Chapter 64 Mentality: Chinese players are destined to be influenced by the referee's bias...
Albert unsurprisingly took first place in the men's singles short program, with Anthony and Wayne finishing second and third respectively.
The three, who had been locked in a love-hate relationship since the youth group, met for the first time in the finals, with Feng Simai ultimately emerging victorious.
Andrei's spins were mostly rated as level three, and the Russian judges did not give him the full treatment he deserved, resulting in a short program score that was a fraction of a point lower than Feng Simai's.
Although Fujiwara Yoshino ranked last, he was only 0.15 points behind Andrei, which can be attributed to his lack of expressiveness.
Japan won Asia's first women's singles gold medal at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, followed by Nanako Shirai, and now there are young skaters led by Aya Yumikawa. It can be said that the talent turnover has never stopped.
Although the current treatment is still not comparable to that of European and American countries, it is much better than that of China and Kazakhstan, which are also Asian countries.
The men's singles event is not as successful as the women's singles event, but in recent years the Japan Skating Association has been working to send retired athletes to the judging panel. A Japanese company has also become one of the major investors in the International Skating Union and created a new B-level competition. This has boosted the scoring of Japan's other three events, especially the men's singles event, which is currently gaining momentum.
To be honest, the only player who could be considered to have been completely overwhelmed throughout the entire match was Feng Simai.
Although China did not have any skaters advance to the Grand Prix Final in pairs figure skating, the Chinese coaches are still paying attention to the event, as it will be the opponent that Cao Lu and his partner will face at the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Coach Lu was training with the two children in Northeast China. Standing next to Xia Yuezi was the local pairs skating coach from the Beijing team.
After the skaters finished their performance on the ice, the pairs skating coach looked down and kept typing on his phone, presumably taking detailed notes for his opponents.
Xia Yuezi remembered that Cao Jinhui's height had already reached 1.57 meters and she basically wouldn't grow any taller. However, during the time she was injured, Coach Lu and her parents fed her a lot of high-protein and high-calcium foods, which helped her gain weight.
At the last stop in Russia, Xia Yuezi noticed that Lu Sheng's height hadn't changed much, but he looked a bit stronger. When the two kids did throws and twists, Lu Sheng had more difficulty, but overall, neither of them had lost much of their technique and seemed to have become more stable.
Today's schedule only included Chinese players in the men's singles event. Xia Yuezi calculated the time and figured Feng Simai's drug test was probably over by now. Without disturbing the other coaches, she quietly left.
Once backstage, Xia Yuezi noticed that her child had shaken off the previous negative energy and was now full of fighting spirit.
She looked at Meng Xin with a puzzled expression, thinking that the child had been on the ice for so long, how come she was still full of energy on the ice? Usually, backstage she always looked like she was about to run out of energy.
Meng Xin blinked, pulled Xia Yuezi to slow down, and kept a distance from Feng Simai. She then told her, in a teasing tone and vivid description, about Diaz's visit.
Xia Yuezi searched her memory for the name Diaz.
She remembered that this child was a new successor that Sainimu had trained with his coach before he ran away. Like Feng Simai, he was an exhibition athlete with a low jumping ceiling. His career peak was probably a bronze medal from the Four Continents Championships.
Sainimu initially leaned towards a performance-oriented style, but after realizing that the judges were unfairly penalizing him, he took a risk and changed his approach, launching an attack on the surrounding areas and earning himself a few medals.
However, his junior brother was determined to pursue the path of a performer, and his performances were very popular among skating fans. He was also a regular at various commercial performances during the off-season.
Meng Xin chattered on from the side: "I'm not saying this to be mean, anyone would doubt their life if they were suppressed like this by the International Skating Union for so long. I was worried that those old guys would give him a hand in the short program and then suppress him in the free skate, just to take the opportunity to destroy his confidence before Sochi. Now it's great, I don't even need to comfort him."
Hearing this, Xia Yuezi laughed out loud: "Don't be so pessimistic. Although there aren't many good referees, Simai has at least competed in the adult group for a season. Although he hasn't won an A-level tournament, his results aren't bad. He's competed in all the competitions he should have. Besides, didn't our country have a referee who got into the technical group this year? Just think of today's score increase as normal. Otherwise, the three of us will eventually be crushed by the pressure we put on ourselves."
The current scoring system isn't as outrageous as it was during the Beijing cycle, and the judges don't have as much room for manipulation. Although it's somewhat biased, other athletes who perform well also have a chance to reach the podium based on their technical scores.
Meng Xin pursed her lips, glanced ahead, and saw Feng Simai still happily shaking his head, so she couldn't help but sigh.
"That's not wrong, but after being suppressed for so long, it's impossible to change this mindset."
Xia Yuezi patted Meng Xin on the shoulder, her gaze following Feng Simai's light footsteps, her voice gentle yet firm: "As coaches, we are the athletes' most relied-upon figures, and the support and guarantee they trust wholeheartedly. We must adjust our mindset faster and better than they do, otherwise, if even we panic, what will the athletes do?"
Chinese athletes are destined to grow up amidst the biases of referees, and this bias can only be broken through by generations of athletes and long-term planning.
Speaking of these things, Xia Yuezi couldn't help but think of the two children she was raising.
