Chapter 74 What's the panic about a back injury? There's still an individual competition.
This is Yang Yiyan's fourth time showcasing this tango set on the international stage, and with each performance, she brings a new meaning to it as she understands it.
This time, standing on the ice at the Olympics, the emotions of her entire tango became even sharper.
The moment the applause began, before the close-up shot had even moved away, Yang Yiyan's previously lowered eyes suddenly snapped open, her gaze sharp and piercing towards the audience with intense emotion. She then spun around and stood up, her body tense, like a fully drawn bow, ready to be released.
She gradually slowed down, then took off, making the entire axle look slender. Her 3A feet landed, and her hands opened as if embracing someone, then gently stroking her face.
"pretty!"
A cheer erupted from the Chinese team's platform, accompanied by a tidal wave of applause from the audience, but Yang Yiyan ignored it, stopping in a corner of the ice rink after 3lz+3lo.
The girl on the ice seemed to be in another world, only able to hear her own heartbeat and the violin playing a sudden change of key.
Yang Yiyan's footwork gradually became more dynamic as she played the piano, and her arms swung out with each turn, bringing an indescribable impact.
From the very beginning of the show, Xia Yuezi felt that Yang Yiyan seemed to have returned to her state in Russia, performing under high pressure without any skills, relying solely on her own feelings.
She used her ice skates as pens to carve her image onto the Olympic ice, an image that will never be erased.
The two coaches clenched their fists, their knuckles almost turning white, staring intently at the ice. If the skaters got too carried away on the ice, accidents could easily happen.
The ice skating fans in the stands didn't have this problem. Yumikawa Ria sat among them, nodding frequently, and Fujiwara Yoshino couldn't help but glance at her.
"Aren't you worried? Yan-chan's performance in this show is not only expressive, but her coach also added some footwork and difficulty to the movements. I remember that before the show started, those officials even had a special talk with you."
These words seemed to evoke some unpleasant memories, and a hint of disgust flashed in Yumikawa Ria's eyes: "It's too late to be anxious now. Instead of making yourself anxious, you might as well enjoy other people's shows. Besides, I don't think I'll lose."
During their conversation, Yang Yiyan completed a 3F+2T+2lo, and added a high kick at the end, making her posture more graceful without slowing down her speed.
Fujiwara Yoshino seemed to want to say something, but was overwhelmed by a round of applause. Looking at Yumekawa Ria beside him, who was as engrossed as a fan of ice hockey, he finally swallowed his words.
Oh well, there's still a long way to go before the individual competition, let's just enjoy the present.
Early in the second half of the show, Xia Yuezi noticed that Yang Yiyan had completely gotten into the zone. Her movements were not perfunctory due to declining physical strength; on the contrary, they became even more perfect.
As the last section of music began, Yang Yiyan leaned back and pulled up her pearl bells once more.
According to photography practice, the camera will zoom out when the athlete jumps to avoid capturing their uncontrolled expressions during high-speed rotation. However, when the athlete is spinning, the camera will selectively zoom in or out depending on the aesthetics of the movement.
This set of pearl-themed shots is a long shot, enveloping Yang Yiyan entirely within a large square screen above her head until she strikes her ending pose.
About a second after the performance ended, Yang Yiyan put on a smile, put her hands on her hips, and placed her other hand slightly behind her back, touching her waist.
This program, which she has already practiced many times, allows her to quickly detach herself from her emotions. Even if the emotions she felt in the past two minutes were no less than those in the Russian leg, she can still compose herself.
The two coaches stood by, watching her slide back with one hand on her hip, and they immediately felt uneasy.
"Did you twist your waist or something?" Meng Xin was the first to ask, unable to contain herself.
Yang Yiyan leaned against the coach, one hand on her waist, the other hand putting on her knife sheath. When she heard the question, she shook her head slightly at the two coaches and gave them a reassuring smile.
"I strained a bit when I lifted it up just now, I think I twisted a muscle."
In fact, Yang Yiyan is immune to sprains. The Bielman spin looks beautiful, but it is quite torturous for the back of a female singles player, especially the Pearl Bielman, which requires a high degree of flexibility. She already had a back injury when she was in the junior group.
In fact, many contestants were already unable to lift Biellman before they were even adults. Before their backs were completely damaged, they transformed the bending over pose in the show into other boosting elements.
Xia Yuezi also mentioned whether to remove this move. She had Yang Yiyan practice this move so that she could make a better impression on the judges when she first appeared on the field. Now that the goal has been achieved, some intervention should be taken after the body sounds the alarm.
However, the girl herself did not want to change; she wanted to do her signature move a little longer while her body could still handle it.
The Chinese team members, unaware of the situation, were still waving the red flag, while Li Tan, standing nearby, was laughing so hard he was wrinkled, constantly praising the two young players from their Beijing team to the coaches in the vicinity.
Among the coaches, only Wang Can's smile was stiff. He glanced at Zhang Mengyi, but she didn't seem to want to respond and waved the flag in her hand even more enthusiastically.
Originally, Zhang Mengyi had a falling out with him, and with no athletes from his team participating in the Olympics, Wang Can was not qualified to participate in the Olympics as a coach. It was just that Zhang Mengyi couldn't find a coach to take over her duties for the time being.
