◎The country's ice dance landscape will further expand◎
Tang Yi watched the bean-sized tears sliding down Ji Tiantian's face, and his pair of dark eyes became dim.
He subconsciously reached out his hand, but was afraid of hurting her, so after thinking it over he withdrew his hand.
He looked up at the Goose Hot Couple Group that won first place, and the Spanish Childhood Sweethearts Group that won second place not far away.
The two groups were caught by the live camera, and both showed excited expressions. The Big Goose group hugged each other excitedly, while the Childhood Sweethearts group held each other's hands tightly with firm smiles on their faces.
He turned his head and looked at Ji Tiantian who was crying while wearing his coat.
Although they all won awards, the moods of contestants from different countries were different.
"Oh, Tiantian, what's wrong?" At this time, two coaches rushed over.
"Why are you still holding snacks? It's such a late hour, why are you still eating snacks!" Xu Chi seemed to have just reacted and immediately took the konjac shreds from Ji Tiantian's hand.
"You got third place! Tiantian, go get your medal!" Jiang Lin pulled Ji Tiantian's shoulders, looked at the little face with tears in her eyes under her coat, and couldn't help but shed tears too.
"You've done a great job. You've worked so hard over the past six months. I know it must have been difficult to keep up with Tang Yi's progress. But you did it. You did things that many people wouldn't even dare to think about. You are our hero, and sooner or later more people will know your name." Jiang Lin wiped her tears and gently touched Ji Tiantian's head through her coat. "Don't cry, you can have a good rest when you return home. You have to be happy." As she said this, she choked up again.
Ji Tiantian's performance really opened Jiang Lin's eyes. Or rather, she hadn't fully reacted yet.
Ice dancing focuses on gliding, and the use of blades is complex and delicate. It is easy to make mistakes in the use of blades during competitions and practice. This led to her inability to accurately predict some technical movements, such as step sequences, when she was guiding the two players in practice.
There is no way to predict how many ratings and points they will get in the game.
This is a bit like jumping in a singles competition. Even if you practice hard, you don’t know if you can succeed in the competition.
However, Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi successfully performed the top three-level step sequence in the youth group in the free dance.
I think this has something to do with the talents of the two players and the fact that they are competitive players.
Especially Ji Tiantian, she has been growing in the competition. Although she did not perform at her true level in the short dance, she became more and more courageous.
With her small feet, she skates out the future of Chinese ice dance.
Jiang Lin couldn't help but look up at the results displayed on the screen. Although she had watched it many times, she couldn't help but watch it again to confirm that the player she trained really won the bronze medal.
Once again, tears blurred my eyes.
"Tang Yi, why did you cover her head?" Xu Chi was scolding Tang Yi as usual, and patted him on the back of his neck symbolically, "The camera captured it, and we don't even know who the girl who won the bronze medal is!"
Tang Yi closed his eyes helplessly, walked to Ji Tiantian and looked down at her.
"I'm going to put away my coat." He reached out and gently pulled at his coat. Ji Tiantian reached out her little hand and pulled at his coat to stop him.
"It will be made into an animated picture." Tang Yi reminded softly.
“But…but…” Ji Tiantian sniffed, her voice thick with sobs, “If I’m like this…I’ll be made into…an emoticon.”
If she was wearing Tang Yi's coat like this, it would be recorded by the camera and turned back to be made into an animated picture by the fans on the forum. But without the coat, she would probably be a crying emoji. She was in a dilemma.
Tang Yi looked at Ji Tiantian and couldn't help but curl his lips: "If it really is made into an emoticon, it will be a very cute emoticon."
Ji Tiantian paused, raised her red eyes, and looked at Tang Yi's face. Although she had gotten rid of the fangirl mentality, she still felt that Tang Yi looked really good when he smiled.
She sniffed and suddenly didn't want to cry anymore, and she smiled faintly.
"Are you ready?" Tang Yi asked.
"Yeah." Ji Tiantian nodded vigorously. She took off the coat on her head, then took off her own coat and handed it to the coach, preparing to go on stage to receive the award.
She turned her head and looked at the clear English words on the score display screen, still a little dazed. But she knew that now was not the time to be confused.
She hurriedly bent down to tie the laces of her ice skates.
The awards ceremony is usually held in the middle of the ice, and the athletes need to skate to the podium. She had not thought that she would win an award before, and she had loosened her shoelaces to relax her feet while watching the competition.
