On his third trip to the Winter Olympics, and possibly his last Olympic Games, Yu Yu was just a little short of perfectly completing the 4A (Axel's Four-Way Jump).
Fall, then get up gracefully, fall again, then get up gracefully again... Accompanied by the ethereal "Heaven and Earth" music, Yu Yu seems to be using his free skating to tell the story of his skating with figure skating.
Yu Yusuke once used "a lifetime of suspense" to describe his attitude towards figure skating. In Japanese, "lifelong suspense" means "to fight for a lifetime." For the past 4 years or even longer, he has indeed challenged the "ultimate goal" of 4A with such an attitude, even if he falls heavily on the ground again and again, even if his knees are swollen and bruised for a long time, he still keeps trying.
Yusheng, merging with this ice rink.
In fact, the 27-year-old Yusuke can approach this gold medal in many ways, but Yusei chose the most difficult path.
"With 4A, I can live so vigorously." YuSheng Yuxian once explained why he stubbornly challenged the 4A, he wanted to show the ultimate beauty, and this may also be the motivation for him to stand on the figure skating field of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
As he said after the game, "For a moment everyone thought, 'The show is really beautiful,' then my efforts are meaningful." ”
4A is the bondage of Habu's life.
Fall
In the collective warm-up before the start of the men's singles free skating competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Yusheng Yusheng fell down in his last test jump before the end of the warm-up.
Apparently, he wasn't in his best form.
As he slid back to the sidelines to prepare for the game, Yu Yu muttered something in his mouth, as if he was recalling the action, but also like he was cheering himself up. In fact, this has become a common way of self-motivation in the past few years of challenging 4A.
A Japanese TV reporter once revealed that every time he saw Yusheng training, Yusheng would mutter, "'This time is not official', 'Believe in yourself'..."
When Yu Yu appeared on the ice of the Capital Gymnasium again, he was about to officially start his free skating performance. Everyone knows that Yusei wants to challenge the 4A. So, the moment he stepped onto the ice, the whole place boiled.
And just when the cheers gradually subsided, the childish voice of a three- or four-year-old child suddenly jumped out of the audience, "Yusheng knot strings cheer up." This was followed by a burst of laughter from the grown-ups.
In the entire men's singles free skating competition, the only players who can enjoy the child's innocent "cheering blessing" are Jin Boyang and Yusheng Yuxin.
The music sounded, and the feathered strings began to dance freely on the ice. The first jumping action, Yu sheng knotted the string jumped with full force, took off, rotated, everything was so light and smooth, unfortunately, when he landed, he still lost his center of gravity and slipped to the ground.
But then he turned over, gracefully stood up, and continued to put into the performance. But in the next four-way jump, Yu Sheng fell down again...
Two mistakes basically meant that Yu Yu did not qualify for the "Olympic Three Golds", but he still gracefully completed the next performance. When the music fell, Yusei finished the curtain in the applause of the audience, and then bowed deeply to the audience on all sides, each time bowing, he bent over 90 degrees, and then held it for two or three seconds.
Yusei was also emotional after the game.
As he returned to the sidelines waiting for the scores, he slid his dance steps as gracefully as he did during the game, as if his performance was not over as long as he stood on the ice.
Until the moment he left the ice, Yu Sheng bent down and touched the ice with his hands, and then raised his hands to touch the ice and kissed them affectionately. This scene was recorded by many photographers on the scene.
At that moment, Yu Sheng's eyes were moist.
The mixed mining area after the game was surrounded by media reporters on three outer and three floors.
sacrifice
"I don't know if my performance this time can meet everyone's expectations, but I feel everyone's support, and to be honest, I really feel sorry."
In the mixed interview area after the game, nearly a hundred Japanese and Chinese journalists crowded the corner of the aisle, mixed with several foreign journalists. After waiting for nearly 1 and a half hours, Yu yusuke finally appeared accompanied by the staff and told his true feelings.
"It is indeed very regrettable and unwilling to have such an accident in the short program. All the while, I've done everything I can to think of and what should be done. ”
Yusei said to herself, "I really tried my best. It may have been an effort that didn't pay off, but this time I went all out to fight. ”
Before entering the mixed interview area, Yusei met with Japanese figure skater Shizuka Arakawa, "I really don't want to, why my hard work is not rewarded, I really worked hard." "Suddenly, tears poured out again...
