Chapter 73 Transcending to Her Own Battlefield
The following evening, on the last day of the team competition, athletes from various countries were warming up backstage, with cheers from outside constantly reaching their ears through the corridor.
After the men's singles competition, it was time for the women's singles. Xia Yuezi and Meng Xin each brought a child to train backstage.
The countries that entered the team competition this time are Russia, Canada, the United States, France, and China. Among them, Russia and Canada are the most well-rounded, and the gold medal is mainly contested between these two countries. The other three countries have varying degrees of weaknesses.
The United States has top-tier or elite athletes in men's and women's singles and ice dance; China excels in pairs and has near-top-tier athletes in men's and women's singles; while France only has top-tier athletes in men's singles, and the other three disciplines are not particularly outstanding, but they are not lagging behind either.
It can be said that, assuming all three countries have completed their programs, they are all qualified to compete for a place on the podium.
In last night's pairs free skate, Cao and Lu completed their Olympic debut with a second-place finish, earning nine points for the Chinese team and currently placing them fourth in the standings.
Xia Yuezi stood to the side, glancing at the four athletes nearby. In their pursuit of a podium finish, Canada and France were still fielding veterans, while the United States had replaced them with Albert. Surprisingly, the team competition, traditionally dominated by young athletes, only featured two young players: Feng Simai and Andre.
The order of appearance for the free skate was the same as before, based on the rankings from the short program. After Russia finished, it was the Chinese skaters' turn.
In the living room of a Beijing apartment complex, a middle-aged couple sat in front of the television. When they saw the image of the Chinese men's singles player appear on the screen, they whispered, "Go for it, son."
Feng Simai stood on the ice, looking at the coach behind the barrier, and extended a hand to Xia Yuezi, just like before each collaboration, when the two would shake hands to wish each other a successful end.
Xia Yuezi nodded slightly, grasped his hand in return, and led him to the center of the ice rink.
After recovering, Feng Simai's show returned to its previous format.
As the long, melodious piano music began, Feng Simai's demeanor changed completely. He made direct eye contact with the camera and then glided out in a bow stance.
The lantern sleeves swayed with the movements of the hands, exuding both heroic spirit and a touch of gentleness, bringing ancient and mysterious martial arts to the ice.
He seized the opportunity, quickly placed the ice, and followed up with a 2T after the 4T ice drop.
Fujiwara Yoshino and Yumikawa Ria sat in the audience. Even though the Japanese team didn't make it to the finals, it didn't stop them from continuing to watch the game. As fellow Asian players, they were also looking forward to the performance of another Asian country.
"His show seems to have toned down a bit."
Based on Feng Simai's personal characteristics, Fujiwara Yoshino felt that he was a performer who could move people's hearts with his performances, and was also good at reducing the waiting time of jumps in order to get a higher goe. However, the jump transitions in this program were not as good as before, and there were too many oversteps.
"He's probably saving his energy for the individual competition, since Feng is known to be a player with poor stamina."
As the music gradually quickened and transitioned to violin sounds, he completed his third jump, 3A, at the right moment, followed by a twizzle and slide into the first set of steps in the program.
Feng Simai transformed herself into a gradually drifting petal, the drawstrings on her lantern sleeves fluttering in the wind like a dancer floating in the wind, indifferent and aloof, yet able to see through the deepest greed in people's hearts.
Xia Yuezi stood outside the barrier, constantly following the figure on the ice, and clearly felt that Feng Simai's condition was more stable than before. It was as if he automatically became confident and composed as soon as he stepped onto the ice.
As soon as Xia Yuezi returned to the Olympic Village last night, she heard from Meng Xin that her two children were so nervous after watching the competition live that they almost couldn't sleep.
During the doubles competition, the two were jumping rope in the hallway of the room. Meng Xin eventually caught them and brought them back to the room. She read aloud the English test questions they had brought to them as a lullaby to coax them to sleep.
As the program entered its second half, Feng Simai still had a series of consecutive jumps and three single jumps to complete.
Xia Yuezi watched as the boy on the ice raised one hand, lifted one foot, and turned his body slightly, completing 3F and then 3T.
This is a triple jump with hands raised. In this day and age, the hand-raising gesture is not yet common. Some athletes add this gesture when jumping and get a higher goal than other athletes.
He completed the three single jumps: 3lz, 3lo, and 3S. On the Chinese team's platform, all the athletes participating in the team competition gathered, raising their national flags and waving them vigorously to cheer him on.
Finally, to the accompaniment of gradually soothing music, Feng Simai performed a squat spin while hugging his legs, then stood up and executed a high-speed reverse upright spin, leaving a trail of afterimages on the ice.
He then stopped right on the last musical note, facing the judges' table with a fist and palm salute, completing his Olympic debut.