As one of the mainstays of the Chinese adult group, Yang Yiyan and Feng Simai seem to have a good mindset. No matter how much pressure they are under, as long as they stand on the ice rink, they will devote themselves to the program.
Yang Yiyan, who was considered by her coach to have a very stable mentality, successfully completed all the jumps in the sixth training session, and even managed to shorten the charging time as much as possible for the 3LZ.
The two coaches stood behind the barriers, watching the six women's singles skaters constantly traversing the ice.
The closer we get to the Olympics, the fiercer the competition becomes. This was already evident when the adult competitions started, with more people registering for the B-level races than before, not to mention how intense the six preliminary rounds were.
Polina was the first to take the stage.
This girl had bad luck in the preliminary rounds. First, she fell in her own city and was overtaken by her senior and Yang Yiyan. In another round, she ran into Yumekawa Ria. Fortunately, she didn't cause any trouble in the free skate in the next round and ranked first among the skaters with the same points based on her score, thus securing the last spot in the Grand Prix Final.
Polina is also one of the famous picks in the skating world, but after the 3A was set, she rarely picked any in the short program. This was mainly because she was too physically exhausted in the free skate, which made her scores in the second half of the program almost unwatchable.
While praising Lyubov, the Russian judges didn't forget their own number two, who scored 73.49 in the short program, including 32 in program components alone. This is an almost unimaginable score for a newcomer who has just been promoted.
Xia Yuezi's lips twitched. If this were Liu Bofu's program content score, the short program score would probably have soared to 80. But recalling Polina's 3A score and the smoothness of the entire program, she really couldn't bring herself to say that it was "watered down". She could only say that noble nationality really does have a good influence on people.
When Yang Yiyan returned from her rounds, she stood on the sidelines, holding her coach's hand and taking a deep breath. Xia Yuezi could clearly feel the pressure this score had put on her.
Through the gloves, Xia Yuezi touched her slightly cool fingertips, and like in any previous match, she brought her forehead close to hers.
Xia Yuezi held her hand tightly: "Don't let other factors distract you. Think about how you feel when you're free skating. You and this ice are independent yet interdependent. Feel it and enjoy it."
Yang Yiyan closed her eyes and slowly adjusted her breathing until she heard the urging from outside the court that the time was about to expire. Then she whispered, "Coach, I'm ready."
She let go of Xia Yuezi's hand, raised her hands high, and skated towards the center of the ice rink, with familiar cheers coming from all directions.
Meng Xin looked towards the ice rink. Although she didn't say a word to Yang Yiyan, her gaze revealed deep worry.
The best result achieved by China in the women's singles event at the finals was fourth place, a historic achievement for her in her first year after being promoted to a higher level.
Yang Yiyan's performance in the youth group is better than Zhang Mengyi's, and her difficulty level on paper is also higher. Naturally, Chinese figure skating fans have higher expectations for Yang Yiyan. However, they are more afraid that this is just wishful thinking. There are even more discussion posts on the forum about Yang Yiyan's developmental challenges and injuries than prediction posts about her performance in the senior group.
There are many tragic examples of prodigies in women's singles, some achieving the most dazzling results in the shortest period of their careers, while others are just flashes in the pan, leaving no trace of their talent.
Meng Xin murmured, as if trying to comfort herself, "It's okay, it's already good that the child was able to finish the race safely."
The two coaches were on high alert until Yang Yiyan fell into a 3A.
The figure on the ice glided toward a spectator stand, arms outstretched, face resolute, as if saying, "Come on, I can accept everything calmly."
"It's a bit too tight to slide on." Xia Yuezi frowned slightly.
Although Yang Yiyan's performance still retained the spiritedness of a chivalrous woman, the weight on her heart made her movements appear somewhat restrained.
Immediately afterwards, Yang Yiyan had a problem on her second jump. Her axis went astray when she landed, and she couldn't maintain the jump, flipping over.
The two coaches, who hadn't quite relaxed yet, started to feel anxious again, and even the ice skating fans on the sidelines held their breath. Meng Xin couldn't help but reach out and grab Xia Yuezi's sleeve.
The last jump was a combination jump. Although Yang Yiyan had never lost a combination jump in a short program before, no one could predict what would happen if she couldn't adjust her condition in time.
Yang Yiyan lifted her right foot and spun half a circle on the ice, then simply touched the ice, crossed her hands in front of her chest, and quickly followed up with a 3lo after landing.
Meng Xin loosened Xia Yuezi's clothes and patted her chest: "Luckily, this child adjusted quickly."
Xia Yuezi's gaze remained fixed on the ice surface.
Yang Yiyan's skating speed was a little slower than usual, probably affected by the mistake she made earlier, but her movements were still clean and neat.
She gripped her skates, and the final set of Behrman spins looked from afar like a seed falling on the ice, struggling to take root, sprout, and eventually bloom.
The music stopped abruptly, and the entire audience erupted in applause. Yang Yiyan raised her hands, cheered, and wore a relieved smile on her face.
The two coaches high-fived off the field, their smiles revealing their joy. There is never a shortage of athletes with high difficulty levels on the field, but they may not be able to stand at the top. The athletes who can stand at that position are more outstanding in terms of mentality, resilience, and adaptability.
Compared to them, Yang Yiyan is already showing some of their qualities.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
