Ice dreamer Pang Qing/Tong Jian witnessed the great changes in China's ice and snow

About 20 minutes' drive east from the CBD in central Beijing, you can see a modern indoor ice rink at the bustling East Fifth Ring Road Pingfang Bridge, which is the Pang Qing Tong Jian Ice Art Center. Now, about 200 kids learn figure skating here every day. Some of the top ones, about a dozen people, were personally guided by Pang Qing and Tong Jian. The center and these children continue the ice dreams of the silver medalists pang qing and Tong Jian at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

One day in December 2021, the film crew of China Youth Daily's "I Watch the Winter Olympics in China" came to Pang Qing Tong Jian Ice Art Center for an interview. Tao Tian, the host of the program, is curious about why world champions and Olympic silver medalists like Pang Qing and Tong Jian would personally guide young athletes to learn figure skating? She asked Pang Qing and Tong Jian if they felt a little overkill because of this. In fact, similar questions have been asked by Pang Qing and Tong Jian before, but the two firmly believe that the promotion of figure skating in China, grassroots work is very important, as a world champion and Olympic runner-up, they should practice it. Tong Jian said, "All industries start from teenagers to cultivate talents, so if we can pass on some of our feelings about figure skating and sports to them as soon as possible, and guide them to go in the right direction, it will be beneficial to them and the whole industry." The sooner these young players receive our help, the better for them, then we should do it. ”

When these children as young as six or seven years old and as old as seventeen or eighteen learn figure skating moves on the ice rink, Pang Qing and Tong Jian, as coaches, meticulously explain the essentials, and even personally do action demonstrations, as if they could not see that they were once world-class ice leaders. But for these teenagers who aspire to achieve something in figure skating, the name Pang Qing/Tong Jian has long been thunderous.

As the second pair of famous disciples cultivated by Yao Bin, the godfather of Chinese figure skating, Pang Qing/Tong Jian ascended to the world championship throne as early as 2006, and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics was the peak moment of the two, and their free skating track "Chasing Dreams Without Regrets" refreshed the highest scoring record of the International Skating Federation pair skating competition with a high score of 141.81, which also exceeded the free skating scores of the pair skating gold medalist Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo at the Current Winter Olympics, so the high score proved the referees' recognition of Pang Qing/Tong Jian. It's no wonder that some fans call them the uncrowned kings.

In 2010, Pang Qing/Tong Jian's technical level, physical condition, and competition experience reached the most perfect stage, and the title of the track "Chasing Dreams Without Regrets" also well explained the two people's highest competitive goal for athletes - the state of unrepentant pursuit of Olympic champions. Tong Jian recalled, "In 2010, we were in the best shape, we pursued a goal that we aspired to achieve, we were already world champions at that time, hoping to leave a show on the olympic stage." ”

The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics was a highlight of Chinese figure skating, with two pairs of Chinese pair skaters Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo and Pang Qing/Tong Jian winning gold and silver medals in pair skating. Chinese figure skating has achieved the achievements that generations have dreamed of, but for Pang Qing/Tong Jian, who is the runner-up, the "dream chasing" is still not over. Hailed by fans as uncrowned kings, they were not willing to end their competitive careers with silver medals, and they decided to hold out for another four years and impact another Winter Olympics.

However, the athlete's golden career is ultimately short-lived, and at the Sochi Winter Olympics 4 years later, the increase in age and injury troubles make it difficult for Pang Qing/Tong Jian to show the state of 4 years ago. Tong Jian recalled, "In 2014, we already had some injuries that were automatically acquired as athletes got older. "These injuries are like athletes' medals of merit, proving their hard work and struggle, but they are also obstacles for athletes, forcing athletes to give up and leave." This time, Pang Qing/Tong Jian's free skating track "I Had a Dream" is more like a story about a pair of figure skating veterans who have decided to keep an eye on their unfulfilled dream of competing forever. "At that time, we wanted to show our years of persistence, hoping that we could transmit positive energy to young players, so that they knew that as an athlete, when you are no longer young and no longer the best age to compete, you are still young and still trying to pursue your dreams." Tong Jian said, "We are no longer young, we have pain in our bodies, but we still hope that our show can move the audience." ”

At the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Pang Qing/Tong Jian won the fourth place in the case of injury, and when their free skating "I Had a Dream" ended, the audience still gave warm applause to the respected veterans.

