Guan Xiaopu, website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission, reported that this dynasty is testing the sword and fighting here. On the evening of February 5, the Chinese short track speed skating mixed team relay team won the first gold medal of the Chinese sports delegation at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing with a time of 2 minutes 37.348 seconds in the final. The competition was extremely fierce, with the difference between the Chinese team and the second place only 0.016 seconds. On the field, not only the athletes' own talent, sweat and psychological qualities are competed, but also the comprehensive strength of a country's training, scientific research and manufacturing.
In 2019, with the advent of the "Beijing Cycle", Beijing Institute of Fashion was approved as a key project of "Winter Sports and Training Competition High-performance Clothing Research and Development Key Technologies" of the "Winter Sports and Training Competitions", and the project leader, Liu Li and the team were able to contact more ice and snow projects and deeply bond with China's ice and snow.
Due to the needs of project extension and depth, 30 units have participated in interdisciplinary cooperative research and development. The scientific research team solves the four key technical problems of "fast, protective, warm and beautiful", and realizes the innovation of four types of products in the clothing, protective materials and equipment, low temperature protection materials and equipment, and skills for the project clothing of the racing project. Comprehensive drag reduction design, high-tech anti-cutting fabrics, active heating technology... A series of "black technology" allow Chinese athletes to confidently play and ride the ice and snow!
Change the history of high-level athletes customizing their uniforms overseas, and make uniforms with their hearts, just to help athletes bloom on the field
Liu Li has long been engaged in the teaching and research of functional clothing, and it is purely accidental that she has dabbled in ice and snow sports uniforms.
Time back to the 2018-2019 season of figure skating international. One day, Liu Li suddenly received a call from the Winter Games Management Center of the State General Administration of Sport, hoping to customize the competition clothing for the pair skaters Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, and needed to complete the design and production of 6 sets of competition uniforms within three weeks.
With a deep understanding and accumulation of clothing, Liu Li led the team to successfully complete the task. In March 2019, the Figure Skating World Championships began in Saitama, Japan, and the Sui-Han duo won the championship with a free skating score of 155.60 points and a total score of 234.84 points, breaking the world record of free skating and total double results, and the uniform added a lot to their exquisite skills. This successful cooperation kicked off the prelude to the design of clothing for the winter project by the Beifu team, and also changed the history of high-level athletes customizing uniforms overseas. In the next four seasons of cooperation, the team designed and produced a total of 170 sets of costumes for the Chinese figure skating team.
On February 7, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Figure Skating Team Ice Dance Free Dance Competition was held at the Capital Gymnasium, and the picture shows Chinese athletes Wang Shiyue (right) and Liu Xinyu in the competition. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Yuguo
According to the theory of the group, similar to diving, gymnastics and other sports, figure skating is a typical difficult to aesthetic sports, which is both "difficult" and "beautiful". It is not only an ice sport that pursues a sense of speed and difficult movements, but also pays great attention to artistic expression, which also puts forward corresponding requirements for the race dress.
Familiarity with music, designing manuscripts, measuring body types, making nude clothes, diamond-set decorations, trying on land, trying on ice... A figure skating race is based on nothing, from design to molding, there are many links.
Figure skating clothing design does not have a unified style, the designer needs to do a lot of homework in the early stage, not only to be familiar with the dance and style of the competition, but also to combine the athlete's movements, figure, personality, preferences, aesthetics and other tailor-made, while designing, colliding, while fitting. "Sometimes for the sake of secrecy, we don't know the specific repertoire, but we can only get some general information, such as 'romantic', 'sad' and so on." Liu Li told reporters that the designer first proposed the design direction based on the understanding of the musical style, and then discussed with the athletes, choreographers and coaches, which is a comprehensive creative process. Sometimes, experts are also invited to participate in the discussion according to the specific situation, and Shen Congwen's disciple and ancient costume culture expert Zhao Lianxiang is their "guest of honor". It can be said that each piece of clothing has undergone a unique artistic creation process.
There are also many "doorways" among them. Performances with higher technical difficulty have higher requirements for the weight of the costume, and while they are beautiful and eye-catching, they also need to ensure that the fabric is light and the sports stretch performance is good; the pair skating competition involves the throwing and jumping action, and when the female athletes wear and decorate, they should pay attention to avoiding the key parts lifted by the male partner. In addition, high-grade, good-looking fabrics may not be suitable, such as high-end lace fabrics, although the pattern is fine, but not resistant to pulling, the latest fabrics may not be suitable, because they have not yet been tested in practice...
