Chapter 70: Those who look down on themselves during the selection process look down on us...
"I'm exhausted."
This was probably the umpteenth time Yang Yiyan had groaned in pain on the bed, with a package she had just opened next to the wardrobe.
To prevent athletes from buying things they shouldn't, all express deliveries are signed for by the coach, and the athletes can pick them up from the coach's office after training.
Zhang Mengyi came out of the bathroom after showering, a towel in her hand drying her hair. She was used to this scene. Glancing at the cardboard box next to her, she casually asked, "Did your mom send you something again?"
Since Yang Yiyan came to the training camp, in just half a month, she has sent a lot of daily necessities, and sometimes she even sends homemade New Year's goods that athletes can eat. Not to mention Zhang Mengyi, who shares a dormitory with her, even the team members and coaches who train with them have benefited from her.
Yang Yiyan turned over, buried her head in the pillow, and mumbled, "These are walnuts my mom sent, so I can do my homework and improve my brainpower at the same time. Besides these, she also sent my winter vacation homework."
The training camp was already halfway through, but high school students had only just entered their winter break. Taking advantage of this, Yang's mother sent over all the test papers issued by the school. It is said that she also asked the top student in their class for the test papers that had already been reviewed.
Although Yang Yiyan had already taken a long leave of absence, so she wouldn't be in as bad shape as Feng Simai, her grades had fallen too far behind, and it would be difficult for her to catch up when she returned. Therefore, she still had to study during training.
Zhang Mengyi took two steps forward and could see all the contents of the cardboard box.
Two bags of pre-shelled walnuts were vacuum-packed, revealing the white kernels. Below them were two jars of dried but unshelled walnuts. In addition, there were several bottles of liniment and the homework that Yang Yiyan mentioned.
Athletes can't eat roasted nuts and seeds, so Yang's mother sent fresh walnuts. She thought that Yang Yiyan probably wouldn't have the energy to peel walnuts after training, so she just peeled them for her and sent them over. The unpeeled ones were probably kept for later use or given to other athletes.
She paused in drying her hair, then couldn't help but tease, "Don't complain, Auntie is really good to you."
Yang Yiyan lifted her head from the pillow and pouted, "I didn't say she was bad, she's just too nagging."
“Nagging is also a way of showing concern for you, so don’t take it lightly.”
As someone who's been through it all, Zhang Mengyi is incredibly experienced.
More often than not, athletes' parents don't say much in front of them to avoid putting more pressure on them, but they will show their care through actions.
Yang Yiyan rolled over, lying on her back, staring blankly at the ceiling: "I didn't take it lightly, I'm just... quite scared."
Sometimes, the greater the expectations, the greater the pressure, which in turn brings endless fear of the unknown.
She wasn't born with a good mentality; it's just that the hugs and handshakes with the coach before each game give her a strong sense of confidence and reassurance, which helps to offset some of her fear.
On the first day of training, all the athletes held a meeting to discuss the selection process for Olympic spots.
Each country has a different Olympic selection system. For example, Japan uses a single All-Japan Championship to determine the winner; while the United States takes into account the contributions of veterans or sole remaining athletes, adding them to the Olympic roster if they show signs of a resurgence.
As for China, the list was drawn up after the National Championships, and the athletes on the list had to go through several rounds of selection competitions. Finally, the results of all the competitions were added together, and the athletes with the best results were allocated the Olympic spots according to the number of available spots.
In other words, joining the training team is only the first step toward an Olympic spot. Even if Yang Yiyan enters as a national champion, she may still miss out on a spot if she loses a competition or gets injured midway through.
The first qualifying round begins tomorrow.
The room suddenly fell silent; not even the two of them could be heard breathing. Yang Yiyan turned her head and saw Zhang Meng sitting in the chair in front of the desk, a towel draped over her neck and body. The desk lamp shone on her head, casting a shadow on her face.
Immediately afterwards, Zhang Mengyi scoffed, as if she had heard a joke. She looked straight at the person lying on the bed, her expression serious and solemn.
"I really want to know what you're afraid of. You've competed in international competitions, and you have the fewest injuries among the four of us. Your difficulty and consistency are also the highest. If you really look down on yourself, then what about the rest of us who are ranked behind you? Do you look down on us too?"
The National Championships were extremely strict with point deductions and technical execution, scrutinizing every move under a microscope. They even caught Zhang Mengyi's triple jump combination, which is frequently flagged on the international stage, and even Yang Yiyan's less-than-ideal triple jump was flagged. And then there were the quadruple jumps of some men's singles athletes.
Zhang Mengyi glanced at Yang Yiyan secretly, then looked away, giving her enough time to think for herself.
Actually, what she said was a bit of a fallacy. Of course she knew what Yang Yiyan was afraid of. Who could say they weren't nervous about getting an Olympic spot?