In March 2015, Pang Qing/Tong Jian won the bronze medal at the Figure Skating World Championships in Shanghai and announced their retirement. The track for the last free skating show of their athletic career was titled "Waiting for You." This "for you" is not only for Pang Qing/Tong Jian for each other, but also for the figure skating career they will never leave.

Tao Tian, the host of "I Watch the Winter Olympics in China", also knows that Pang Qing/Tong Jian are a pair of ice couples, but she still wants to know the scene when they first met, this question made Pang Qing and Tong Jian laugh out loud, Pang Qing recalled, "At that time, we were like the children who were practicing figure skating now, just because this sport made us intersect, but we would never think that the two would be together in the future." Tong Jian said that from the formation of a partnership between the two and the final partnership, there have been countless twists and turns along the way. In the end, it was because the two had common ideals, from becoming a national champion, Asian champion, world champion and standing on the Olympic podium as an athlete, to deciding to continue to fight for the cause of figure skating as a lifelong pursuit, it was the common ideal that made the two finally come together.

Pang Qing and Tong Jian recalled the age when they first stood on the ice, probably similar to the youngest child on the ice rink now, while lamenting that time was like a shuttle, Pang Qing and Tong Jian could not help but find that in the more than 30 years of their association with figure skating, figure skating has been integrated into their own blood.

Tao Tian looked at the LOGO of Pang Qing Tong Jian Ice Art Center - the English letter P obviously represents Pang Qing, in the upper left position, the English letter T represents Tong Jian, in the lower right position. Tao Tian just casually asked if there was anything exquisite about the positions of P and T, but he did not expect that Tong Jian really said a reason related to figure skating. Tong Jian said, "The letters P and T, P in front and T in the back, represent the etiquette of figure skating, which is also a culture, that is, women first, in addition, P is on the top left and T is on the bottom right, which is also similar to an iconic image of pair skating - the movement of male athletes to lift female athletes." Speaking further about this Pang Qing Tong Jian Ice Art Center, Tong Jian said that this is also a promise he gave Pang Qing, when the two change from partners to lovers, family, and even career partners, the biggest strength to support the two to go hand in hand is the same figure skating dream.

In 2018, Pang Qing Tong Jian Ice Art Center was officially put into use, becoming a confession for the couple on ice to continue to open the second half of their lives on ice after bidding farewell to the field.

Olympic champion was once the biggest dream of Pang Qing and Tong Jian, but from the day of the birth of Pang Qing Tong Jian Ice Art Center, this dream extended to the continued development of figure skating in China.

At the entrance of Pang Qing Tong Jian Ice Art Center, there is a beautiful double sliding metal sculpture, and the prototype of the sculpture should be Pang Qing/Tong Jian, who dances on the ice and glides together. Tong Jian explained that the name of the sculpture is Yixiang, which means that Pang Qing/Tong Jian will always guard Chinese figure skating like a pair of wings, helping and escorting the development of Chinese figure skating.

In the view of Pang Qing and Tong Jian, since the two retired, there are more things they want to do and can do, in addition to doing figure skating training and the cultivation of young figure skaters, it also includes holding youth figure skating events, organizing cultural performances of figure skating, etc., and even doing something for the upgrading of the development mode of the entire Chinese figure skating sport.

Since Beijing's successful bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, China's ice and snow sports have developed by leaps and bounds, and figure skating is no exception. When more and more Chinese, especially teenagers began to participate in ice and snow sports, the sportsmanship of ice and snow sports, the shaping and promotion of sports culture is particularly important, Tong Jian said, such as figure skating, it combines art and sports, advocating a healthy and fashionable concept of life. From the children who learn figure skating, Tong Jian believes that there is a saying that is very good, that is, the technology is art to the extreme, and he also uses this sentence to encourage children to strive for excellence in each action in the process of learning figure skating.

Perhaps, among these children who are learning figure skating, a new generation of Chinese figure skating kings and even Olympic champions will be born, completing the Olympic gold medal dream that Pang Qing/Tong Jian did not realize in the athlete's career. As more and more ice and snow champions like Pang Qing/Tong Jian take the basic work of youth talent training as their career direction, more children will receive the care and blessing of their predecessors from the beginning of chasing dreams of ice and snow, which is also a huge change that is taking place in China's ice and snow.

Author:Ci Xin

Source: China Youth Daily