"We used to design dresses, sit or stand and take a picture, put on a few poses and we're done. But for figure skating, to spin and jump, and even to throw people out, this is too much of a requirement for clothing. Designer Sun Xuefei explained.
Fine Su embroidery, sparkling crystals, elaborate patterns, flowing ink tones... It is not an exaggeration to admire the costume up close and say that it is a work of art. "We also know that the TV screen may not be able to show the subtlety of the uniform, but we still spare no effort to do the best, really with the heart to make the uniform for the athletes." Liu Li said, "First, we want to give athletes confidence, everyone does their best to make this suit with the best materials and craftsmanship, hoping that they will appreciate the importance of the country to them and can play an excellent role; second, the uniforms we deliver, any detail, must withstand the examination test of close-up shots." ”
In racing competitions, 0.01 seconds may determine the ownership of a gold medal, and the difference of 0.01 seconds may come from clothing and equipment, behind the uniform is a strong scientific and technological boost and collective strength
September 26, 2021, Urumqi, Xinjiang. Gao Tingyu, bronze medalist in the men's 500m of speed skating at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, set a world best of the season in the 2021-2022 China Cup Speed Skating Elite League with a time of 33.83 seconds. It's also the third best result in history. This is undoubtedly a major incentive for ice and snow sports in China.
In the news screen, many people noticed that Gao Tingyu's uniform was different from other players, only black and white, slightly simple. In fact, this is the seventh version of the process sample that the research team has created for him. Although it is too late to decorate the colors, this sample dress, which combines many scientific and technological highlights, still helps the contestants achieve good results.
This suit is also known as the "race suit that can't stand up". It is understood that athletes' uniforms are composed of a variety of fabrics, and the structure generally needs to be moderately divided. The speed of the event uniform is usually a tight bodysuit, which is characterized by a strong pulling force in the front of the clothing, which can maintain a stable sports posture in the body-to-body state, in layman's terms, that is, "can't stand up". In addition to the best posture three-dimensional tailoring, drag reduction structure, moderate compression, etc. are also the design focus of such clothing.
On February 8, the beijing 2022 Winter Olympics speed skating men's 1500m final was held at the National Speed Skating Hall "Ice Ribbon", pictured by China's Ning Zhongyan in the competition. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Jianwei
There is a strong scientific and technological support behind the development of the race dress. "In racing, 0.01 seconds may determine the ownership of a gold medal, and the difference of 0.01 seconds may come from clothing and equipment." Liu Li has expressed this view many times, speed skating and other racing competitions to pursue "fast", clothing design must first consider the resistance of the wind. "It's not that the smoother the surface, the smaller the wind resistance. It is precisely a textured pit structure fabric that produces a small resistance. In addition, in different parts of the body, the shape, size, and depth of the pit structure are different. ”
It took two years, the R & D personnel prepared high-performance drag-reducing fabrics according to the movement posture and speed characteristics of different projects, and collected and tested the basic properties of more than 150 kinds of fabrics around the world, which were applied to the clothing drag reduction design, and many universities and enterprises participated in it. For example, Tsinghua University and Wuhan Institute of Physical Education do the design of the drag reduction mechanism of clothing, Donghua University does the design of the resistance reduction fabric, Guangdong Derun Textile Co., Ltd. is responsible for weaving fabrics, and ANTA (China) Co., Ltd. is responsible for the overall clothing production.
All the fabrics and designs of the Winter Olympic costumes must be "blown" in the wind tunnel in advance, and only the speed skating project has screened dozens of resistance-reducing fabrics and 56 kinds of clothing structures, and 21 kinds of hat types alone have been made
Does the uniform drag reduction design work? This had to be answered by the Beijing Institute of Fashion, which is responsible for performing the wind tunnel test and effect feedback.
Wind tunnel experiments were originally mainly used in aerospace, construction and other fields, through simulated wind speed to test the safety of houses and bridges. In the European and American ice and snow sports powers, this technology has been widely used in the research of drag reduction in racing sports to help athletes improve equipment and performance.
In 2020, the State General Administration of Sport built two large and two small sports wind tunnels, and carried out scientific evaluation and correction of the sports posture of each team in the winter sports project, which became the basis for the project team to systematically implement research and development. All fabrics and designs used in winter Olympic uniforms must be "blown" in the wind tunnel in advance. In the speed skating project alone, dozens of resistance-reducing fabrics and 56 kinds of clothing structures were screened, and 21 kinds of hat types were made alone.