Logically speaking, she could have directly asked Li Tan to be a nominal coach, but as the head of the figure skating Olympic team, Li Tan couldn't take care of every aspect of her needs. So, after going around in circles, Zhang Mengyi could only temporarily stay with her original coach.
During her time in the Olympic Village, it was obvious to everyone that Coach Wang Can didn't care for the athletes as much as other coaches. At most, he would show up when waiting for the division, clearly trying to squeeze every last bit of value out of Zhang Mengyi.
If she can make it into the top ten at the Olympics, this achievement will be a powerful weapon for Wang Can to advance his career to the General Administration of Sport. Even if he doesn't meet expectations, training an Olympic athlete will be enough for him to brag about to other athletes' parents.
Xia Yuezi didn't accompany Yang Yiyan to the waiting area; instead, she went directly to the backstage lounge to find the team doctor, where she happened to run into an ice dance athlete receiving a pain-relieving injection.
The nerve block injection was administered directly to the wound, causing extraordinary pain. The moment the syringe was pushed in, the female companion sat on the chair, tightly gripping the male companion's hand, with the veins on her neck bulging.
This will be the last Winter Olympics for these two veteran ice dancers. They resumed training right after undergoing surgery last year, wanting to give their careers one last shot.
Xia Yuezi stood at the door, looking at them with complicated eyes. Her male companion noticed her gaze and forced a smile at her: "Coach Xia, your kids skated quite well today. That's why Xiaoyun and I thought we couldn't let them fail here, so we got them a pain-killing injection as an extra layer of insurance."
"You've had it tough too, you've worked hard."
Xia Yuezi spoke sincerely, her eyes filled with complex emotions. This was the closest Chinese ice dance had ever come to the podium, and the veteran skaters also had their own pride.
The team doctor finished dealing with the syringe in his hand, and turned around when he heard his male partner's voice: "Coach Xia, is Xiaoyan feeling unwell?"
Xia Yuezi came to her senses and sighed softly, "It's her back injury again. I'll trouble you to take a look at her when she comes down later."
The team doctor understood and quickly packed his things into his bag.
The nerve block injection slowly took effect, and the female companion temporarily lost feeling in her ankle. With the help of her male companion, she got up, nodded to Xia Yuezi, and they left together, their backs still conveying a sense of tragic grandeur.
That's how competitive sports are: you get to look amazing on the ice, but underneath you're covered in wounds and injuries. Only you know the full story.
Xia Yuezi withdrew her gaze, her heart still heavy. Only when she saw Yang Yiyan being led over by Meng Xin did her attention return somewhat.
While Yang Yiyan was receiving treatment, Meng Xin briefly discussed her score with her: "142.18, the score is relatively normal, she should be able to rank in the top three."
Xia Yuezi responded, her eyes filled with worry.
Long before Yang Yiyan went backstage, Meng Xin had already sent away the CCTV reporter. Now that she was no longer on camera, Yang Yiyan didn't need to put on a brave face. Her face showed some pain, and it was hard to tell whether the sweat on her forehead was from the pain or from the performance just now.
"My muscles have been repeatedly strained, and my lower back is a bit stiff and I can't bend it. I need to rest in the hotel for the next few days. I definitely can't do the Bellman exercise, and even the Lo jump will depend on the situation."
Upon hearing the team doctor's diagnosis, Yang Yiyan reacted even faster than the coach: "What should we do then?"
Everyone knows that Yang Yiyan is good at LO jumps. The program configuration is full of 3LO and 2LO jumps. If the configuration is changed at the last minute due to a back injury, the only triple jump she can do is 3T+3T. With such a program configuration, she definitely cannot get on the podium.
"You should focus on recovering from your injury first; we can discuss the program's setup later."
Yang Yiyan opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to argue, but seeing the serious expressions on the two coaches' faces, she reluctantly nodded.
The team doctor applied ice to Yang Yiyan, and the three of them simply stayed backstage instead of returning to the base camp to wait for the final result.
In the team ice dance event, the Chinese athletes were competing against the French team. The two teams had similar footwork skills, so it all came down to which team the judges favored.
Perhaps the isolation had an effect, or perhaps they were spurred on by their juniors, but the two veterans actually returned to their peak form in the team competition and won fourth place.
However, Albert from the United States won first place in men's singles and second place in ice dance. After the final competition, the Chinese team and the American team were only two points apart, and could only stand on the sidelines and watch the three European and American teams go on stage to receive their awards.
Hua Guo was mentally prepared for this outcome, and no one showed any unusual emotion on their faces at this moment. When Li Tan called his leaders back home, he said things like "making history."
Xia Yuezi stood on the sidelines and sighed inwardly. Turning her head, she heard Sidorov talking to Davir in Russian: "Fortunately, the women's singles and doubles both got the highest scores, otherwise this team gold medal would have been really in danger."
Wearing a mask, Davil stood in the shadows, but he couldn't hide the longing for the podium in his eyes.
Following his gaze, Xia Yuezi saw Polina standing on the podium. This athlete had cleaned up her double 3A setup in the team competition and steadily scored 10 points. This seemed to be the first time she had beaten Yang Yiyan in the adult group.
Xia Yuezi had her head down and saw the little girl puffing out her cheeks, as if she was holding her breath.
She pinched Yang Yiyan's cheek and gently pulled her into her arms. Even without saying anything, Yang Yiyan felt the coach's comfort and reached out to place her hand on the back of the coach's hand.
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