Liu Boqiang is 43 years old and has been working in Shougang for 24 years. As Beijing entered the Winter Olympics, his work site shifted from a steaming steel rolling workshop to a steaming curling field, and he also transformed from a rolling worker to an ice maker.
Now, the footsteps of the Winter Olympics are approaching, and Liu Boqiang hopes to contribute to the service guarantee of the Winter Olympics. "I believe that with the tenacity of Chinese craftsmen, I will do better."
Liu Boqiang is "dotting". Courtesy of respondents
From steel flowers to ice cubes
Liu Boqiang has worked as a rolling steel worker, welder and maintenance inspector in Shougang. In the workshop where steel splashes, he has witnessed the "craftsman spirit". Years later, he continued this spirit to shougang's "four ice" work.
"Three hundred and sixty lines, lines out of shape." The spirit of craftsmanship is to do this line of work to the extreme. Liu Boqiang recalled that when he first came to Shougang to work, he was still a hairy boy, and the first squad leader at that time was Shougang's "four sharp soldiers" and the fastest person in the workshop. While others rolled a piece of steel in a minute, the squad leader took only 55 seconds.
"Don't underestimate these 5 seconds, a shift down, he can roll several pieces of steel more than others, the highest yield." This is not something that can be practiced in a day or two, and it must be particularly serious and careful to regain these few seconds of time. ”
Influenced by this squad leader, Liu Boqiang is not afraid of getting dirty and tired. Once, he went to the back of the rolling mill to change the tubing, unscrewed a 30-centimeter-diameter screw, and came out of the work, his body and face were covered with oil stains, and his colleagues did not recognize him at all. At that time, he did not expect that the future working environment would be very different.
After the 2016 Winter Olympics Organizing Committee entered the Beijing Park of Shougang, the refined coal workshop and coal transportation workshop in the old factory area were successively transformed into the "four ices" of the National Winter Sports Training Center - four venues of figure skating, short track speed skating, curling and ice hockey for national team training.
Previously, Liu Boqiang did not pay attention to ice sports, and only learned some refrigeration principles when doing air conditioning maintenance inspection. But out of curiosity, he signed up for ice making and sweeping training. In July 2017, Liu Boqiang went to the Capital Gymnasium to study and began his ice-making journey.
"Dotting" makes the perfect venue
"Ice making is not just throwing some water on the ground and it's done, there are a lot of doorways here." In order to learn more, Liu Boqiang did not idle on his rest day and ran to the first body to help the masters work.
Three months later, Liu Boqiang returned to Shougang with the ice sweeping skills he learned, when he was still unable to touch the core ice-making steps, but he had silently recorded the operating procedures of the ice-making machine in a notebook.
At that time, Shougang's venues had been opened one after another, at 7 o'clock in the morning, athletes began training, Liu Boqiang had to get up at 4 o'clock, and arrived at the ice rink at 5 o'clock to clean up. At 4 p.m., the athletes finished training, and he returned to the ice rink to continue fixing the ice, drying until 10 p.m., and it was already 11 o'clock when he got home. Soon after, the industrious Liu Boqiang was assigned to the curling hall to assist in ice making.
Curling venues place more demanding requirements on flatness and slip than other venues. Liu Boqiang explained that the general figure skating and short track speed skating requirements for the flatness of the site are that the height difference of any 3 square meters area does not exceed 2 mm, but the very slight difference in the flatness of the curling field will have a serious impact on the direction of curling.
At the same time, the curling track is different from the ordinary ice rink, not a smooth surface, but to have a layer of "small bumps", the technical term is called "freezing point", the purpose is to increase the slide of the track, facilitate curling sliding control and brush ice. The process of artificially making freezing points is called "dotting", which is a highly technically difficult task.
The curling track is 45.72 meters long and 5 meters wide, playing a "point" from beginning to end, the specified time is 45 seconds, slow or fast, the test is strength, proficiency and precision.
Unwilling to sweep the ice, Liu Boqiang borrowed a "dot" pot from the ice maker of the curling hall, insisted on high-intensity practice every day, and the right arm was thicker than the left arm, and finally formed a muscle memory.
Under the guidance of foreign ice makers, Liu Boqiang's ice-making technology is increasingly improved, and he looks forward to participating in the ice-making work of the Winter Olympics and contributing to the Winter Olympics.
Liu Boqiang pushed the ice cart to repair the ice. Courtesy of respondents
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Beijing News: How do you view this "transformation" of yours?
Liu Boqiang: After Beijing's successful bid to host the Winter Olympics, the Winter Olympic Organizing Committee entered the Shougang Park, and the park began its industrial transformation. Not only industrial transformation, we "Shougang people" must also transform. We caught up with this good time, and it just so happened that I was also interested in ice making, so I had the opportunity to learn and participate in ice making.
