Chapter 76 Celebrating My Return to Ice Skating
In sports competitions, there are more than just three medals; there are also breakthroughs made by oneself.
Feng Simai got off to a good start for the last group of men's singles skaters. Although his free skate score did not surpass that of the team event, his total score reached 252.75, setting a new career high.
Perhaps because Russia didn't have any outstanding men's singles players in this competition, the Russian judges, who are generally fair in their scoring, raised the average score for the program components, allowing Feng Simai's P score to reach 80 for the first time.
The group of people wearing the Chinese national team uniforms were relaxed at the moment. Feng Simai sat down next to Lin Ye with a bottle of mineral water in his hand, and overheard the conversation between several coaches, led by Li Tan, and domestic leaders.
Lin Ye glanced at him, her tone genuinely joyful: "Congratulations, you've slipped into the top six."
Both are athletes who have been skating for many years and have a clear understanding of the current situation. If Feng Simai had not been limited by his physical strength, his performance could probably have improved even further.
Feng Simai smiled at him and raised the mineral water bottle in her hand: "You're not bad either, want to have one?"
Lin Ye's face showed a hint of surprise, but his actions were honest; he clinked his mineral water bottle against Lin Ye's and asked, "You haven't been secretly drinking outside, have you? Where did you learn this?"
Feng Simai unscrewed the bottle cap, tilted his head back, and took a swig. The icy liquid slid down his throat, spreading throughout his body, gradually extinguishing the arousal he had generated from exercise.
"Where can I go to drink? Minors are not allowed to drink alcohol, and athletes are even less allowed. The coach has said this countless times, but I just think we should celebrate today."
Lin Ye teased, "What are you celebrating? Celebrating that you achieved the best result in the history of Chinese men's singles at the Olympics? Water instead of wine won't be enough. When we get back to Beijing, we'll make sure you bleed a good dose of your own medicine."
Although Lin Ye belongs to the Heilongjiang Provincial Team, after the Olympics, all the participating athletes will attend the commendation ceremony in Beijing. According to other senior athletes who have competed in the Olympics, they will also visit other places in Beijing at this time.
“No,” von Smythe paused, his eyes shining brightly, “it’s a celebration of the history we created together.”
Lin Ye tightened his grip on the bottle, his lips moved slightly as if he were saying something, but at the same time, cheers from the ice rink carried into the corridor, drowning out his words.
Feng Simai calculated that Anthony should be on the court now. Judging from his voice alone, the French star should be performing well.
But Feng Simai was not distracted by the sound. Instead, he looked at Lin Ye and asked, "What did you just say?"
Lin Ye chuckled, his smile widening, and his expression visibly relaxed: "I said, since you've put it this way, let's split the bill for that meal."
"Okay then, how about we call the others along too?"
When Xia Yuezi returned, the results of the men's singles competition had already been announced, and the two Chinese men's singles players had made arrangements for their return home.
The ice dance competitions began in the next two days. Two veteran Chinese athletes had been Asia's number one for a time, but even at their peak, they could only be second-tier athletes, let alone now.
They each received two or three injections before their free skate. The leaders were also aware of their physical condition and didn't expect the pair to achieve any great results at the Olympics. They just hoped the pair could finish their professional careers peacefully.
Ice dance is the least popular of the four figure skating events. Even at the Olympics, in a figure skating powerhouse like Russia, the number of spectators is not as high as the other two events.
According to Xia Yuezi's own understanding, niche sports either have a very high barrier to entry for spectators or are very expensive, making it impossible for them to be widely disseminated in China, and ice dance falls into both categories.
This rule also applies to long-time ice skating fans. They can distinguish the composition of singles and pairs skating moves, but for ice dance, they can often only describe it as "beautiful," or simply watch the drama unfold and ship couples.
If figure skating is likened to the division of high school into arts and sciences, ice dance is definitely a typical arts subject.
The moves look beautiful and simple, but they are so difficult to learn that you cry when you try them. The material is also quite varied. The most important thing is that ice dance scoring is like a liberal arts exam. It is hard to get low or high scores, but the middle scores are clustered together, and the line to enter the free dance is getting higher and higher every year.
Compared to the previous World Championships, the bar for free dance has risen by nearly two points in less than a year.
Xia Yuezi glanced at the podium. The American team was standing in the middle, with the Russian and Canadian teams on the left and right sides respectively. It was as if the team podium had been moved to a different position.
She suddenly thought of the Russian referees in the men's singles competition, and a wry smile appeared on her face. This limited-time fairness card would probably expire tomorrow.
The order of appearance in the short program is based on the season points ranking. Yang Yiyan's points only place her in the second to last group, along with Zhang Mengyi, Polina, and Alisa. Even Claire is in the second to last group because she doesn't have enough points.
As for the penultimate group, a situation has emerged where three Asian players and three European and American players are evenly matched.
Any figure skating fan who knows even a little bit about figure skating can't help but feel worried for their favorite skaters just by looking at the lineups of the last two groups.
The men's singles competition only starts to get intense in the free skate, while the women's singles competition is already fierce from the short program.
Among the three groups of skaters, the one who has attracted the most attention from fans is Park Young-rye from South Korea. After receiving special training from a coach in Canada, she not only regained all the jumps she had lost, but also almost beat Sung Eun-hee at this year's All-Korea Championships. It can be said that this skater has completely made it out of the lake.
If Park Young-rye hadn't had so few points, she could have easily made it into the last two groups given her current form.
Xia Yuezi stood backstage, accompanying Yang Yiyan as she warmed up, her ice skate bag and training bag never leaving her sight.
