Editor's note: The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will kick off on February 4 next year. Although the competition is held in Beijing and Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, Shanghai, as an important site of the national strategy "North Ice South Exhibition", will still have many "Shanghai figures" shining at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
In the preparation process of the Beijing Winter Olympics, there are many "Shanghai stories" behind it. The first Shanghai athlete to appear in the Winter Olympics, Shao Yijun, was originally a "well-behaved little boy" in the shot put sports of the Shanghai athletics team. The "cross-border cross-border interdisciplinary selection" to welcome the Beijing Winter Olympics allowed him to become the captain of the Chinese four-person snow team; the team of Liu Yu, professor of Shanghai University of Sport and Yangtze River scholar, has long followed the training of Chinese Olympic athletes, and used scientific and technological means to help the national team scientifically train in the ice and snow, so as to provide scientific research guarantees for the improvement of athletes' performance;
Yang Yang, who won China's first Winter Olympic gold medal, is now home in Shanghai, dedicated to promoting ice and snow sports at the grassroots level in Shencheng; Wang Jue, a coach of the Xuhui District Youth and Youth Sports School, will appear on the stage of the Winter Olympics next year as a referee for the curling events of the Beijing Winter Olympics...
From now on, this column will launch a series of reports on "The 'Shanghai Story' of the Beijing Winter Olympics".
Walking into the lounge of the curling hall of the Xuhui District Youth Sports School, more than a dozen students who have not yet started training are talking and laughing in the small room. Wang Jue was in the locker room, talking to several students. After about 15 minutes, Wang Jue walked out of the locker room, and according to her, such in-depth communication with students basically had to be "carried out once a month".
In June last year, the World Curling Federation officially announced the list of international technical officials for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and four Chinese referees were selected. Among them, Wang Jue from Xuhui, Shanghai, will serve as the referee of the curling event at the Beijing Winter Olympics. All kinds of media have flocked to see what is the "secret" of this young referee to be able to reach the highest sports competition?
The sports dream of "cultural students"
"I didn't expect it at all." Talking about whether he imagined becoming a curling referee one day, Wang Jue said. She has had sports dreams since she was a child, and she began to practice athletics in elementary school until college, and she has a natural "affinity" for sports. When applying for the college entrance examination, Wang Jue once wanted to apply for sports-related colleges, but unfortunately gave up for various reasons. "At that time, my parents thought that my grades were too much higher than those of sports colleges, and if I went to sports colleges, I was too 'lossy' and did not agree." Wang Jue admitted that although he failed to enter the sports academy as he wished at that time, the idea of taking the road of sports was always buried in his heart and never changed.
After entering the university, "sports" became synonymous with Wang Jue's campus life. From the athletics field to the basketball court, and even to the National Collegiate League, there has been a figure of Wang Jue. At the 2009 Women's Curling World Championships, the Chinese women's curling team won the championship for the first time with 12 consecutive victories, and Wang Jue, who was in college, watched the exciting game and quietly became acquainted with curling. After graduating from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology in 2011, she did not listen to her family's advice on choosing a career this time, and resolutely entered the Youth Sports Center in Xuhui District, Shanghai, and finally entered the sports industry that she had always been thinking about.
At the beginning, Wang Jue was responsible for the amateur training management of basketball, football, badminton, water and other sports. After the introduction of curling in Shanghai in 2012, the Xuhui District Youth Sports School began to carry out curling training and teaching, and curling was also assigned to the project that Wang Jue was responsible for, and began to formally contact this sport. In 2017, Wang Jue graduated from the Shanghai Curling Training Class and became a curling coach.
From Monday to Friday, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., this is Wang Jue's week-round teaching course. On Saturdays and Sundays, Wang Jue also teaches curling at different schools, and sometimes brings professional teams. Seven days a week, almost all dedicated to curling, Wang Jue has almost no free time. Out of love for curling projects, Wang Jue believes that what she does is very meaningful.
"Curling is a sport that combines body and mind," Wang Jue said, "when students learn curling, they are not only testing their physical fitness, but also exercising their intelligence - curling to use 'brains' to play." When teaching students curling, Wang Jue not only pays attention to the training of students, but also cares about the future of students. She bluntly said that most students trained in curling halls may not take the professional path in the future, but practicing curling is still an unforgettable experience in their growth. "Curling is a sport that can accompany people throughout their lives, and it will also affect the lives of students."
Affected by the implementation outline of "driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports" (2018-2022) and "ice and snow sports into the campus" and other policies, Wang Jue obviously feels that curling "changes from cold to hot". In the curling hall of Xuhui District Youth Sports School, nearly 100 students will practice curling every day, and more and more schools will also bring curling to the school classroom. "I've always believed that curling games are getting more and more popular." She is looking forward to the future of the sport.
From curling whites to international referees
Stand still at the ice rink, crouch down, and look ahead. With a gentle stomp on her back foot, she gracefully slid along the curling wheel of inertia. Wang Jue, who follows the rules and induces the students in a simple and simple way, looks like a curling veteran. As everyone knows, at the beginning, she was also a curling "little white".
