After a one-day break, the short track speed skating competition of the Beijing Winter Olympics continued to be staged at the Capital Gymnasium on the 11th. Among them, the men's 500 meters, the most "fast and furious" event, will appear in the figure of Hong Kong athlete Zhu Dingwen.
At the opening ceremony, Short Track Speed Skater Zhu Dingwen of Hong Kong, China, led the Hong Kong delegation to the entrance as the flag bearer. Zhu Dingwen can appear on the field of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, and he cannot do without a person. She is Sun Dandan, head coach of the Hong Kong Short Track Speed Skating Team and former short track speed skating world champion.
As a player: two cross-event multiple championships
Sun Dandan, along with Da Yang Yang, Xiao Yang Yang and Wang Chunlu, is known as the "Four Golden Flowers" of short track speed skating. They won the silver medal in the women's 3,000m relay in short track speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Sun Dandan is a native of Changchun, Jilin Province. Skating on the doorstep of the house in winter is a daily routine for Northeasterners. When she was a child, there was a stadium near Sun Dandan's home, where she and many children skated as a child. Sun Dandan, who did not have ice skates, borrowed skates from his friends and opened his "first skate" in life, and thus formed an indissoluble relationship with ice and snow sports.
However, Sun Dandan went through 2 cross-events before finally embarking on the short track speed skating road.
5-year-old Sun Dandan first entered the amateur sports school in Changchun To learn figure skating, and gradually showed his athletic talent. Soon, the speed skating coach of Jilin Province saw sun Dandan on the figure skating rink that he had the potential to speed skate. As a result, "figure skating rookie Sun Dandan" became "speed skating rookie Sun Dandan". This was only Sun Dandan's first transfer, and it wasn't long before she switched from speed skating to short track speed skating.
In 1995, Sun Dandan officially entered the short track speed skating national team. In 1996, Sun Dandan participated in the short track speed skating World Championships for the first time, and won two bronze medals in the individual 1500 meters and the individual 3000 meters (note: the individual 3000 meters is a non-Olympic event), and won the silver medal in the women's 3000 meters relay with his teammates. Since then, Sun Dandan has participated in the World Championships for five consecutive years, including 1998-2001 as a member of the Chinese relay team, winning the women's 3000 meters relay championship for four consecutive years.
Sun Dandan participated in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002, but the high-profile Golden Flowers unfortunately lost to South Korea in the women's 3000m relay and won the silver medal. Although Sun Dandan failed to realize her Olympic gold medal dream, her teammate Dayang Yang achieved a "breakthrough of zero" in the women's 500 meters gold medal at the Chinese Winter Olympics.
As a coach: spare no effort to develop players
In 2004, Sun Dandan retired due to injury. Sun Dandan, who can't put down short track speed skating, changed a "track" and is committed to the cultivation of young players, hoping to cultivate more excellent short track speed skating reserve talents. Sun Dandan, who devoted himself to the role of coach, discovered and cultivated Han Tianyu, the runner-up of the two-time Winter Olympics and the all-around champion of the World Championships. Her coaching skills were recognised by the industry, leading to her role as coach for the Singapore team and was invited by the Hong Kong Institute of Sport to serve as head coach of the skating programme, responsible for short track speed skating and figure skating.
At that time, there was no standard ice rink in Hong Kong, and Sun Dandan could only use the holiday to lead the team members to Shenzhen and Dongguan in Guangdong Province for training; and used the winter and summer vacations to Changchun for intensive training. It was under such conditions that Sun Dandan led the Hong Kong short track speed skating team to continuously achieve good results. At the 2019 Asian Short Track Speed Skating Open, Hong Kong athletes in China won 2 silver medals and 1 bronze medal, which is the best record achieved by short track speed skaters in Hong Kong, China in international competitions.
Beijing Gathering: Old friends of various identities meet
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, athletes from Hong Kong, China, have been unable to train on the mainland and can only train on indoor ice rinks. Although the training conditions are limited and there is no standard short track speed skating track, the Hong Kong team in China overcame many difficulties under the leadership of Sun Dandan and successfully qualified for the men's 500 meters of short track speed skating at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Zhu Dingwen is the only short track speed skater in the Chinese Hong Kong team this time. On social media, he believes that being the standard-bearer represents not only the individual, but also the team and Hong Kong, China. Without the support of the team behind it, the Olympic dream cannot be realized. Zhu Dingwen said that being the flag bearer of the delegation at the Winter Olympics held in his motherland is his greatest honor.
At the Beijing Winter Olympics, Sun Dandan came to Beijing as the head coach of the short track speed skating team in Hong Kong, China. As professionals, the golden flowers of that year were actually busy in their respective posts. Teammates Dayang Yang and Xiao Yangyang served as referees for the athletes' committee of the Beijing Winter Olympics and short track speed skating at the Beijing Winter Olympics, respectively.
The 2025 National Games will be held in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao in the Greater Bay Area, and sports cooperation and exchanges within the Greater Bay Area will undoubtedly be closer. Under the matchmaking of Sun Dandan, the Hong Kong short track speed skating team has a lot of close cooperation with the mainland. Sun Dandan hopes that the team members will go to a higher level in technical ability and have more opportunities to understand the mainland. She hopes that she can pass on the experience she has accumulated over the years and let Hong Kong athletes stand on the stage of the World Series.
(The author Lin Meng is the producer of the Winter Olympic Documentary Channel of Beijing Radio and Television Station)
Column Editor-in-Chief: Chen Hua Text Editor: Chen Hua Title Image Source: Xinhua News Agency
文内插图：新华社 题图说明：中国香港运动员朱定文将参与北京冬奥会短道速滑赛事。 Source: Author: Lin Meng