The Chinese ice and snow national team selected the best to participate in the Winter Olympics

Multiple measures should be taken simultaneously to achieve fairness and openness in selection

The Chinese ice and snow national team selected the best to participate in the Winter Olympics

Li Yunshu reported on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission on January 27 that the list of Chinese sports delegations for the Beijing Winter Olympics was officially announced, which attracted the attention and heated discussion of the vast number of ice and snow enthusiasts. Every Chinese ice and snow athlete dreams of participating in this "doorstep" Winter Olympics. How are the rules for the selection of the Winter Olympics in each event formulated? How to ensure the rationality of the rules? In the selection process, how to achieve fairness and openness? The reporter conducted an interview on this.

Figure Skating: The selection competition invites European and American technical experts to attend and score in full accordance with the rules of the International Skating Federation

After fierce competition in the selection competition, figure skating men's single skater Jin Boyang and women's single skater Zhu Yi were selected for the competition list with their stable performance.

"The selection of Olympic participants takes into account the results of international and domestic competitions of athletes." Yuan Shoulong, the leader of the Chinese figure skating national team, told reporters.

In the figure skating event of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese team won two seats in double skating, one seat each for men's singles, women's singles and ice dance. In the current world rankings for pair skating, Sui Wenjing/Han Cong and Peng Cheng/Jin Yang are third and fifth respectively. Ice dance duo Wang Shiyue/Liu Xinyu finished 13th at the 2021 World Figure Skating Championships and fourth at the World Grand Prix in Italy, the best result for their overseas participation.

"In the pair skating and ice dance events, they are undoubtedly the best athletes in the country." Yuan Shoulong introduced. According to the results of the international competition, these three groups of players are directly identified as participants in the Winter Olympics.

The candidates for the men's and women's singles were determined by a total of 5 selection matches in 3 stops. "Originally, it was planned to be selected in a two-in-one way, but due to the epidemic, the open national championships were cancelled, so they were replaced by selection competitions. The selection method was revised and judged by the leaders and experts of the Winter Sports Management Center of the State General Administration of Sports, and the opinions of everyone were fully solicited, and on the basis of the full approval of the athletes and coaches, the center reported to the General Administration for approval and approval, and finalized the plan. Yuan Shoulong said.

The reporter learned that the selection competition referee team judged and scored in full accordance with the standards of the rules of the International Skating Federation. In order to ensure that the selection process is fair and impartial, the list of referees is submitted by the Referee Association and determined by drawing lots after a comprehensive assessment. "Before taking up their posts, the referees were disciplined and signed a letter of commitment." In order to further achieve fairness, the members of the referee team of each competition have been adjusted to create a level playing field for athletes.

In addition, the winter sports center also invited technical experts from Europe and the United States to attend the meeting through video connection. "On the one hand, it is to supervise the fairness of the scoring, and on the other hand, it is also to give feedback to our athletes to see where improvement is needed." Yuan Shoulong said.

In the women's single skating selection competition, Zhu Yi, Chen Hongyi and Lin Shan were similar in strength, and there was not much difference in technical difficulty. Lin Shan has been in the lead after the first few trial matches, but in the last game there were more mistakes and the score was affected. In the end, Zhu Yi ranked first with a total score of 732.60 and won the quota; Chen Hongyi ranked second with a total score of 724.64; and Lin Shan ranked third with a total score of 716.68.

"For each action to add points, deduct points, the RULES of the International Skating Union have clear criteria for judging, we see the athletes falling on the ice clean, perhaps think that there is no mistake, but through the ultra-slow motion playback, whether the athletes have a use of the blade error when taking off, whether there is a lack of weeks on the ice and other details affecting the score are clear at a glance." Wang Yumin, chief referee of the selection competition and international referee, said.

According to the status of the three-person competition, the technical group gave an evaluation: "The 3 female players all have 5 kinds of three-week jumps and three-in-three difficulty reserves, Lin Shan's characteristics are high quality and amplitude, but the degree of completion in the game fluctuates greatly." Chen Hongyi's jumping can almost always stand in the game, but there are always different problems in terms of starting blades and weeks. Zhu Yi's jumps are relatively stable, the quality of rotation and footwork completion is very high, and all of them have reached level four after several matches. ”

"At present, the level of women's singles in the mainland is still low in the world, the level of the three athletes is very close, and the total score is only a difference of more than ten points, so the selection pays more attention to the state and play of the athletes." Yuan Shoulong said.

According to reports, after the list of participants was released, the Winter Games Center actively communicated with the athletes. "After the end of the Winter Olympics, it is the World Championships and the World Cup, even if you fail to participate in the Winter Olympics this time, there is still a lot of space and opportunities, and the task of international competitions for athletes is still very heavy." Yuan Shoulong said.

Steel Frame Snowmobile: Selected athletes with the strongest performances on the Beijing circuit

In the men's steel frame snowmobile event, the Chinese team sent two athletes, Yan Wengang and Yin Zheng. Geng Wenqiang, the first World Cup champion of the mainland steel frame snowmobile project, was not selected, which surprised some ice fans.

As an important sliding event of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the China Steel Frame Snow Team achieved full participation in the event. After the 2021/2022 qualifying round, the Chinese Steel Frame Snow Team won a total of 2 men and 2 women's qualifying seats, and 4 men and 4 women in the team had a total of 8 athletes who were eligible to participate.

"According to the selection method, the selection competition is carried out in 4 rounds, and the final results are comprehensively calculated according to the total results and starting results, and the top two athletes are qualified for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games." Sun Fan, the leader of the Chinese steel frame snow team, told reporters.

Why a special audition? Sun Fan gave the answer: International rankings do not fully represent the international positioning of athletes, and there are individual differences in athletes' mastery of different tracks.

