Chapter 136 The Gambler's Third Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony
February 9th arrived quickly. According to the schedule, the figure skating team competition would begin at 10:00 AM local time, with the men's singles and pairs events starting first.
The athletes who already had experience in team competitions led the other participants to sit in the special seats arranged for the team delegations in the aisle, and took out the national flags they had prepared beforehand.
Feng Simai competed in the free skate event at the last Olympic team event and also competed in the World Team Championships. This time, she is competing in the short program, so she doesn't feel much pressure and is even facing many familiar skaters.
For example, before he took the stage, Kevin from the United States, Diaz from Kazakhstan, and Kiel from Canada had already finished their performances.
In order to fully prepare for the individual competition, Wayne had Kiel play in all the team competitions, and France's Augustin had the same situation.
As soon as Feng Simai arrived at the sidelines, he saw a young Russian athlete fall on the ice. Because the first jump was a quadruple jump, there was no way to make up for the mistake with a combination jump.
Xia Yuezi turned her head and glanced to the side. The smiles of the people wearing Russian team uniforms next to the barrier were very stiff, as if they were putting on an act in front of the camera.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this young athlete should comfortably finish last in the short program of the team competition.
"Go ahead, believe in yourself."
Xia Yuezi didn't say much. After bumping fists with Feng Simai, she put both of them on his shoulders and pushed him toward the ice rink.
As a musical male voice rang out, Feng Simai opened the show with a high-quality 4S+3T sequence, followed by a jump-squat turn, maintaining high RPMs.
"Beyond the Horizon" is the most expressive piece in "Jinsha". After Feng Simai decided on this piece, he bought a ticket to listen to the musical live.
Although the actor playing "Sha" was no longer the one from the premiere, it is undeniable that Feng Simai was still moved by the song and shed tears along with the musical actors.
In 2005, "Jinsha" became the first domestically produced musical in China, making not only the two main actors popular, but also giving hope to many musical theater fans.
In 2015, the actor who played the role of "King" in the first musical passed away. Many fans said that the fate of "King" and "Sand" had been repeated in real life.
Perhaps one day in the future, the actor who played "Sha" will stand on the screen again and sing "Beyond the Horizon" once more, but the "Jin" in the hearts of the drama fans will never return.
She really is far, far away.
The same was true for Feng Simai; his grandmother, who had been very kind to him, passed away.
Before her death, she often talked about Feng Simai. Whenever there was a competition, she would sit in front of the TV, and even if she couldn't understand the technical moves or the foreign commentators, she would always say that her grandson skated very well.
Even on his deathbed, this old man's greatest concern was still for Feng Simai, who was training with the Beijing team.
"Beyond the Horizon" is a piece of music filled with nostalgia and love. Under Feng Simai's interpretation, the emotions contained in it have their own unique charm.
This program scored 93.82, which, based on the past performances of the short program participants in the team competition, is more than enough to rank them in the top four.
"Well done."
His teammates behind him shook his shoulders, while the athletes who were further away waved their national flags and cheered. The ice dancers, who had to maintain perfect attendance, felt both pressure and relief at that moment.
Based on the normal performances of the other three athletes, as long as ice dance can get three points, they can secure a spot in the team competition.
The two contestants exchanged a glance, both seeing undeniable pressure in each other's eyes.
Xia Yuezi stood nearby and talked to Coach Lu: "His team competition is over, but his condition is not good. The team doctor has been informed about the individual competition and asked him to prepare for the closed training in advance."
Coach Lu looked at his own kids who were still warming up, his face also showing pressure: "The kids' single jump is 3F, which is also the highest difficulty among the three pairs of figures skating, but they are not stable in the main competition."
The implication is that if this pair can maintain their jump, they can secure a second-place finish and even compete for first place in the team competition; however, if they fail to fall back down, it's unclear where their ranking will go.
Xia Yuezi glanced at him and said jokingly, "Figure skating has never lacked gamblers. Look at the men's singles arena, it's full of gamblers, and we have one in our team too."
Lin Ye, sitting in the special seat for the Chinese team, felt a tickle in his nose and thought someone had been watching him.
Coach Lu chuckled twice and quietly looked away.
The fact that they dared to use such an unstable jump must have been approved by the coaching team. It's probably because, apart from Cao Jinhui and Lu Sheng, the other two pairs in the pairs figure skating event are not yet qualified to compete for the podium. Like the other athletes, they have set their sights on the team event.
Fortunately, they won their gamble in this match, earning nine points for the Chinese team.
The atmosphere in the Chinese figure skating team became enthusiastic, and this mood continued into the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics that evening. Former South Korean figure skater and the first female singles skater in history to achieve a Grand Slam appeared on the ice again, prompting fans in front of their screens to take screenshots like crazy, and photos on the forums never stopped.
Holding the Chinese national flag, Xia Yuezi silently followed in the middle of the delegation, looking around the main venue as she walked.
Including this time, she has participated in three Winter Olympics opening ceremonies.
