Friends, when you play on the ice rink in the mall with your children, can you imagine an Olympian training between you?
That's what 22-year-old Mexican men's figure skater Donovan Carrillo does.
On February 10, the youngster nicknamed "Doni" ended his figure skating free skating performance with a not-so-good 22nd place, becoming the first figure skater in Mexico to participate in the Winter Olympics in nearly 30 years.
His inspirational life story, like his cheerful smile, has impressed countless people.
Mall training is most afraid of bumping into people
As we all know, Mexico is a country with a hot climate, skating is not a popular sport, and there is not even a professional training ground in the country.
Dhoni can only do daily training on the skating rink in the mall: "The most important thing is not to bump into people. "The skating rinks in the mall are mainly used for entertainment and leisure, always people coming and going, there are adults, children, and sometimes the elderly." I trained figure skating to be bigger and faster, so naturally I had to be more careful not to bump into people. ”
Another big problem with training in the mall is the instability of the venue.
In 2013, at the age of 14, Doni was in big trouble, and he could not practice at the only ice skating rink in Guadalajara, where he grew up, due to the demolition of the mall renovation.
Eventually his coach found a suitable venue in the nearby city of León and persuaded Doni's parents to let him take Doni to levy to train and live in León.
"I'm his coach and naturally have a surrogate parent responsibility." Doni followed the coach on figure skating from the age of 8 until he came to Beijing at the age of 22 to participate in the Winter Olympics, and was always accompanied by this coach.
Funding for training is funded by donations from all parties
The problem of facilities has always been solved, and what has long plagued Dhoni the most is funding.
The training cost is not small, as well as the necessary clothing costs for figure skating, travel expenses and training fees for overseas training competitions...
It is also well known that it is rare to see players from economically underdeveloped areas in figure skating.
"I received funding from the Mexican sports authorities in 2019 and the IOC Solidarity Fund in 2020, and finally I can regularly go abroad to compete and train."
Dorney said that there have been some commercial sponsorships before, but Mexican merchants are accustomed to sponsoring in kind and rarely provide direct funds, which is not very useful for him to solve the financial problem.
"I want to thank my parents, and the many Mexicans who have continued to fund me, support me, and encourage me to go down this path."
Because of "love", the dream finally came true
As a child, Doni originally participated in amateur training in diving and gymnastics, which laid a good foundation for him to make various churning movements on the ice later.
He switched to figure skating, mainly because he "fell in love" with a little beauty, Lisa, who practiced figure skating with his sister — in quotation marks because Donnie was only 8 years old at the time.
Two years later Lisa moved away, and figure skating had taken root in Doni's life. Since then, he has followed the coach to continuously improve himself, and finally entered the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.
His success has had a huge impact in Mexico and around the world, and after the men's singles short program competition, the vice president of the Mexican Olympic Committee specially gave him a Mexican flag, which Doni usually hangs in the room of the Olympic Village, and carries it with him during the free skating competition: "I am Mexican, I love my country." I hope that through my performance, I can encourage more Mexicans to devote themselves to skating, to sports, and more importantly, to encourage more people to push their limits and be better themselves. ”
The power of dreams
Donovan Carrillo, who appeared in front of the Hubei Daily reporter, was similar to the TV: sunny, cheerful, and a little shyness of a big boy. It's hard to imagine a figure skater who has been playing figure skating for 13 years in extremely rudimentary training conditions. Perhaps, this is the power of dreams.
There is no professional training ground in the country, so I go to the open ice rink in the mall to train, and when doing the action, I must be careful not to hurt the ordinary people around me; without financial support, I rely on "eating a hundred meals" and accepting financial support from my parents and others. The little girl who had drawn him into the arms of figure skating is now a big beauty working in the modeling industry in another city, and he thanked his coach for the full reduction of his training fees until a few months ago...
Even if he works so hard and is so dedicated, in the Olympic arena full of strong players, he is just a small word. Ranked 25th in the world with all 26 players, the final result is 22nd. Obviously, not to mention the Olympic gold medals or medals, entering the top eight is a luxury.
Even more brutal and direct, at Donovan's age, Japan's Yusei Yusuke is already a world-famous player, and when he won the Winter Olympics, he was even 3 years younger than Donovan now. On current trends, Donovan is unlikely to make a big splash, and in Mexico, which lacks a figure skating tradition, he is likely to retire soon and then make a living by teaching skating like his coach.
However, what moves us is precisely such a touching disregard, an increasingly rare childlike heart.
In the face of global media spotlight, Donovan said: "This is my dream. Thank you to Beijing, thank you to the Olympic Games, for giving me the opportunity to turn my dreams into reality. Being able to play for Mexico on the pitch today is my most glorious and happy moment. ”
Faced with the question of whether to accept sponsorship to train in the United States, Donovan said: "Maybe I will go to training, but I love Mexico, I will live in Mexico." ”
The little girl sent him a congratulatory text message after he finished his Winter Olympic performance, and the reporters quipped to let him chase it again, and he just shook his head shyly: "It's unlikely now, it's unlikely..."
If the love that Gu Ailing brings to us comes from her excellence and wit; what impresses us is the simplicity and authenticity that is the most ordinary and rare.
May the original heart stay forever, and the dream be eternal.
Article/Hubei Daily reporter Guo Xiaoming from Beijing
Photo: Xinhua News Agency