Meng Xin walked over from the side and whispered, "Park Young-ri's short program score was 64.37. She probably hasn't competed for a long time, so the judges' P score and GOE were both very low."
Xia Yuezi nodded knowingly, not surprised by the result. This score was quite good for a skater who hadn't achieved much in the senior group and had just left the lake; at the very least, it ensured she would advance to the last two groups in the free skate.
"Don't talk to Xiaoyan about the other contestants yet. She was the first to perform this time, so she's already under a lot of pressure."
Yang Yiyan has always had good luck with her draws, rarely being the first or last to perform in short programs. However, at the Olympics, Lady Luck did not smile upon her.
Meng Xin responded and casually glanced at the other contestants.
Before the competition began, Yang Yiyan stood at the entrance of the ice rink, facing her coach, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
Xia Yuezi finally straightened the thin veil on Kausten's shoulders, then gently pressed her palm down: "Cheer up, don't panic."
Yang Yiyan didn't speak. She placed her hands behind her head, gently adjusting the hair tie on her ponytail, and slowly glided onto the ice rink. The announcement then revealed her nationality and name.
As the orchestral music with an oriental flair began, Yang Yiyan instantly transformed into a young woman just entering the world of martial arts, sliding backward to carefully examine this world and confirm whether it matched her expectations.
She leaped into the air amidst the sounds of flashing swords and clashing blades, landing the first successful triple A in the women's singles competition.
With this great start, Yang Yiyan floated off the ice, then turned around, quickly jumped, entered with the difficulty of a butterfly jump, and maintained this posture to enter a swallow spin, then turned into a donut shape.
Then the drums replaced the strings, and Yang Yiyan stepped to the beat of the drums and fell to the 3lz. Upon seeing this, both coaches frowned in unison.
Her back injury has not fully recovered, and the two coaches know her personality and will not lower the difficulty at this time. They can only suggest that Yang Yiyan put the combination jump in the first half, so that even if she makes a mistake, she can pick it up again on the last jump.
But Yang Yiyan clearly didn't accept it; she still wanted to showcase the highest level of difficulty.
"She was practically playing herself in this show."
Meng Xin said this, but the tension on her face was no less than that of Xia Yuezi.
As the second half of the competition began, Yang Yiyan's skating speed gradually increased. She used her momentum to take off at the toe point, and both coaches held their breath and gripped their clothes tightly.
As the ice fell from 3F, Yang Yiyan continued to pull upwards, connecting to 3lo.
Two cheers erupted beside the ice rink. Sidorov even saw one of the Chinese coaches, who had been bent over with his feet one in front of the other in a preparatory position for a T-jump, jump up and perform an "0T" on the ground.
Yang Yiyan opened her arms, her cheeks turning red, but she still tilted her head back, her eyes filled with unruliness and indifference. However, if you stared into her eyes, you could also see a hint of stubbornness and self-confidence.
Are you saying I can't do it? That I can't do it?
But I'm going to do it anyway!
She had a reason not to change her consecutive jumps, but the spins were a different story. To protect her back, the coach changed the final pearl bell man turn to a regular bent-over spin.
Yang Yiyan leaned back, facing the Olympic rings above her. She opened her arms and lifted her free foot backward, as if embracing the Olympic Games.
The fans who were following the live broadcast were confused and started looking for clues on the forum. They finally found out the reason in Yang Yiyan's post-competition interview and expressed their heartache for their idol in the post.
Through the camera, all the audience members present could see Yang Yiyan throw a punch and, by lip-reading, recognize that she shouted "yes" to herself.
But when the player returned to the sidelines, his smile vanished.
Xia Yuezi lifted her eyelids, looked at her coldly, but didn't say anything. She draped her coat over her shoulders, opened a sports drink, and handed it to her: "Does your back hurt?"
Yang Yiyan immediately transformed into a well-behaved child, as if she wasn't the one who disobeyed instructions on the ice: "It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt, I can still do a four-in-a-row."
Upon hearing this, the two coaches glared at her fiercely. Yang Yiyan covered her mouth, then made a zipping motion and gave an "OK" sign.
On the ice, she can be unrestrained, letting the coach's words go in one ear and out the other. But off the ice, she has to rein herself in, otherwise she can't escape the mixed doubles after the competition.
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Author's Note: Additional thoughts on the connection between ice dance and the humanities (based on personal understanding)
1. Spare tire
Most high school students have probably heard the saying, "If you can't do well in science, go study humanities"; a famous athlete once said, "If you can't excel in singles, try pairs; if you can't do pairs, switch to ice dance."
2. Fractions
High scores in liberal arts subjects are hard to achieve, and failing is also not easy; ice dance has a lower error rate than the other three disciplines because there are no jumps, and the score will not be as low as 10 or 20 points. Correspondingly, you cannot score by jumping, so high scores are hard to get, and you can only get in the middle.
Volume 3
The cutoff scores for civil service and postgraduate entrance exams in the humanities have skyrocketed in recent years, and ice dance is no exception. From Sochi to Pyeongchang, there was a surge in men's singles quadruple jumps. Adding to this, the qualifying scores for the free skate at the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Olympics were 61, 76, and 78 respectively. The last two World Championships saw scores of 76 and 73, almost reaching their peak. This decline might be due to mistakes in high-difficulty jumps. In contrast, the qualifying scores for ice dance are 52, 59, and 65, with the last two World Championships at 68. Personally, I think the score will rise by one point at the next Winter Olympics. [laughing and crying emoji]
(Author's ramblings: Please don't criticize me if you think it doesn't look right [please just leave it at that])
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