She tied her shoelaces and began to tidy up her clothes. At the same time, Jiang Lin took out the cosmetics she carried with her and touched up Ji Tiantian's makeup. She patted her face hard with the cold powder puff. Ji Tiantian looked down at her nails painted with black nail polish.
She still maintained her free dance style, a little swan in the dance school who was not satisfied with the status quo. She flew all the way and finally flew to where she wanted to go.
She did what she wanted to do.
Everything is fine. It can't be better than this. She couldn't help but smile.
Tang Yi took Ji Tiantian to the entrance of the ice surface and lined up with the other two groups who had been waiting there.
"Thank you for your advice, Tiantian." Silver medalist Spanish partner Lei Luo spoke to Ji Tiantian sincerely, "You asked us to focus on showing our tacit understanding... It really gave us a lot of inspiration for the performance. Half of the credit for our winning this place goes to you."
"I'm not that good." Ji Tiantian smiled embarrassedly, then hugged the two contestants from the Spanish group one by one.
"Chinese ceramic doll! I knew you could do it!" Catherine, the female companion of the gold medalist, also came over and hugged Ji Tiantian warmly. She held her for a long time and was reluctant to let go.
Tang Yi stood silently by the side and watched everyone hug Ji Tiantian, frowning. He was a little worried that the delicate and soft Ji Tiantian would not be able to withstand the strong hug from the enthusiastic foreign contestants. Fortunately, there were only two groups of contestants.
The podium on the ice has been prepared, and the little ice children came to the podium first, holding bouquets and medals. There is a red carpet on the ice in front of the podium.
"Please invite the bronze medalists, Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi from China to come on stage." The announcement was made over the radio.
Amidst applause, Tang Yi took Ji Tiantian, who was dizzy from being hugged, to the podium.
Before going on stage, Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi held hands and saluted the audience again. Ji Tiantian couldn't help but glance at Tang Yi beside her.
After the intense competition, his hair was a little messy, and his clothes were OK, except that she unbuttoned one more button. Overall, he looked good. At this time, he was not disturbed by the disease, and he was full of energy and vigor, emitting a strong vitality.
This is her dance partner. Her comrade.
She couldn't help but smile and pulled him up to the bronze medal podium.
Then the Spanish group and the Big Goose group took turns to perform. According to tradition, the winners needed to hug and congratulate each other.
The four contestants from the Spanish group and the Big Goose group all gave Tang Yi a gentle hug out of courtesy, and then hugged Ji Tiantian tightly.
There was a burst of adoring laughter from the audience.
"Compared with other contestants, the Chinese female partners are really just children."
"She's so cute, and it seems like everyone likes her."
"Yes, I like her too. Her skills are not as immature as her appearance. What a striking contrast."
"Yeah, yeah, this ice dance is really a surprise."
…
Everyone was talking about it.
The member of the Skating Union responsible for awarding prizes came over and presented medals and bouquets to the three winning pairs one by one and shook hands with them.
Then, there was the solemn flag-raising ceremony. The audience became exceptionally quiet.
Ji Tiantian stood on the podium, looking at the flag of her motherland and the flags of Spain and Russia rising together, listening to the Russian national anthem, countless thoughts running through her mind.
Among the many thoughts, there was one thought that was expanding wildly, gradually occupying her entire mind.
She really hoped that the medal on her chest could turn gold.
Good hope, good hope.
She suddenly realized that this was the thing she wanted to accomplish most in her life.
I hope I’ll have the chance to realize it in this lifetime.
After the national anthem ended, Ji Tiantian realized belatedly that she was crying again.
"Does it not look good?" Ji Tiantian blinked and looked at Tang Yi beside her.
"How could that be?" Tang Yi still smiled at her, "Everyone is proud of you today."
Then they leaned together, holding their medals and smiling brightly at the camera. Today, at this moment, everyone would see her smile.
After the awards ceremony, Xu Chi and Jiang Lin received their own score sheets, which clearly showed the contestants' grading, as well as their technical score (T) and program content score (P).
The technical score is the sum of the basic score and execution score of each move. The basic score is determined by the move grading, and the person responsible for the move grading is the technical expert from the referee seat. The technical expert will give the grade based on the actual performance of the contestant.
As for the execution level GOE of each move, nine judges will score it separately, with the lowest score being -3 and the best being +3. Then the lowest and highest scores will be removed and the average will be taken, which is multiplied by the corresponding coefficient to get the execution score.
