"Winter Olympic Events"
Today is 30 days away from the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and from today on, Sports News will launch a series of feature films entitled "Winter Olympic Events" to take you back to the important events that have occurred in the history of the Winter Olympics!
Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics
In today's first episode, let's turn the clock back to 2002! At that year's Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Chinese short track speed skater Yang Yang won the women's 500m final, achieving zero gold medal breakthroughs for the Chinese delegation in the history of the Winter Olympics.
The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City have a very special significance for Chinese sports. Yang Yang, a 27-year-old Chinese women's short track speed skater, beat Bulgarian Dalanova and teammate Wang Chunlu to win the championship in the 500m final, realizing the dream of a winter Olympic gold medal dream dreamed of generations of Chinese ice and snow sportsmen. But in fact, the 500 meters was not Yang Yang's most certain gold medal at that time, and the 1500 meters that she had lost before were the strong points she was determined to win.
Wang Shi'an, who is now the director of the training committee of the Chinese Skating Association, recalled, "At the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, I participated in the Winter Olympics as a member of the Olympic family, that is, watching the games in the VIP seat, I clearly saw and knew everything that happened behind me..."
"In the final of the 1500 meters, there were Chinese athletes standing behind the VIP seat cheering for Dayang Yang, and after seeing the results, they cried with headaches and whimpered and kept repeating: 'This is over, the game is over...", and then there was a cry, and I also felt extremely sorry for Dayang Yang's performance.
"In the season before the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in the United States, that is, in four years, the short track speed skating Yang Yang won the short track world all-around championship for four consecutive years, of which the 1500 meters were the strength of the Yang Yang, and the 1500 meters yang Yang was the best in the world, but in the 1500 meters of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, she not only did not win the gold medal, but also did not win the medal and only won the 4th place..."
At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Yang Yang was convicted of a foul and missed the gold medal in the 1,000-meter event; four years later, in Salt Lake City, she watched two South Korean athletes win the championship and runner-up, but she did not have the opportunity to receive the podium. At that moment, Yang Yang felt the gap between ideals and reality, but the "flame" in his heart that longed for gold medals was never extinguished. Three days later, in the 500m final, she decided: do it again!
Wang Shi'an said that that day's Big Yang Yang was like a new person, full of spirits appeared on the field, the women's 500 meters final from the gunshot to the starting point to occupy the No. 1 position leading the taxi, she grasped the rhythm control line and continued to accelerate, until the first to cross the finish line and raise her arms! At that time, Wang Shi'an was also in the VIP seat in the 500-meter final, and after seeing that Dayang Yang won the gold medal, the audience waved the national flag in their hands while shouting "China!" Yang Yang! And Wang Shi'an was also cheering heartlessly.
And it was from that moment that China's short track speed skating opened the glorious road of ten gold medals at the Winter Olympics...