In the early stages of preparation for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, it was widely believed that the Chinese figure skating team had ushered in an unprecedented golden opportunity, Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo won the grand prix in succession, and also began to emerge on the world stage as a new force.
However, just before the Turin Winter Olympics, Zhao Hongbo suddenly suffered a rupture in the Achilles tendon, and he and his partner Shen Xue were forced to miss almost all the events in 2005, which made the young duo of Zhang Dan/Zhang Hao take on more responsibility for the glory. At the end of 2005, at the Grand Prix in the United States and Japan, Zhang Dan/Zhang Hao lived up to expectations and won two consecutive championships, and instantly became the focus of attention of the Turin Winter Olympics.
The figure skating pair skating final was held as scheduled, Zhang Dan/Zhang Hao stepped on the field, the all-white main tone of the battle robe was full of fairy spirit, a familiar song "Descendants of the Dragon" slowly sounded at the scene, and the two dancing elves began their performance. All the movements of the opening scene of the two are so silky, along with the advancement of the musical melody, the audience is looking forward to Zhang Dan/Zhang Hao to come up with their ice stunt - throwing around and jumping.
Only to see Zhang Hao clasp his hands tightly around Zhang Dan's waist, with the rhythm of the music, take a deep breath, and throw Zhang Dan out as usual. Under the eyes of the audience, Zhang Dan danced in the air like a swan, but after an instant, with a "pop", she fell heavily on the ice and slid straight to the guardrail on the side of the field.
Although Zhang Dan controlled his body in time and stood up slowly, the huge impact force obviously caused a heavy blow, under the support of teammate Zhang Hao, Zhang Dan, who endured severe pain, could not help but bend down to cover his legs, the program performance was forced to be interrupted, the two silently slid to the sidelines, and the team doctor immediately came forward to inquire about Zhang Dan's injury.
The sudden accident made the scene suddenly fall silent. At this time, the camera is aimed at Zhang Dan on the sidelines, and the small Heilongjiang girl grits her teeth and communicates with the coach on the sidelines, obviously she does not want to give up, she also wants to return to the field again. In less than two minutes, Zhang Dan held Zhang Hao's hand, the two slowly slid back to the center of the arena, the scene was instantly applauded, after confirming the injury on his own, Zhang Dan signaled that he could stick to the game, and "The Dragon's Descendant" sounded again in the gymnasium.
Although Zhang Dan is visibly enduring pain with the naked eye, although her movements cannot stretch freely as always, but this does not reduce the quality of the two people's programs, under the "double play" of songs and applause, Zhang Dan / Zhang Hao, who put aside the pressure, continues the previous full grid state in various grands prixes, taking off, spinning, gliding... Zhang Dan/Zhang Hao finally brought this imperfect performance to a successful conclusion.
With a high difficulty score and artistic performance score, Zhang Dan/Zhang Hao ranked second with 189.74 points, miraculously picking up this precious silver medal in figure skating for twos.
Unfortunately, the Turin Winter Olympics became the high point of the career of the rising star duo. Due to the second development of the body, Zhang Dan's double skating became more and more difficult, and the two of them only finished fifth at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Until 2012, when the Chinese figure skating team ushered in the replacement of new and old, Zhang Dan finally chose to retire and return to school for further study.
"Because of that fall, a lot of people got to know me. A lot of people say that seeing me cry in that game, my strong performance was an encouragement to them. ”
16 years later, Zhang Dan's performance at that Winter Olympics has become the label of "tenacity and perseverance", and at that moment, she interpreted the unique beauty of the figure skating arena.