The Sochi Winter Olympics was the first time she accompanied the children to this ice rink as a coach; the Beijing Winter Olympics was the first time she stepped onto the ice rink where she had trained for more than ten years as an athlete, amidst everyone's expectations and attention.
Both of these Winter Olympics hold very beautiful memories for her, while the PyeongChang Winter Olympics left only regret and pain in her life.
It was also because of this Winter Olympics that she almost gave up figure skating.
"Coach, can you take a picture for us?"
Yang Yiyan ran up to Xia Yuezi and shoved her phone into the coach's hand. Xia Yuezi looked up and saw Yang Yiyan running back to Feng Simai's side, then pulling Yan Rui to stand beside her. The three of them stood in a row and raised their left hands to make a peace sign.
Xia Yuezi smiled helplessly, raised her phone, and captured the scene on the screen.
As they entered the venue, Yang Yiyan stood next to Xia Yuezi, held her phone high above her head, and asked the coach to smile at the screen. In the video, there were also volunteers wearing hats standing behind Xia Yuezi, smiling at them.
Yang Yiyan posted this photo on her social media after the opening ceremony.
Xia Yuezi sat by the window, quietly looking at the social media on her phone, and saved the photo.
The figure skating team competition resumed on February 11.
The morning competition consists of rhythm dance and women's singles short program to determine the five qualifying spots for the team competition. The pairs free skate begins at 1:40 pm.
The ice dance athletes who secured Olympic spots were newly promoted to higher levels. Knowing they weren't competitive in individual events, they went abroad for training after the regional competitions and continued until the team training camp, all to avoid holding the team back in the team competition.
They lived up to expectations, earning four points in rhythmic dance.
In the upcoming women's singles team competition, during the pre-match chat, Yumikawa Ria and Polina said they didn't have enough health points and weren't planning to participate in the team competition.
However, the Russian men's singles team had a major upset in the short program, and the Russian Ice Hockey Federation needed to ensure high scores in other events, so they sent out Polina again, aiming for ten points.
When Xia Yuezi saw Polina backstage, the blonde, blue-eyed beauty looked to be in a very bad mood, and the jump rope in her hand left afterimages.
In fact, Polina's mood wasn't exactly great after the opening ceremony last night. Xia Yuezi and her group saw Polina riding a bicycle in the gym on their way back from the cafeteria.
As for Yang Yiyan, perhaps because the two had been entangled for so long, she didn't feel flustered at all when facing Polina, who was the same age as her, so Xia Yuezi didn't give her any instructions.
Yumikawa Ria sat in the audience, wearing a mask and quietly waiting for the women's singles match to begin. She was not participating in the team event, so she was not entitled to the reserved seat in the aisle.
The young woman sitting next to her asked, "Who do you think will win this short program?"
This is Yumikawa Ria's younger sister. She just started university this year. She was able to come out this time because Yumikawa's mother was worried about her injury, but she couldn't leave due to various reasons, so she could only send her youngest daughter abroad.
Quite coincidentally, this girl was also a seasoned figure skating fan and had even studied figure skating for a while. However, her talent simply couldn't compare to her sister's, and coupled with her family's inability to afford it, she eventually gave it up.
She put down the Japanese flag in her hand, tilted her head, and seemed to be thinking: "If neither of them makes a mistake, Polina should get first place, since her program content score will be higher."
As a veteran figure skating fan, she is well aware of the difficulties faced by Asian athletes. If her sister hadn't achieved a Grand Slam, her treatment on the show would not have been comparable to that of other European and American athletes.
Mengchuan Li rested her chin on her hand: "Really? Then if we don't consider the content of the program, who do you think is more powerful?"
The girl lowered her eyes and thought for a moment: "The two of them have different focuses. Their minimum standards are both very high and their stability is not bad. But if we're talking about difficulty, Yang-chan is probably better because she can do a 3-lo combo."
"Anything else?" Mengchuan Liya smiled as she looked at her younger sister. "Think about Hele a couple of days ago, don't you think her program has changed?"
It's normal for programs to change. Feng Simai has done something similar before. It seems there's still some aspect that hasn't been properly integrated with the program, which is why there are some changes in the details between the program presented at the beginning of the season and the program presented at the World Championships.
The little girl frowned, thinking carefully, comparing the differences between the preliminary rounds and the regular rounds in her mind, and then suddenly looked up: "You mean... the arrangement of the jumps, she put all the jumps at the end?"
She's not a coach, and she doesn't have a timer. Without equipment on set, she'd hardly know the timing of a program.
Furthermore, when skating, skaters need to pay attention to their surroundings to ensure that there are no other skaters near their skating path. Therefore, the final result cannot be taken too seriously. Most skating fans only look at whether the skater's jump is successful and whether they are in good form.
The audience's applause rang out at just the right moment. She felt that Yumikawa Ria seemed to have said something to her, but she couldn't hear it clearly.
But now that the Chinese players have taken the stage, the young girl stopped insisting and sat down in the audience to wait for the match to begin.
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