"We always take the actual needs of athletes as the starting point, tailor the shape for them, and cut according to their sports habits and muscle lines, the most important thing is to be equipped with the corresponding sports technology according to the characteristics of the sport, so as to help the athletes perform on the field." Anta equipment R & D personnel told reporters that taking the steel frame snowmobile shoes as an example, this sneaker applies 3D printed titanium alloy aerospace technology and bionic fluid dynamics design, and the measured display can help athletes improve by up to 0.054 seconds in the starting stage. In the race against the clock, this is the advantage brought by technology.
"The decision to completely overcome independent research and development is because there are some 'card neck' problems. Some of the clothing we ordered overseas, after wind tunnel testing, found that it did not reach the promised level of technology, and we had to create it ourselves. Liu Li said. To the delight of the team, after the wind tunnel test, the best posture speed skating suit has a drag reduction of more than 11% compared with the overseas procurement of the race suit; the maximum drag reduction rate of the new short track speed skating suit is more than 10%; according to the characteristics of the small speed difference of the alpine skiing project, the design of the relevant race suit is refined, and the maximum drag reduction rate is more than 9%.
Ice and snow projects are highly risky, and it is very meaningful for researchers to reduce sports injuries for athletes
Stepping on the ice, dancing, the traces of the ice knife on the vast ice surface gradually stretched; leaning forward, like a strong wind, accelerating at the turn, almost sticking to the ice; jumping and flipping freely, that is the freedom between heaven and earth... Ice and snow sports seem to be light and agile, but in fact, the danger behind it is not low at all. It is not uncommon for winter sports athletes to collide or pull or even cause danger in high-speed sports. According to statistics, the damage rate of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics was 14.1%, and the damage rate of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics was 12.6%, far exceeding the Summer Olympics.
Take alpine skiing, for example. The speed of the event can reach 130 to 140 kilometers per hour, the athletes also have to cross the flag gate and complete the prescribed movements of the race, and the soft tissues under the shoulders, thighs and ribs are extremely vulnerable. "When you cross the flag gate, that pole bounces off, and the athlete has to skate at least twenty or thirty times a day, or get hit two or three hundred times, all bruised." They are particularly difficult, and it is very meaningful for us researchers to reduce their sports injuries a little. Zhang Mingwen, special person in charge of the National Winter Sports Clothing Equipment Research and Development Center and a teacher at the Beijing Institute of Fashion, said.
On February 8, the beijing 2022 Winter Olympics alpine skiing men's super slalom competition was held in Yanqing, with China's Xu Mingfu participating. (Source: Visual China)
Before returning to China, Zhang Mingwen worked at the Institute of Frontier Materials at Deakin University in Australia, specializing in motorcycle riding safety research. The sports protective gear safety standards stipulated by the International Snow Federation are set with reference to the motorcycle riding safety standards. In 2020, she was invited back to China to participate in the special research on the winter sports competition uniforms of the Winter Olympics of Science and Technology, she first began to study the protective equipment of ski projects, and developed a new structure of impact shields with the team. This group of protective gear can effectively protect the athlete's hit part, and the shape is soft and flexible, and the impact on the athlete's movement is minimal. Not only that, the project team also equipped the athletes with gaskets, back armor and other protective gear, and the suit design also adopted a new columnar array impact-resistant structure and a new type of energy-absorbing cushioning material.
Look at short-track speed skating. Due to the short track, the curve speed is easy to slide out, coupled with the athlete's foot stepping on the ice knife, in an instant, there will often be athletes' stumbling and rubbing on the field, and the neck, abdominal thighs, armpits, hips, lower arms, hands, and knees are easily injured. In order to avoid danger as much as possible, the International Skating Federation has required all athletes to wear anti-cutting clothing when participating in the competition since July 1, 2003.
Considering muscle compression, clothing drag reduction and other functions, the project uniform uses a new type of high-elastic anti-cutting fabric, using patented technology, from one-way anti-cutting upgrade to two-way, on the basis of maintaining elasticity, anti-cutting performance increased by 20% to 30%, providing athletes with all-round protection, "ice knife can not be broken" is no longer a word.
Zhang Mingwen introduced that this is the composite of two kinds of performance yarn, while combining the super tough and super elastic properties of raw materials, so it can be made into a sports fabric, and it has good puncture resistance and stronger protection.
"It's actually a relationship between a 'spear' and a 'shield.'" Liu Li explained: "The anti-cutting ability mainly comes from a high-strength and high-mold fiber in the fabric, and its disadvantage is poor elasticity. The stronger the anti-cutting ability, the more it will inevitably lead to a weakening of the elasticity of the garment. Our mission is to find a balance and help athletes get good results while adapting to the rules. ”
The National Winter Sports Equipment R&D Center has established a high-performance sportswear system that is completely independently developed and has mastered its own intellectual property rights
"Speed projects, such as short-track speed skating, steel frame snowmobiles, comprehensive drag reduction of clothing and equipment is the core; skill projects, such as figure skating, freestyle skiing, etc., enhance the expressiveness of clothing is the key; comprehensive projects, such as Nordic two, both a little skill and a little speed, need to be considered comprehensively." When it comes to design experience, Liu Li is like a family treasure.
