4T, otherwise the three-week set would still be too passive.
However, before setting off, Xia Yuezi was also busy. She was pulled into a meeting by her superiors. Not long after she and Meng Xin sat down, the president of the Skating Association walked in and got straight to the point about the team formation for the Winter Olympics.
There's only one spot available for ice dance, so having all the team members in attendance is out of the question. The only thing to consider is whether to send veteran athletes to the team competition if the other three events already have all their spots filled.
The people sitting here are all shrewd; with a little thought, they know what the leaders are thinking. They simply want to take advantage of the current success of figure skating so that the team competition can move forward.
But Coach Lu's words shattered the leader's dream.
"Cao Jinhui and Lu Sheng both have serious injuries, especially Xiaohui. She was supposed to have periostitis surgery before the Grand Prix Final, but she insisted on delaying it until after the Olympics because she wanted to focus on preparing for the individual competition at this Winter Olympics. The other two pairs of skaters are doing well, and their difficulty levels are similar. They have enough energy to prepare for one of the team events."
All three pairs of figure skaters sent to the Olympics were from his team, and Coach Lu had a very detailed understanding of their injuries.
Pairs figure skating has always been a gold medal-winning event for China. However, the veteran skaters are clearly not up to the task of competing on two fronts. If the leadership wants them to win medals in the team event, then they can forget about winning gold medals in the individual events.
Before the leader could speak, Xia Yuezi, who had another chance to win gold in the group, continued: "Although Yang Yiyan and Feng Simai's injuries are not as serious as those in pairs skating, their health may not be able to support them in the team competition. To put it bluntly, they may not even be able to participate in the free skate."
"Although Zhang Mengyi is not in my group, you have all seen her performance this season. Her stamina cannot support so many competitions. Yan Rui is young, has no injuries, and her stamina is not a problem. However, she is at a disadvantage in terms of scoring and treatment. But she is also the only female singles skater who is capable of competing in both the individual competition and the team free skate."
The other two coaches in the men's singles had similar opinions. The president of the figure skating association was not from a figure skating background, but he had personally experienced many injuries. At this moment, he pinched his brow and sighed deeply.
"So what are your plans?"
Xia Yuezi and Coach Lu exchanged a glance and Xia Yuezi said first, "If you want to secure your qualification, Xiao Yan and Simai can go on the short program. The free skate depends on the opinions of the other two skaters. If Meng Yi is willing to give up the individual competition to secure the team free skate, her strength is comparable to Xiao Rui's."
After all, this is Zhang Mengyi's last Winter Olympics. Over the years, she has made great contributions to Chinese figure skating. Since she is destined not to compete in the individual event, Xia Yuezi hopes that her career can be more fulfilling if she can win a medal in the team event.
Coach Lu's meaning was similar; he implied that he did not want the Cao-Lu pair to participate in the team competition, thus giving the other two pairs more opportunities.
A brief silence fell over the meeting room. After a moment of contemplation, the leader tapped the table lightly with his knuckles: "Let's agree on this for now, but if any unexpected situations arise during the team competition, you must make timely arrangements."
At the end of January, at the Northeast Plateau training base.
Almost all of China's Olympic athletes have turned down the Four Continents Championships to focus entirely on preparing for the Winter Olympics. Many athletes share this sentiment, and at least the favorites to win the Olympic gold medal have not participated in any competitions in between.
Xia Yuezi stayed with the team members for almost half a month, helping them improve their physical fitness and stabilize their jumps.
Yang Yiyan did two turns on one foot on the ice, completing a 3F, and then followed up with three 3Lo jumps in one go. Yan Rui, who was training with her, was also training for 3Lo, but her jumps didn't look as good compared to her senior's.
However, she is not particularly good at 3L jumps; she just needs to land the jump without making a mistake.
Yan Rui propped himself up, turned to look at Zhang Mengyi on the other side of the ice rink. She took a breath and then jumped 3lz+3T on the ice.
After discussing it with her, the leader directly decided on the spot for the team free skate competition. This also allowed her to have a video call with her coach in Canada before flying to Northeast China to renegotiate the free skate lineup.
In order to win a medal in the team competition, she has never stopped physical training since she came to the training camp, all for the purpose of achieving the highest difficulty in the free skate.
Not only figure skating fans, but sometimes even athletes and coaches wonder if Zhang Mengyi would be in such a difficult situation now if she hadn't had such a tough time during puberty.
Yan Rui let out a breath and, dragging his leaden legs, continued training on the ice.
On the other side of the men's singles training venue, Lin Ye wiped the sweat from his forehead, slid over to the coach to watch the video of the jumps he had just performed, and completed the 4lz+3T and 4F+2T cleanly and neatly.
After the training camp, he spent every day working out with Feng Simai to improve his physical fitness. To reduce the risk of ankle injury, most of the land training was replaced with swimming.
Coach Ma held a video in one hand and advised his student, "The number of rotations in 4F is a bit better than before, but I still don't recommend you do this jump in the Olympics."
Those who dare to take on the main competition jumps have a success rate of over 60% in training. Although Lin Ye had already included 4F in the program last season, his success rate in the main competition was very low, almost none of them were successful.
Lin Ye glanced back at Feng Simai, who was practicing footwork, and solemnly shook his head: "May Fourth is May Fourth, not one can be missing."
He's not competing in the team event anymore, so he'll definitely be aiming for the podium in the individual event. His performance at the last Winter Olympics is still fresh in everyone's mind. Now that he's finally managed to improve his treatment a bit thanks to his brand, he absolutely can't let this opportunity slip away again.
In early February, after having dumplings at the training base, the group gathered in Beijing and boarded a plane to Pyeongchang with the delegation.
Upon arriving in Pyeongchang, the figure skaters who already had Olympic experience informed their team leader in advance and went to browse the airport duty-free shops, completely unaware of the meaning of the word "nervous".
When Xia Yuezi returned with her suitcase, she found only two couples and Yan Rui standing there. She patted Yan Rui's head to comfort her while taking out her phone to call the others and tell them to come back quickly.
Although the time difference between China and South Korea is not significant, the flight time is enough for other athletes to get some sleep and recharge. However, Yan Rui appeared very nervous before boarding the plane and even wanted to change seats to sit next to the coach after boarding.
Before setting off, Xia Yuezi had already arranged with Yang Yiyan to take care of some of her junior sisters, but as soon as they left, she became a hands-off manager. Xia Yuezi was even considering whether to change Yan Rui's room so that she could stay with other female contestants.
The athletes are well aware of the atmosphere in the Olympic Village. Every time they go out to compete, the coaches have to keep a close eye on the athletes in their groups. This time, the room allocation plan is to have an adult athlete share a room with a minor athlete.
Yang Yiyan was unaware of what the coach was thinking. When she returned, she chuckled twice under the coach's unfriendly gaze, then followed behind the team, looking for an opportunity to slip something into Yan Rui's hand.
When she opened her hand, she found it was a blue woven bracelet.
Yan Rui looked at his senior sister in confusion, and then heard her say, "The shop assistant said that this is very popular in Korea now and can bring good luck. I remember that your lucky color is blue, so I bought this for you."
Like Xia Yuezi, Yang Yiyan also touched Yan Rui's head.
"So don't be nervous. When you're on the court, just treat it like a normal game and believe in yourself so you can perform well."
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