The program content is divided into five sub-items: skating, connection, performance, choreography, and music interpretation. Each sub-item is scored out of 10 points. Nine judges will score them separately, remove the lowest score and take the average. The average of each item is then multiplied by different coefficients and added to get the final score.
The technical score has been estimated, and this time Ji Tiantian mainly focuses on the P score. The scores of the five items under the P score are very even, with 6.5 out of 5 10 points.
Based on this estimate, the five items of the champion goose group are estimated to be above 7. For others who get P points above 40 points, the five items should also be around 7.
Comparing in this way, I feel that P score still has a lot of room for improvement.
Ji Tiantian cheered up and took Tang Yi to exchange experiences with other contestants on how to get P points.
The coach did not stop them, and the two stood aside to discuss. National team players from other events also gathered to chat.
After the great joy, Xu Chi felt deep worry.
It would be great if I didn't have to worry about anything and the two kids could be promoted to the next group smoothly and maintain their leading position.
But he knows very well that this is not easy. Unlike the young women's and men's singles events, where many stars shine, ice dancers have been in service for a long time, and there are many outstanding players in their thirties.
The ice dance masters of the adult group, after years of experience, have become more confident in the difficulty of their movements, P-scores, rapport with their partners, and emotional expression. They carefully depict their works like artists.
In other words, the youth and adult groups of ice dancing are actually two completely different worlds.
The battles that Ji Tang and his partner will face in the future will only become more intense. If they want to consolidate their current position, they must work harder.
The biggest problem now is that the domestic ice dancing level cannot keep up with the progress of the two.
"There are basically no coaches in China who are proficient in footwork. It is not a good idea to invite foreign coaches to run back and forth. We still have to go abroad for training." Xu Chi made up his mind and took out his mobile phone while talking to Jiang Lin. "No, I have to apply to the leader quickly to let the children study abroad."
Ji Tiantian's communication with other contestants was not always smooth. Some contestants were wary of her, or just didn't want to communicate with others.
But some were particularly enthusiastic, and gave her some dolls while communicating, treating her like a little sister. This included the Goose Group and the Spanish Group. Everyone agreed to compete together next year.
The souvenirs given by the players and the souvenirs thrown by the fans added up to a lot, and Ji Tiantian couldn't hold them all. So Tang Yi asked the staff to bring a big bag to put them in.
He carried the bag and Ji Tiantian back to the coach and saw Xu Chi talking passionately on the phone with the relevant leaders of the Sports Bureau.
"They should be talking about overseas training." Tang Yi listened for a while, then turned to Ji Tiantian and said, "In my previous life, I got the opportunity to train overseas only after I was promoted to a higher group. But even after I was promoted to a higher group, Lao Xu still complained to me every day that the ice dance team was short of funds and the overseas training might not last long."
Ji Tiantian understood immediately. It wasn't that there was no money at all, but it was just that it was hard to apply for funding for projects that didn't produce results.
"It's okay." Ji Tiantian patted Tang Yi's shoulder vigorously and showed a bright smile, "With me here, you will accomplish all the things you regretted in your last life in this life!"
Tang Yi looked at Ji Tiantian silently, his dark eyes were a little hot.
"Ah... I just said it casually. You just listen to it." Ji Tiantian coughed lightly and turned away somewhat unnaturally.
Not long after, Xu Chi hung up the phone.
"What did the leader say?" Jiang Lin asked, carefully observing Xu Chi's expression.
"There was no clear answer. The leader just learned about our contestant winning the award, and was a little stunned by the sudden bronze medal. He hasn't come back to his senses yet." Xu Chi smiled and spoke to Jiang Lin.
"That's right. I'm still a little shocked." Jiang Lin paused, "But it's okay to wait for a while. They haven't competed in the World Championships yet. Then we have to see what the short dance will be for next season. This way it will be easier to formulate a training plan."
"Yes. We will be busy next season." Xu Chi put his hands in his pockets, smiling with pride. "We can send two pairs of players to compete in the next World Youth Championship. There are many things to plan."
The International Skating Union stipulates that if a country sends a pair of skaters who place 3-10th in the World Junior Championships or World Championships, then the country can send two pairs of skaters to the next World Junior Championships or World Championships. If they place outside the top 10, they can only send one pair of skaters the next year, while if they place 1-2nd, they can send three skaters the next year.
China has always sent out pairs of players, but this situation was broken by Ji Tang.
One more pair of contestant spots means that the country’s ice dance landscape will further expand in the future.
