Ren Xingchen (back row second from left) and teammates celebrate The Chinese team's gold medal. Photo by Zhang Yao
Changchun, February 6 (Reporter Guo Jia) On the night of the fifth day of the first month of the first month of the Year of the Tiger, the Changchun Winter Sports Management Center was not as quiet as in previous years, shouts were heard from time to time in the apartment building, athletes and coaches did not go home, and after dinner they stood in front of the TV set, looking forward to the wonderful performance of the Chinese short track speed skating team at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
When Athlete Wu Dajing of Jilin Province cooperated with his teammates to fight for the first gold of this Winter Olympic Games for China, the scene boiled. The twists and turns of the competition made the mood of the young athletes also fluctuate, they first sat in front of the precarious position, then slowly fell, and finally simply jumped up.
Li Ye (front row, first from left) watches the Chinese team match with the team members. Photo by Zhang Yao
The 14-year-old Ren Xingchen shouted the loudest, tall and thin, he was quite conspicuous in the crowd, and Wu Dajing was his idol. "I'm more nervous than standing on the field." After the final, Ren Xingchen found that his palms were sweating.
Jilin Province can be described as the "cradle of champions" of China's short track speed skating. Over the years, the province has trained a large number of outstanding athletes such as Li Jiajun, Yang Yang, Li Ye, Zhou Yang, Li Jianrou, Wu Dajing, and Han Tianyu for the country.
Li Ye, a former short track speed skater, is currently the coach of the short track speed skating first team of Changchun Winter Sports Management Center. Talking about why the short track speed skating talents in Jilin Province have been continuously inherited, he believes that this is not only due to the scientific training methods and advanced management experience accumulated over the years, but also from the continuous inheritance of the spirit of struggle among generations of athletes.
That night, Li Ye said with great emotion that the athletes trained in Jilin Province cut through thorns in the Olympic arena, and looking back at these passionate young athletes, it was both gratifying and stressful.
This year, all the athletes and coaches of the Changchun Winter Sports Management Center stayed in Changchun and spent a special Spring Festival together. After the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Jilin Provincial Games are about to be held, and in order to achieve better results, they are determined to practice more. Ren Xingchen and his teammates set foot on the ice rink on the third day of the Chinese New Year. Ren Xingchen could also feel a kind of inspiration when he looked up at the huge posters of the predecessors on the wall after training.
Young short-track speed skaters in Jilin Province competed in the same field, and above the venue were huge posters of the seniors. (Data photo) Guo Jia
Athletes such as Wu Dajing, Han Tianyu and Sun Long sometimes return to Jilin Province to train, and they will bring special guidance classes to young athletes. What impressed Ren Xingchen most was not the technical content, but their love for the sport and their spirit of hard work. "They sometimes have to overcome injuries and go to the country, and this spirit has been useful to me for life." He said.
Ren Xingchen was introduced to short track speed skating at the age of 9 and won the Chinese Youth U Series skating competition twice. Previously, he had delayed a lot of training due to a knee injury, but after this comeback, he worked harder, and at the upcoming Jilin Provincial Games, he qualified himself for all the events of short track speed skating.
In Ren Xingchen's view, this Spring Festival is full of harvests, and witnessing the Chinese team winning the championship with teammates and coaches is a wonderful memory. "If you ask me if I can stand on the stage of the Winter Olympics, I dare not say that I can, but I can guarantee to put in a hundredfold effort." (End)