When she first came into contact with curling nine years ago, Wang Jue did not know much about the sport. Although I have also followed some curling events, I have never studied this "cold" sport in depth. As an emerging project, there were not many professional curling coaches in Shanghai at that time. After taking charge of the curling project, Wang Jue felt that his professional reserves were insufficient, so he took the initiative to sign up for the first Shanghai curling training class to practice "internal skills".
In 2015, the National Curling League was held in Shanghai. At that time, the Shanghai Curling Association was understaffed, and Wang Jue, who had a certain amount of curling expertise, went to help. After arriving at the scene, Wang Jue found that there were not many local curling referees, and in that game, under the leadership of an old curling referee in the northeast, Wang Jue was both a staff member and a live referee. At that time, her job was actually as a sideline observer and on-site clerk, and this experience eventually became her "first experience" of curling referees.
The 2017 World Women's Curling Championships in Beijing was Wang Jue's first appearance as a referee on the international level, and her experience as a referee has impressed her to this day. In this match, Wang Jue served as a timekeeper in charge of the matches in Denmark and South Korea. As the game progressed to the final inning, the South Koreans asked for a technical timeout – they thought the timing was wrong. In the end, the Korean team appealed successfully, and the timer informed Wang Jue to add back the time of the Korean team.
At that time, Wang Jue was confused - he was sure that the time was not wrong, but he did not have the authority to communicate with the referee, and finally could only make changes according to the decision under unclear circumstances, and the Danish team finally lost the game. "That game made me wonder about myself: Was it that the executive referee didn't approve of my work?" Wang Jue recalled his experience at that time and confessed, "At that time, I was very disappointed, and I felt that I did not have the right to speak as a referee. "This game has taught her a profound lesson and inspiration, and she has also determined her goal of being a more impartial and rigorous referee."
Step by step, Wang Jue's coaching experience is constantly enriched, including the curling world championships, the World Cup and other world's top curling events, there is her shadow. Until June last year, Wang Jue was successfully elected as the referee of the curling project of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, becoming one of the only two Chinese curling referees, and she realized the transformation from curling "Xiaobai" to an expert. Next February, she will realize her dream of refereeing in the highest halls of sport.
"Looking forward to showing China's style at the Winter Olympics"
"Accident" is Wang Jue's first feeling about becoming a curling referee at the Winter Olympics. She frankly said that she had never thought of being able to direct the Winter Olympics in the past, and she can still feel surprise and excitement when she thinks back to the moment she received the mail from the World Curling Federation.
"The three words of the Olympic Games mean too much," Wang Jue said, "and there is no sportsman who does not want to step on the Olympic field." "Unlike other world-class events, the Olympic Games not only represent higher specifications, but also mean higher attention – it is Wang Jue's determination to present more exciting competitions to the audience." Athletes are the protagonists, and we, as behind-the-scenes staff, must also control the game and make it look better, which actually requires an 'art of refereeing'. ”
As the Winter Olympics approached, Wang Jue said he also had some "little nervousness." Every day, she will carefully go through the various rules of curling competition several times, and strive to make these rules familiar. Before going to bed at night, she would "rehearse" in her mind about all kinds of unexpected situations she encountered or did not encounter, and she laughed that this was a kind of "imaginary training method", "that is, to ensure that all kinds of situations encountered on the field can be quickly and accurately punished." ”
Athletes from all over the world gathered at the Winter Olympics, and Wang Jue also specially trained in foreign languages. She said that she also has some "small calculations", "The Winter Olympics are on the occasion of the Chinese New Year, and as a Chinese referee, I hope to promote Chinese traditional culture to foreign sports people and let them feel the charm of Chinese culture." ”
This Year's Beijing Winter Olympics, as well as a wonderful fate of Wang Jue. In 2018, Wang Jue participated in the refereeing of the Curling World Cup for the first time as an international technical official, which made her a little "unconfident" - her experience seems to be slightly shallow compared to the world's top athletes and referees. The words of Michael, the Swiss referee at that time, deeply affected her until now.
"He told me that referees must have the momentum of referees and must be confident in their own judgment. Encouraged by him, in the later matches and even in other competitions after the World Cup, I built up my self-confidence and found the 'momentum' of the referee. Coincidentally, after the release of the referee list for the curling project of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Wang Jue found that Michael happened to be the chief referee again, which made her have to sigh that this is a kind of "fate".
Two months later, Wang Jue will represent chinese referees on the sacred ground of the Winter Olympics. After years of grinding and finally dreaming of the Winter Olympics, she will continue to write her wonderful story with curling. "In the past, my family, including myself, never expected to represent the country in the Olympic Games, and I am grateful to Shanghai for the opportunities created by ice and snow sports over the years. Today, my family is proud and proud of my choice of sports work in the first place. I also look forward to showing my Chinese style at the Winter Olympics and winning glory for the country! ”
Column Editor-in-Chief: Chen Hua Text Editor: Chen Hua Title Image Source: Ling Xianzhe
Source: Author: Ling Xianzhe Chen Hua