It is easy to imagine how lively this year's national championship will be. There will be many young players competing for the extra spots.
That would be the golden age of ice dancing. He had finally waited for it.
Xu Chi couldn't help but hum a song.
There was nothing else to do, so everyone left the competition venue together. After leaving the venue, Tang Yi saw Ni Chuan waiting for him at the door. Next to him stood a young lady with red eyes from crying.
"Brother Yi, you are awesome!" Ni Chuan rushed over and hugged Tang Yi tightly. Tang Yi instinctively wanted to push Ni Chuan away, but suddenly felt a damp heat on his shoulder.
"My trip was not in vain, wow." Ni Chuan burst into tears without warning. He himself did not expect this.
At this moment, when I touched the player I was proud of, tears naturally flowed out. It was so sudden.
After asking, Ji Tiantian learned that the girl with red eyes was an ice fan who came to the scene specially to support the team, so she hugged her.
Both of us have well-developed tear glands, you infected me and I infected you, and we hugged each other and couldn't stop crying.
When Tang Yi saw this, he wanted to separate them, but Ni Chuan was hanging on him and couldn't move.
“Wuwuwu, Brother Yi…” Ni Chuan cried hoarsely, “No one in the neighborhood will say that your skating is useless anymore, wahhhh…”
Ji Tiantian heard this from the side and felt suffocated for no reason. She didn't feel unfair for Tang Yi, she just hated people who loved to discourage others and thought they had seen through everything.
"Who cares what those people do? Just do what you think is right." She walked over and said angrily, "Those people are always jealous of others because they don't know anything. They just want others to be like them."
Ni Chuan stopped crying for a moment, and looked at Ji Tiantian with Tang Yi. Ji Tiantian's round eyes were extremely fiery.
"You're likely to get scolded for whatever you like. I always encountered this kind of people when I was a kid. Just ignore them." Ji Tiantian pursed her lips, turned away her eyes unnaturally, and muttered softly, "I just... speak out my feelings, don't look at me like that."
"Ah, yes, Sister Tiantian is right. After all, she is a medalist, so the situation is different." Ni Chuan came back to his senses, looked at Tang Yi who was still looking at Ji Tiantian, and said with a smile, "Sister Tiantian told you to stop looking, what are you still looking at? She said that she was speaking from her heart, not to defend you, don't think too much."
Tang Yi frowned and looked at Ni Chuan, wanting to kick him, but Ni Chuan dodged nimbly and ran away.
"Oh, it's awesome to win a medal, you can just kick whenever you want. Why don't you learn the pattern from Sister Tiantian!" Ni Chuan's laughter could be heard continuously.
Ji Tiantian said goodbye to the ice fan girl, and then went to the hotel happily with everyone in the team.
That night, Ji Tiantian called Zhang Lilian to announce the good news. Zhang Lilian had already known about Ji Tiantian's award, but she couldn't help crying when she heard her daughter's voice.
“Wow, my dear baby…wow…you must come back safely…” Zhang Lilian cried inconsolably.
"Mom, you're exaggerating." Ji Tiantian felt like crying again after hearing her mother's voice. She had shed all her tears this year today.
"Mom, I'm fine, don't worry about me, I will take good care of myself." She knew Zhang Lilian's subtext very well, so she spoke softly.
"Well... OK, then take good care of yourself! Mom is fine, so I'll just wait for you to come back... I'll call your dad in a minute!"
"Okay, tell dad I'm safe." Ji Tiantian's father, Ji Ze, was still in South City at the moment, not with Zhang Lilian who was far away in the capital.
Ji Tiantian hung up the phone, and then began to send messages to Chen Yusheng, Wang Hao and others. Many old classmates from the South City Dance School came to congratulate her when they learned that she had won the bronze medal.
Jiang Lin, who lived with her, was also busy at the same time. Many old colleagues called to congratulate her on the medals she had won for her athletes and asked her if she had any experience.
"Don't ask, I really have no experience. Tang Yi is fine, but I've never seen anyone master level 3 connecting steps so quickly as Tiantian..." Ji Tiantian looked at Jiang Lin who was talking on the phone with a happy smile on her face.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Ji Tiantian looked through the peephole and saw Xu Chi and Tang Yi standing outside.
After the award ceremony, everyone seemed to be very busy and no one was idle.
"We just received a notice from the competition that Tiantian and Tang Yi will participate in the exhibition skating and perform solo programs." After the door opened, Xu Chi showed a tired middle-aged smile to Ji Tiantian and Jiang Lin who was on the phone, "It seems that we are not prepared."