Indeed, if it is only to impact the goal of the "Olympic Three Golds", Yu Yu can choose other free skating choreography to challenge the better American star Chen Wei.
Yu Yu also played with an injury in this game.
You know, the historical difficult action of 4A is actually not a "cost-effective" choice - in the scoring rules formulated by the International Skating Federation, 4A is only 1 point more than the second ranked 4Lz (hooker around the jump), but the difficulty of the two actions is not the same.
This is also why Beijing Winter Olympic champion Chen Wei once said that 4A is too risky in both training and competition, so he has not thought of challenging 4A for the time being.
It was in this situation that the original physical state and competitive state did not reach the best Feather Knot, or chose to challenge the 4A.
"Of course, it's important not to make any mistakes, and only by not making mistakes can you win other opponents here, but I think the story of 'Heaven and Earth' can be interpreted because of the mistakes I made in the first half."
Talking about the failure of another challenge to 4A, Yusuke Yusuke talked about his original intention of choosing this "Heaven and Earth", which is the theme song of a famous Japanese drama Ōkawa, and the protagonist of the play is the Japanese warrior Kenshin Uesugi.
"Uesugi Kenshin knows the joys of fighting very well, but at the same time he has entanglements in his heart, and he can always feel the sacrifices that accompany him when facing a battle with himself."
This is also the mentality of Yu Yusuke now - knowing that challenging 4A in his current state is an impossible task, but he still has no hesitation, goes all out, and is full of fighting spirit.
Journalists who keep an eye on Yusheng.
elegance
The Olympics are a brutal arena, and in the showdowns of top players, mistakes mean failures. But this does not prevent the feathered yusho who stepped off the field from receiving admiration from the outside world in a "victorious posture".
After the end of The Free Skating Competition, many people's circle of friends was "brushed" by various news and reports about Yusheng, which told the various encounters of Yusheng in the past 27 years and his persistence and determination in the face of various difficulties.
In the mixed interview area outside the arena, many reporters watched who was the final champion while discussing whether Yusheng's challenge to the 4A that failed in the competition was finally recognized by the International Skating Federation.
Even Yu Yusuke's opponents on the field expressed admiration and admiration for him.
As Jin Boyang said, "I think his spirit is incredible, if it were me, I would definitely retire after participating in the second Olympic Games, but he also continued to participate in the third." It may be harder to still break through four and a half weeks at the age of 27. If these two points can be achieved, I think this spirit is worth learning. ”
Of course, there is also a voice of public opinion that the outside world's praise and admiration for Yusheng knotting strings is a bit "excessive", but it must be admitted that in the 23 years since he and figure skating, Yusheng knotting strings have been a precious treasure on this ice rink.
This is not only because of his persistent pursuit of limits, but also because of the charisma he has shown up and down the field – the kind of respect for others, and the low-key humility in the face of victory and defeat.
At the 2014 Figure Skating Grand Prix China, the blood-stained Yusheng knot string stitched 7 stitches on the chin and returned to the field to win the second place after a simple bandage; at the 2017 Helsinki World Championships, he took the initiative to help China's Jin Boyang to correct the Chinese flag that was the opposite; at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, in order not to disturb the interview of his teammates, Yu Sheng knot secretly crawled away from behind his teammates on his knees...
There are too many stories like these that show the charisma of Yusheng's personality, and each story explains why Yusheng's string can attract so many fans and even turn the Beijing Winter Olympics into his personal "home".
Just over two hours after Yusuke finished the free skating competition, a group of Yusheng's fans were still waiting for him to appear outside the Capital Gymnasium with his favorite plush toy.
Due to the consideration of epidemic prevention and control, Yu yusuke could not meet with these fans, but he thanked everyone for their support over and over again in the mixed interview area.
"I don't know if my performance responded to the expectations of ice fans, but I skated with a 'thank you guys' mood. As long as I can give this gratitude back to the audience a little, in the next performance, I will do it with all my strength. ”