The XXIV Winter Olympics kicked off in Beijing on February 4, 2022. The Sports Department of China News Network launched a series of columns "100 Questions about the Winter Olympics", which aims to popularize the knowledge of the Winter Olympics, answer hot questions, and talk about ice and snow anecdotes, so as to help everyone have a better viewing experience during the Beijing Winter Olympics.
No. 106 Winter Olympics 100 Questions | What exactly is the "4A" of figure skating?
Before introducing the "4A", first of all, let's give you a popular science about how the figure skating jumping action is named.
Taking 4A as an example, the preceding number represents the number of weeks spinning in the air, and the letters that follow it represent the names of the different jumping techniques, which are:
Axel, Toe loop, Flip, Loop, Salchow, Lutz.
What figure skaters and enthusiasts call "4A" is a very difficult action - Axel jumping around. Japan's Yusei Yushin has completed the "4A" in the pre-match open training tournament of the All Japan Figure Skating Championships and the Beijing Winter Olympics Trials, which has aroused heated discussion.
Why is the "4A" more difficult than the other four weeks? It starts with "Axel Jump".
Compared to other jumps, axel jumps in signature ways by jumping forward and falling backwards into the ice, while the other moves are all about jumping backwards and falling backwards into the ice. Therefore, for the same number of laps of jumping action, "Axel Jump" should rotate half a turn more.
It has been calculated that to complete the "4A", the body speed in the air needs to reach 6 and a half weeks per second, which is equivalent to the wheel speed of a car driving to 50 kilometers per hour.
In addition, in the competition, although the base score of the "4A" is higher than other actions, it is easy to be injured when training this action, so most athletes are reluctant to use it in the game.