Jiang Lin hung up the phone slowly.
The four of them fell silent and almost forgot about the exhibition skating.
GALA, also known as athlete performance, is very common in international figure skating competitions and can be considered a tradition.
Exhibition skating is usually held on the second day after all four events are completed. As the name suggests, the contestants will perform one by one to thank the ice fans for their love.
There are usually no restrictions on movements in exhibition skating. The skaters can use small props and perform freely to fully display the charm of figure skating.
GALA is beneficial to both players and competition organizations. It can help players consolidate their fan base, enable them to receive more commercial activities, and also help organizations expand their fan base and visibility.
Generally speaking, the four medal winners of figure skating will definitely perform solo programs. The organizers will consider the other top eight or top ten skaters on a case-by-case basis and will not invite all of them.
Because of the tight preparation time before the World Junior Championships, both coaches did not set aside time for the two athletes to prepare for the exhibition skating.
It’s not that they didn’t think Ji Tang could get good grades, but they didn’t think their grades would be that good.
Xu Chi originally thought that if two players ranked in the top ten and were invited to perform, they could decline the invitation and say that they were too busy with practice to attend.
Or you can work together with other players to create a simple program and perform together on the ice rink.
But it’s a completely different story if you get the top three. Many fans watch exhibition skating just to see the top three individual performances, and it’s hard to refuse.
"At worst, you can just do a pattern dance." Jiang Lin was silent for a while, then said, "Just find some music, skate a pattern, and then add a few technical moves."
"If we were only in the top ten, it would be fine to do this." Xu Chi rubbed his solar plexus while speaking, "But now we are in the top three. Many fans come here just to see this miraculous Asian duo. Wouldn't it be wrong to perform a prescribed pattern dance for them?"
"Then what do you think we should do? How about letting Tang Yi dance a ballet with Tiantian?"
"Then why not let Tiantian and Tang Yi do hip-hop dance."
"Why should Tiantian accommodate Tang Yi? Tang Yi has more experience in skating, he should accommodate Tiantian."
"I just think that Tiantian has a good dancing sense and is better at performance skating!"
…
Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi watched the two coaches arguing silently.
The two of them had thought about the situation of performance skating, and they did bring an extra set of costuming.
But at this moment, Ji Tiantian was a little confused about what she was sliding on.
It is true that she can improvise. She and Tang Yi improvised when they first met in this life, but she couldn't decide what kind of dance and music to choose...
"Stop arguing." Just then, Ji Tiantian heard Tang Yi's voice ringing in her ears, "Tiantian has something she wants to perform."
The two coaches stopped immediately and looked at Ji Tiantian.
"Yes, is there?" Ji Tiantian suddenly raised her head and looked at Tang Yi in confusion.
Tang Yi nodded slightly, then met the eyes of the two coaches: "Don't worry, we will prepare the performance skating program."
One day after the ice dance awards ceremony, the rankings of other figure skating events were also decided one after another.
Ning Huai took fifth place in men's singles, Ye Yidong took eighth place in women's singles, and Yu Sha and Gaozhe took the pair skating championship. Overall, the Chinese figure skating youth teams performed well this time.
While the rankings of other events were being decided one after another, Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi took advantage of the last minute to rehearse their exhibition skating.
The day of the GALA performance came in a blink of an eye. It was Sunday, and the competition had not started yet, but a long line had already formed in front of the ticket gate.
"Why are there so many people today?" Ni Chuan stared at the long line of people in front of him with wide eyes, looking unbelievable, "I thought there were only a few people coming to watch the performance skating!"
"Exhibition skating is not restricted by competition rules, and skaters can give it their all, which makes it very entertaining. It's perfect for dates and weekend entertainment," Xu Chi said to him. "Unlike die-hard ice fans who chase competitions and like skaters, many people who are only slightly interested in figure skating will also choose to watch exhibition skating. They don't care how skaters get their rankings, they just want to see excellent skaters give them an excellent performance."
"It's so cruel." Ni Chuan couldn't help but sigh.
Only the best players can get more attention, and it is the same everywhere.
"Brother, you have to work hard and strive to get into the exhibition skating!" He turned to Tang Yi and spoke earnestly.
The exhibition skating was about to begin, and Ji Tang and the other performer were, as usual, making the final adjustments to their makeup and costumes on the edge of the ice.
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