Beijing News: What are the steps to make ice?
Liu Boqiang: Ice making includes freezing ice, repairing ice, melting ice and other steps. Frozen ice alone, there are many processes such as pouring ice, scraping off ice surface impurities, spraying white, scribing, etc., and there are also many requirements.
For example, curling requires ice thickness of 3 cm, ice hockey requires ice thickness of 5 cm, short track speed skating requires ice thickness of 3.5 cm to 4 cm, and figure skating ice requires freezing to 5.5 cm to 6 cm. Because figure skaters have a lot of jumping and falling movements, if the ice is not thick enough, the ice knife may be stuck in the cement floor under the ice surface, resulting in injuries to the athlete.
Beijing News: It is said that in the world, there are no more than 20 top ice makers. How did you "crash" an ice maker in a short period of time?
Liu Boqiang: When I first came to work at the Shougang Curling Hall, I was responsible for cleaning the ice surface, and the real responsibility for the ice making operation was the team of Jimmy, Canada's top ice maker. In order to get started as soon as possible, I carried more than 40 pounds of "dotting" pots on the road to practice "dotting" for many months.
By chance, Jimmy temporarily arranged for me to "dot" due to the lack of people in the team, and after success, Jimmy let me officially go to ice. Later, A lot of my experience was learned from him. In order to communicate better with him, I initially studied English seriously for several months.
For a while, I didn't want to leave him. Because of the usual step-by-step work, many problems are not visible. But when problems pop up, Jimmy gets a flash of inspiration and uses his vast experience to solve them quickly. Every time I was amazed that it could be processed like this, I quickly recorded it. So far, I have recorded two or three "martial arts cheats".
Beijing News: When can you really "stand alone"?
Liu Boqiang: Jimmy is the chief ice maker of shougang curling hall. Last year, there was an emergency, his mother in his nineties fell ill, and he terminated his contract early and returned to China. However, due to the end of the contract, the Chinese people in his team also finished their work and left. At that time, the task of making ice in the Shougang Curling Hall fell to me alone.
Last November, the national team trained at the Water Cube, the challenge team trained on another ice rink, and the two teams looked back at the steel curling hall game. In the past, Jimmy assigned me a job, and I didn't have to think about it too much, just do it. This challenge was broadcast live, and I was responsible for the ice making work in the first round (week) of the six rounds, which was very stressful.
The first time I became the ice maker, I was a little scared, because I didn't know what would happen, to take everything into account, but more than that, I finally had to use what I had learned in the past 3 years. I took out the experience I had summarized before and looked at it and thought about it over and over again. The quality of the ice surface affects the athlete's competition. In the end, I was also very relieved by the feedback from the athletes, who said that the ice surface was very stable.
Beijing News: As an ice maker, what do you need to do to maintain the stability of the ice surface?
Liu Boqiang: During ice making, I will check the values of the ice making system at any time, observe the indoor and outdoor humidity and temperature, record the thickness, flatness and slip of the ice rink, and maintain the ice rink.
If the game passes the midfield, the slip and arc of the ice surface changes, that is, the venue is unstable, the impact on the athletes is very large. Among them, the ice surface temperature will definitely change with the movement of athletes, the number of spectators, the change of seasons, etc., so I also have to judge the real-time situation of the ice rink and adjust the parameters of the ice system.
For example, the opening hours of indoor lights will also affect the ice temperature, so a day or two in advance, I began to observe and test the impact of indoor lights on the site. In addition, ice repair and "dotting" should also be perfect.
Beijing News: Now you often work in the ice rink, do you feel cold?
Liu Boqiang: At present, the curling hall has a constant temperature of 12 degrees Celsius to 15 degrees Celsius, which is still quite comfortable in winter, I put on a down jacket and don't feel cold inside, and I will sweat slightly when I work.
But the summer is more uncomfortable, because the temperature difference is too large, outdoor thirty-five or six degrees Celsius, humidity is also high, a sweat stuck to the clothes, and then into the indoor ice rink, sweat is gone, especially prone to cold. So I always have Huo Xiang Zhengqi water.
Beijing News: What are your expectations for the Winter Olympics?
Liu Boqiang: No matter how I finally participate in the Winter Olympics, I feel very honored, and this experience will become a precious memory for me. I hope that by hosting the Winter Olympics, everyone can summarize more ice-making experience, improve ice-making technology, and better serve and guarantee ice and snow sports on the mainland.
In addition, in the process of dealing with athletes, I have witnessed their hard work in training, and I sincerely hope that China's Olympic athletes can break through themselves and achieve good results.
Beijing News reporter Zhang Lu
Edited by Fan Yijing Proofreader Wei Zhuo