In her first year in the new group, she snatched the only World Championship ticket from Jiang Shuyu. As a result, Zhang Mengyi suffered from insomnia on the first day after getting off the plane and was only woken up by a scolding from the team leader just before going on stage.
She could tell that Yang Yiyan was just as proud and ambitious as she was. To deal with contestants like them, drastic measures were far more effective than slowly boiling a frog in water.
Sure enough, Yang Yiyan immediately jumped out of bed, her eyes wide open: "Who looked down on you? I..."
She suddenly stopped mid-sentence. Zhang Meng leaned back against her, a slight smile playing on her lips, but her tone remained stiff.
"What? You're afraid of letting everyone down? Yang Yiyan, let me tell you, the fans have expectations of you because of your performance in major competitions, the coaches have expectations of you because they hope you can do even better, and as for us, we hope to meet an opponent who goes all out, not a teammate who is timid and hesitant."
Xia Yuezi wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt that Yang Yiyan was being a bit too energetic today.
She looked dejected and exhausted after training yesterday, but today she was like a completely different person. She performed the opening 3A of the short program with a sharp edge, and the subsequent 3LZ also showed a sword-wielding prowess like a female knight.
"What did you do last night?" Xia Yuezi asked Feng Simai, who was standing next to her.
The children often get together, so they are the first to know if anything happens.
The young man was putting on gloves when he heard this, and he felt as if a huge pot had been thrown down his throat: "Heaven and earth bear witness, we went straight back to the dormitory after eating in the cafeteria last night, and I didn't even see her."
Applause erupted again. Xia Yuezi didn't continue talking to him. She turned to look at the ice, where Yang Yiyan pulled her skates over her head and completed the spin just before the last second of the music started.
She was slightly out of breath, but her eyes were exceptionally bright. Zhang Mengyi stood beside her, put her coat on the chair, and skated towards the ice rink to warm up.
The two brushed past each other without saying a word, yet they understood the meaning in each other's eyes.
Yang Yiyan slid to the edge of the barrier, took the thermos cup handed to her by the coach, and took two sips.
Xia Yuezi stayed by her side, still not voicing her doubts. Regardless of why her condition suddenly changed, the outcome wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
The selection process was just as rigorous as the National Championships, and the scores were also very similar. Yang Yiyan completed a 3A in the short program, so she naturally ranked first.
Zhang Meng leaned behind her. To ensure stability, she changed her triple jump combination in the short program to a 3T+3T, and achieved a level four in both footwork and spin.
Jiang Shuyu ranked third, with the two scores differing by less than one point, mainly due to the difference in program content scores.
In the selection competition, there are no more than five groups of athletes in each event. After one group finishes and clears the ice, the next group can move on. Looking at the four male singles athletes on the field, what makes them more nervous than the jumps is the spins and footwork.
Although all the coaches treat the athletes equally, as the only two men's singles players in China who can perform a quadruple jump, Feng Simai and Lin Ye receive slightly more attention from the coaching staff.
Xia Yuezi stood to the side and heard the men's singles spin coach grabbing his hair, pointing at Lin Ye on the ice, and angrily saying in a low voice: "Before entering the Swallow Style, your shoulders should be level with the ice surface. I've had him practice this posture for three days, and he still messed it up today."
The footwork coach next to him was recruited from the Jilin team; he originally taught ice dance. At this moment, he patted the spin coach on the shoulder with a deeply moved expression.
"Brother Han, you haven't seen his footwork. He can trip over his own feet with just a little bit of speed. The head coach even asked me to add some elements to his free skate. I'm afraid he won't be able to finish the free skate."
Listening to the two coaches' complaints, Xia Yuezi turned her head slightly and composed herself.
The two coaches' hard work paid off, as Lin Ye's technical score was more than one point higher than in the National Championships.
Even though the individual score sheet hasn't been released yet, Lin Ye's lineup hasn't changed compared to the National Championships, which can only mean that his ranking has increased.
The last player to compete in the men's singles was Feng Simai. His injury has almost fully recovered, and the coaching staff has also provided him with special training to improve his physical fitness. His core strength is also much better than before.
The pairs skaters were already standing by the aisle waiting to skate. Their male partners were very familiar with this singles skater, since they saw him in the equipment room every day, and they all turned to look at the ice rink.
She started with a 4T. After landing, Feng Simai squatted down slightly, bent her knees more than before, and strained her thigh muscles to reduce the impact of the quadruple jump as much as possible.
Xia Yuezi watched his movements, her brows relaxing slightly.
Compared to the other contestants' performances, this program seemed somewhat casual in style, but Feng Simai's recent physical training has given him a greater control over his body, and the modern dance and street dance elements reflected in his footwork looked more powerful.
Behind them, the three coaches in charge of men's singles huddled together, holding notebooks of recent training sessions, preparing to summarize the problems exposed in this selection process and then work on them again when they returned.
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