Before the cheers from the audience, Feng's mother screamed. She stood in front of the sofa, holding up the teddy bear in her hand, tears streaming down her face. Feng's father, standing beside her, silently comforted her, his eyes also overflowing with pride.
Andrei stood next to Sidorov, silently lowering his head. He also attempted two quadruple jumps in his free skate, but the quality of his execution was not as good as in this program. He also slipped on one of his quadruple jumps, which almost certainly sealed his last place.
Behind him was a tall man wearing a mask, who was Davill receiving treatment at the hospital. He hadn't dared to open social media these past few days, and even when he came to watch the Olympics, he had to hide, afraid of being photographed.
Actually, this Russian number one is quite pitiful. He's almost 30 and has a lot of injuries. If it weren't for the Russian men's singles, he would have retired after winning the gold medal at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. As soon as the news of his withdrawal broke, he was scolded by his own people, who said he deserted his post.
Feng Simai bowed to the audience, picked up a few toys for the ice children, and quietly left the arena, smiling as he bent down to hug his coach.
"Is it alright?"
Xia Yuezi could feel his sweat through the Kausten cloth, so she quickly draped her coat over his shoulders.
Feng Simai put the sling on his skates, a grin on his face. Whether he was joking or giving his coach a heads-up, it was hard to tell: "It's alright, but if you ask me to skate another program like this, I'm afraid I won't be able to."
The combination of two quadruple jumps requires a lot of physical strength. In previous competitions, Feng Simai also felt exhausted after the free skate.
In addition, he is one of the taller athletes in men's singles. With the same setup, he has to exert more physical strength than shorter athletes, and his knees will also experience greater impact.
Xia Yuezi handed him a bottle of water and offered words of comfort: "It's okay. If your physical condition doesn't recover later, we can adjust it again for the individual competitions."
In contrast to the cheerful atmosphere of the Chinese team, the three veterans who had not yet taken the field all had tense faces, especially after Feng Simai's score was announced.
With a technical score of 88.32, a program component score of 78.36, and a free skate score of 166.68, he is currently ranked first and has broken his personal career high score.
Feng Simai was so shocked by the score that he almost shrank back into his shell like a turtle. After realizing what had happened, he immediately hugged his coach.
It is rare for Chinese skaters to break the 80 mark in the free skate P score. Feng Simai's achievement is already a high score among those with low P scores, but this does not mean that the judges did not lower the score.
While comforting the still amused child, Xia Yuezi glanced at the technical score. Feng Simai's rating should be all four. Compared with similar European and American players, this P score should be able to be raised by at least five points.
She then remembered that Feng Simai had temporarily cut part of the program's transitions; if they had followed their original program, the score should have increased.
However, if this kid wants to fight for himself in the individual competition, then it doesn't matter if he doesn't go all out in the team competition.
The female singles players, who were warming up backstage, also heard the news from the front. Meng Xin subconsciously looked at Yang Yiyan and found that the other woman was pursing her lips and swinging the jump rope more vigorously than before.
The hardest child to coax last night was this one. Usually, she gets sleepy and yawns after reading just one English reading passage, but last night she read the whole test paper aloud, and the little girl was staring wide-eyed at the ceiling.
In the women's singles competition, Yang Yiyan was the first to appear. Xia Yuezi pinched her shoulder and could clearly feel the tension in her muscles. Her hand slid down and touched her biceps, which were also tense.
"So nervous?" Xia Yuezi's tone was teasing, but her eyes showed concern.
Team competitions rely on teamwork; if any one person falters, the entire effort may be in vain.
Yang Yiyan is the youngest member of the Chinese figure skating Olympic team and also the one with the least experience in adult competitions.
Watching her seniors fight hard to qualify for the finals in the short program, and seeing her peers from the same year perform exceptionally well in the free skate, she felt a pressure and sense of responsibility she had never experienced in any other competition.
The announcement, broadcast in both English and Russian, meant that Yang Yiyan had no more time to prepare.
Xia Yuezi embraced Yang Yiyan's head, placing her hands near her ears to draw her close. She had just taken an ice pack from the team doctor to apply to Feng Simai's knee, and the lingering chill on her hands caused Yang Yiyan to shiver involuntarily, but it also gradually brought her scattered thoughts together.
"Listen, no one will put pressure on you on the ice. Think about the atmosphere in the training camp. No one will blame you, so skate boldly and confidently. This is your stage."
Whether Yang Yiyan understood or not, Xia Yuezi, mindful of the time, saw her subconsciously nod and pushed her to turn around, sending her to her own battlefield.
Yang Yiyan squatted down, placed her palms on the ice, and continued to feel the stimulation brought by the cold, her tense nerves relaxing slightly.
Her eyes were closed, and from a distance she looked like a pensive statue, quietly waiting for the music to begin. Only when the camera zoomed in could one discern a hint of nervousness in her trembling eyelashes.
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