When it comes to Chinese figure skating, the duo of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo is an unavoidable topic, they have participated in the Winter Olympics for 4 times, during which they have experienced consecutive defeats, retirement, comeback, and Vancouver's perfect championship, breaking the dominance of Russian players.
This pair of ice gods and immortals has made a historic breakthrough in Chinese figure skating. Next, we will review the perfect performance of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Three consecutive Winter Olympics have returned home
Shen Xue was born in 1978, Zhao Hongbo was born in 1973, both are from Harbin, and began to cooperate in 1992, when Shen Xue was only 14 years old and Zhao Hongbo was 19 years old, studying under Yao Bin, the "godfather" of Chinese figure skating.
Before the 1998 Winter Olympics in Hirano, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo had already won the silver medal in the 1993 Asian Cup pair skating, and also had a good performance at the World Championships, which was recognized by the outside world. Participating in the Winter Olympics for the first time, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo achieved the fifth place result, which was very good.
At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo were already runners-up at the World Championships and popular players for the Winter Olympic gold medal. On the field in Salt Lake City, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo created the history of using the four-week throw for the first time in the world series in the pair skating program, but unfortunately there was a mistake, they won the bronze medal, which was the first medal in Chinese pair skating at the Winter Olympics.
At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, as world champions, launched an attack on the dream Winter Olympic gold medal, but unfortunately Zhao Hongbo broke his Achilles tendon when preparing for the Winter Olympics and did not exert his full strength.
Retirement + marriage
In the first 3 Winter Olympic Games, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo were not able to win gold, and the championships belonged to foreign players.
After the 2007 World Championships free skating competition, Zhao Hongbo romantically proposed to Shen Xue on one knee, and the pair of ice gods and immortals became the object of major media reports. In the same year, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo retired from the army and received a license to marry.
After retiring, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo did not leave figure skating, and they also went to North America to participate in figure skating exhibition competitions.
Dream comeback for gold medals
In 2009, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, who have been retired for two years, came back, and the two played for the dream of gold medal in the Winter Olympics, at this time Shen Xue was 31 years old, Zhao Hongbo was 36 years old, although the two were already veterans, they were experienced and seamless.
After their comeback, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo won the Figure Skating Grand Prix China, the United States and the Finals consecutively, repeatedly setting new their career high scores and impacting the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Vancouver won the Winter Olympics
The day of the short show is February 14, Valentine's Day in the West, and 20 pairs of contestants played on the same day, and Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo were the first to appear.
In the competition, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo performed the song "Who Wants To Live Forever", and the cooperation between them was seamless, and the performance was perfect, scoring 76.66 points, creating the highest score in the history of short programs and breaking the record they had previously held.
Free skating, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo made the finale, they performed "G minor soft board", there were no mistakes in the whole process, scored 139.91, a total score of 216.57 points, and pressed Pang Qing and Tong Jian, Savishenko and Szorkovy to win the gold medal.
Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo achieved a breakthrough of zero gold medals in Chinese figure skating, and they also completed their dreams.
Post-match interviews
After winning the gold medal, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo both shed tears, this time tears of happiness. Zhao Hongbo was emotional when he was interviewed, he said: "Too many years, finally won this gold medal, now I really don't know what to say, the two of us have experienced too much too much! It is worth it to be 37 years old to get this gold medal! ”
Shen Xue sighed: "Too many years is for this dream, to thank the coaches who helped us, team doctors and the whole team, their help has made us achieve such success, thanks to the entire figure skating community, this gold medal belongs to the Chinese figure skating industry." ”
The coach burst into tears
Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo's coach, known as the "godfather" of Chinese figure skating, coach Yao Bin also burst into tears, he said: "Chinese pair skaters won the championships and runners-up, this historic breakthrough has fulfilled the dream of Chinese!" Before I came, I said that I hoped that tonight I could offer a good dish for the Spring Festival of the Chinese people, and now I want to say that this achievement should be a few days of good wine for everyone in the motherland, a cup of respect for Shen Xue Zhao Hongbo, a cup of respect for Pang Qing Tong Jian, and a cup of respect for Zhang Dan Zhang Hao. ”
"Ended the history of Chinese figure skating without a Winter Olympic gold medal! Kids really don't have it easy! ”
Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo hit the Winter Olympic gold medal three times, all returned home, experienced marriage and retirement, staged the return of the king, and finally realized the dream of the Winter Olympics, breaking the rule of Russian players for pair skating. Today, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo have retired, but they still have not left skating and made their own contributions to Chinese figure skating.