The reason why international rankings do not fully represent the international positioning of athletes is because the points of different competitions vary greatly. According to Sun Fan, the steel frame snowmobile team has formulated different external training plans for athletes to ensure that athletes can maximize the number of race points and optimize the training time of the Beijing circuit on the basis of meeting the basic conditions of participation in the Beijing Winter Olympics (they must participate in the 2021/2022 international competition and play 6 stops). According to the team arrangement, some athletes mainly participate in the European Cup and the Intercontinental Cup, and some athletes mainly participate in the World Cup, and the points of the World Cup are much higher than those of the European Cup and the Intercontinental Cup.

"This season has won 1 World Cup, 2 Intercontinental Cups and 8 European Championships. Due to the different levels of events in which athletes participate, the final international rankings do not represent the true level of athletes. Sun Fan said.

In addition, judging from the results of the team's multi-round competitions such as selection, test matches, and team races so far last season, since the Beijing Circuit is a starting-oriented track, athletes with starting advantages will have a comparative advantage. Some athletes in the team have a good grasp of the track, and they can always play stably in each competition and obtain the best ranking in the team; although some athletes have a good grasp of the international track, they still lack the mastery of the Beijing track. "Therefore, we want to select the athletes who perform the best on the Beijing circuit."

According to reports, the rules of the selection competition are formulated in accordance with the principles of fairness, impartiality and openness. Before the selection competition, the Winter Games Center informed all the personnel and the local units of the participating athletes of the competition arrangements and competition rules, and could immediately raise questions. There are video materials in the whole process of the competition, and the results of the competition are counted and exported by the professional timing system. The results of the competition are reported to the center and announced to the whole society for supervision.

"This season's participation and international rankings show that there is still a certain gap between the team and the world powers and the top international athletes. The team must fully consider the characteristics of the steel frame snowmobile project, make full use of the advantages of the host, make full use of the athletes' familiarity with the home track, and select the strongest athletes on the Beijing track to participate in order to achieve good results at the Winter Olympics. Sun Fan said.

Short track speed skating: Encourage high-level competition and guide athletes to "take the lead" to improve their ability to lead the way

As an "ace team", the Chinese short track speed skating team contributed 10 of China's 13 previous Winter Olympic gold medals. At the Beijing Winter Olympics, the short track speed skating team won a full quota of 5 men and 5 women.

On January 15, with the end of the three races of the Beijing Winter Olympics Short Track Speed Skating Selection Competition, the Beijing Winter Olympics participation list of the Chinese short track speed skating team was released - the men's team will be played by Wu Dajing, Ren Ziwei, Sun Long, Li Wenlong and Zhang Tianyi, and the women's team will be composed of Fan Kexin, Zhang Yuting, Qu Chunyu, Zhang Chutong and Han Yutong. Many people noticed that the famous Ankai did not appear on the list.

How is the roster created? According to the selection announcement released by the Winter Games Center, Wu Dajing and Ren Ziwei, who have won the World Cup sub-station championship, directly qualified for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. The remaining 3 men and 5 women have a total of 8 Winter Olympic seats, which are selected through three selection competitions.

"On the basis of the preliminary selection method proposed by the coaching team of the short track national team, the Winter Games Center has formed a formal selection method based on the principles of fairness, justice, openness and competition, and after extensive solicitation of opinions, it has been announced and announced to the public after approval by the party group meeting of the General Administration of Sport." Short track speed skating team leader Yu Haiyan told reporters.

According to reports, the selection competition is divided into three stations, each station has 500 meters, 1000 meters, 1500 meters three projects. Each project has a point standard, and points can only be earned if a certain standard is met.

According to this point rule, although Ankai won 6 consecutive events in the second and third trials, he failed to earn points because his results did not reach the standard line and did not qualify for the Winter Olympics. Some ice fans asked, "Why didn't the 6 champions get selected?" ”

Although Ankai won six championships in three races and nine events, the results of these six championships did not meet the point standard. For example, in the second 1500-meter final, although Ankai won the championship, the result was three thousandths of a second away from the points standard, which was a pity. Short track speed skating is a multi-round competition, and although other athletes with high points did not win the championship in the final, they achieved the standard result in different rounds of competitions before the final, and won the first place to get the corresponding match point points. Yu Haiyan explained.

The reporter noted that the points rule particularly emphasizes "in order to improve the ability to lead the skating and adapt to the rhythm of the Olympic games", and specially set up the standard match points. What are the reasons for this?

"The purpose of this setup is to encourage high-level competition. This season, the Chinese short track team has participated in four World Cups, and it can be seen that the international high-level athletes have shown strong leading ability, and there is no doubt that it is difficult to win without considerable leading ability in the Olympic Games. Yu Haiyan explained, "In addition, the World Cup competition also exposed the problem that although individual athletes have certain abilities, they dare not skate, shrink their hands and feet and are not confident, so this competition sets a point threshold to reach a certain level to score, and the leader of each lap gets bonus points, guides athletes to 'take the lead', and improves the ability to lead the way." ”

In Haiyan's view, the concern of ice fans just shows that short track speed skating is attracting much attention. "Outside attention can become a motivation for athletes to train hard, of course, excessive controversy can sometimes bring psychological pressure to players to prepare for the game." Throughout the preparation process, the Winter Games Center regularly conducts psychological counseling for athletes, including inviting experts to give lectures, online psychological counseling, and communicating with Olympic champions such as Deng Yaping.

"Thank you very much for the attention and advice of the ice fans. Short track speed skating is a sport with tactical characteristics, reflecting speed and passion, with a unique charm, I hope that the audience can like, pay attention to, support the short track team, experience short track speed skating projects, love short track speed skating sports. Yu Haiyan said.