Professor Liu Li of Beijing Institute of Fashion led the team to carry out the research and development of the training clothes for the Winter Olympic National (Training) Team. The picture shows Liu Li and her team making the national figure skating (training) team competition uniform, and the colors on the costumes are embroidered with one stitch and one thread. (Source: Visual China)
In her opinion, "warmth" is actually the "least concerned" part of the suit. There are three reasons: one is that the competitive sports will be warmed up before the competition, the competition process of just a few minutes does not need to be warm, and the long-distance project competition will gradually release heat; the second is that such as alpine skiing projects, the International Snow Federation has strict regulations on the ventilation of the competition uniforms and other parameters; the third is that all competitive sports are performance-oriented, and all designs that hinder the achievement of results will be considered invalid designs.
However, before the game, after the game, and in the daily security, keeping warm is still important. To this end, the team also made corresponding designs: one is to improve the fiber warmth rate, the other is to use active heating technology, the electrical energy into heat, the heating film and thread implanted in the training clothing, to ensure that the personnel wearing the training suit in the minus 30 ° C environment can continue to work for more than 8 hours.
This Year's Winter Olympics has added a new freestyle skiing aerial skill mixed team event, and Chinese athletes have certain advantages, and their performance is expected. From clothing colors, stripe design to fits, researchers also consider all aspects of their efforts to help compete for gold.
Will different uniform colors have an impact on the referee's scoring under the same background color? Can it be beneficial for athletes to show this movement and some techniques? The answer is yes.
Starting from the color of the competition uniform, optimizing the design scheme and ensuring that the suits of Chinese athletes are more beautiful, more comfortable and more powerful is the task of the research group "The Influence of Visual Design Elements of Freestyle Skiing Aerial Skills Competition Suits on the Evaluation of Athletes' Technical Performance".
According to the schedule, the event will be played after 6 pm. Wang Yixuan, assistant dean of the School of Fashion Arts and Engineering of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, introduced: "At 18 o'clock in February in Beijing, the sky is already relatively dark, we choose dark blue or even darker color as the background color, but the snow track color is very light, if the background color is more prominent, it may be weaker on the snow track." We need to judge which part of the action is more critical and needs to be highlighted. ”
In addition to color, the team also took the stripe design into account. The thickness of the stripes, the shape, and where they are distributed in the competition suit will not only affect the aesthetics, but also help the athletes to better exert their movements, highlight the sense of strength, and show the beauty of the posture.
"Athletes need to raise their arms when they take off in the air, including the moment of skateboarding, they need to raise their arms, which requires our fabric to be elastic." If the fit is too loose, it will be affected by some resistance, and the speed when taking off is not enough. The state of the stripe, in the process of rotation, from the aesthetic point of view, more appreciative, from the technical performance point of view, will appear straighter, more tense. Jiang Ying, an associate professor at the Beijing Institute of Fashion, said.
Light and shadow, weather, clothing dynamics, athlete posture... Good design is not only presented on the drawings, but also placed in the real scene for testing. The introduction of three-dimensional digital presentation technology has realized to a certain extent that the arena has been brought into the studio, and various variables have been taken into account, comprehensively simulating the audience perspective and the referee's perspective, and restoring the game scene, which is naturally conducive to drawing more scientific conclusions.
In addition, the collection of human body data and body surface morphology of professional athletes in mainland ice and snow sports is also an indispensable key link. Since March 2021, Liu Li and her team have conducted three-dimensional measurements for more than 400 athletes, and through large-scale measuring equipment and handheld three-dimensional scanners, the key indicators and body shape characteristics of the athletes have been accurately recorded to provide data support for the design of the uniform. At the same time, they also tracked the movements of athletes, studied their skin stretching laws in detail, and then refined the structure of the competition uniforms to make them conform to the athletes' movement laws to the greatest extent.
More than 2,000 design manuscripts, more than 110 sample suits, more than 800 hours of wind tunnel testing, today, the National Winter Sports Equipment Research and Development Center has established a completely independent research and development of high-performance sportswear system, mastered its own intellectual property rights. "The results always belong to the athletes and coaching team, but for the designers and craftsmen involved, the achievements on the field are also a great encouragement, and we are proud to participate in the Cause of the Winter Olympics!" Liu Li said.
Source: Website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission