Mexico's "Feather Knot" – Remembering Mexican figure skater Donovan Carrillo

Live Bar Feb. 9 The dynamic music has stopped, but Mexican figure skating men's singles player Donovan Carrillo is still unfinished, his heart still jumping and spinning on the ice.

As mexico's first figure skater to participate in the Winter Olympics in 30 years, Carrillo scored 79.69 points in the figure skating men's singles short program competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics held on the 8th, setting a new personal season best. His rear outer ice four-week jump and Axel's three-week jump were successfully completed, and by the second half of the show, the rhythm of the music was more cheerful, and the desire to perform in the bones of the Latin Americans was fully mobilized.

"I don't want to stop at all, I want to keep sliding, all the time." Carrillo said, "It was a difficult process to participate in my first Winter Olympics. After all, as a Mexican, I'm proud to be able to achieve such a goal. ”

There is not a single standard ice rink in the country

In Mexico, the most popular sports are football, boxing, basketball, baseball and other sports. Moreover, the local climate is complex and changeable, spanning the tropics and subtropics, and the ice and snow are rare, so the participants in figure skating projects are very few.

It's not hard to understand that Mexico doesn't have a single olympic-standard professional ice rink. "The ice rink at the Beijing Winter Olympics is fantastic, I love it. The first few days in Beijing were particularly interesting, I had to skate a little more, because the ice rink I usually trained for was a little smaller than this, so I had to adjust the previous rehearsal mode and various actions to adapt to this standard ice rink. Carrillo said he has trained in some of the best ice rinks in the country, but none of them are the official rinks of the Winter Olympics.

Not only that, but in 2013, Carrillo moved to Guanajuato with his coach for training because the ice rink in his hometown of Guadalajara was closed. "The guanajuato ice rink provided my coach with a job as head of a figure skating school, and I have experienced very important growth since then, because the ice training time is guaranteed, and the guanajuato leon ice rink has also provided me with a scholarship."

A dream that has been ridiculed

In the short program competition, Carrillo appeared eighth. Carrillo was so excited to hear his short program score that he first raised his arms high and then immediately jumped up. He finished 19th and qualified for the men's singles free skating event held on the 10th, and he was also the first men's singles player in Mexico to qualify for figure skating free skating.

Carrillo said he was able to get to this day because he had always insisted on his "ridiculed dream."

"When I first became a figure skater, my goal was to play in the Winter Olympics and a lot of people thought I was crazy. I was either ridiculed or dissuaded by kind words because they felt 'this is impossible for Mexicans'. So I kept trying harder, racing and racing, forcing out the best version of myself. Carrillo said.

Not only does he love skating, Carrillo is also very passionate about performing Latin-style repertoire, and has performed at least one Latin-style repertoire every season for eight years, as was the case with the free skating music at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

"My free skating repertoire is very typical 'Mexican style', and the four songs mixed up are all Spanish songs except for the first song, which is the English and Spanish version of 'Maybe'. I'm proud of the Latin style of my free skating tracks and hope that audiences will enjoy the show as much as I do. Although he conveys Mexican culture on the ice rink, Carrillo's practice of figure skating starts with trying to break down misconceptions about the sport in Mexico.

"I hope more people will remember that I was a person who broke down social barriers, because a lot of Mexican men are reluctant to participate in art sports, afraid of being gossiped about, or thinking that these are exclusive to women." I hope to end this prejudice and show that men can do just fine. Carrillo said.

There is never enough money

Unlike many figure skaters who concentrate on training competitions, Carrillo has always had to worry about financial problems, because for figure skating, money is never enough.

"Without so many people helping me, my career wouldn't have gotten to where it is now. Starting in 2019, I got the support of the Mexican government, but until then, all the expenses were paid by my family and friends. ”

Family support, accept donations, teach others to skate... It can be said that Carrillo used all the money he could think of, "You know, you have to go to competitions all over the world, to train, to make competition uniforms, etc., the money will never be enough." 」 So, all support and help is welcome. ”

But the only thing Carrillo didn't have to worry about was the coach's remuneration, because his coach Gregorio Nunez hadn't charged him anything since he started learning figure skating.

"He believed in me from the beginning and never charged any lesson fees. Without him, I wouldn't be where I am today. Carrillo talked about the coach, full of gratitude.

While waiting for the score after the short show, Carrillo kept recommending his coach to people in front of the TV camera, and the coach put his arm around his shoulder and waited for the results.

The Beijing Winter Olympics are just the beginning

Entering the free skating competition, Carrillo realized his first Winter Olympic dream, and his dream has a lot more.

"My goal is already on the next Winter Olympics, I definitely want to participate in the next Winter Olympics, needless to say, I also want to create better results."

"The ice rink at the Capital Stadium is really great. Hopefully, in the future, there will be one such ice rink in Mexico, so that more athletes can participate in winter sports. ”

"Motivating the next generation to participate in winter projects is one of my goals. There are a lot of idols that motivate me to do the sport, such as the seven-time European Champion and Spanish star Javier Fernandez, where winter sports are not as popular as football. ”

"I don't have nothing, I never stop at 'no', I am always looking for 'yes', no matter how many difficulties and obstacles are in front of me, I must work hard and never give up."

(Xinhua News Agency)