Vancouver's tears are unwilling, Sochi's tears are firm, Pyeongchang's tears are regrets, this time, the Beijing Winter Olympics, she will turn gorgeously. She is Xu Mengtao, a person who always uses difficult moves to "fight" the gold medal for the Chinese team!
From Vancouver's first taste of the Olympics, to Sochi's first stand on the podium, to the Pyeongchang cycle to experience injuries and leave regrets... For the fourth time to compete in the Olympic Games, Xu Mengtao, born in 1990, still failed to realize her dream of gold medal on this night. On February 10, in the Beijing Winter Olympics freestyle gliding aerial skills mixed team final, the Chinese team with Xu Mengtao, Jia Zongyang and Qi Guangpu won a silver medal with a total score of 324.22. Seeking a gold medal and the resolute perseverance of several darkest moments, only Xu Mengtao himself knows how much effort has been put into chasing glory.
In the freestyle skiing aerial skills field, no opponent has ever dared to underestimate the group advantage of the Chinese team. But when it comes to the Winter Olympic Games, the luck of the Chinese women's team is always a little worse, from Nagano in 1998 to Pyeongchang in 2018, there is always a "step" between the Chinese women's team and the highest podium.
On the road of the Chinese women's team to attack the gold medal of the Winter Olympics, one of the names that must be mentioned is Xu Mengtao. From Vancouver to Pyeongchang, Xu Mengtao has always been the one who "fights" the gold medal for the Chinese team with difficult moves. Today, Xu Mengtao ushered in her fourth Winter Olympics at home in Beijing, she still has one of the most difficulties in the whole field, and she is still "fighting" for the gold medal.
In HuangbaiShan, west of Vancouver, 19-year-old Xu Mengtao ushered in her first Olympic trip.
Before going to Vancouver, Xu Mengtao already had a World Youth Champion and a runner-up in the 2009 World Championships, but the players who paid more attention to the outside world at that time were still Li Nina, who won the silver medal in Turin four years ago, and Guo Xinxin, who was more experienced in the competition.
With the idea of "no hope of picking gold from beginning to end", Xu Mengtao successfully completed the two jumps of the qualification round and advanced to the final as the eighth place. In the first round of the final, Xu Mengtao successfully landed the bFFF (back flip body 1080 degrees) with a difficulty score of 4.050 points, and overpowered the more difficult Australian star Lydia Rashira with an advantage of more than 2 points, temporarily at the top of the list. At this time, Li Nina and Guo Xinxin were temporarily ranked fourth and fifth. In the second round of the match to determine the winner's title, even though Li Nina and Guo Xinxin successfully completed the three-week platform action, they failed to surpass Lasira, who was impeccable in both jumps. The task of fighting for the gold medal for the Chinese team fell on the shoulders of Xu Mengtao, who played last.
Xu Mengtao's challenge is The bLdFF that Rashila completed in the first round, a move worth up to 4.175 is almost the "ceiling" of the female player's difficulty, and the contestant needs to complete three weeks of churning in the air and complete a 1080-degree turn. Shortly before coming to Vancouver, Xu Mengtao had just begun practicing bLdFF. Although Xu Mengtao had completed this action in the World Cup Deer Valley station before the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the success rate of the action was not enough for her to be confident that she could win with one blow. When all eyes were focused on the final jump of the final, without much experience, Xu Mengtao walked up to the starting stage under pressure to "fight" a move that did not have much chance of winning.
From the skid to the air for a few seconds, everything seemed to go smoothly, but in the end Xu Mengtao still lost her center of gravity when she landed on the ground and fell on the landing slope. After gliding to the equal section, Xu Mengtao still raised her arms to greet the audience. But at the moment when the referee gave the score, there was still a hint of loss in her eyes. Raheela, who confirmed the winner, walked toward Xu Mengtao and hugged the Chinese girl, who was 8 years younger than her, and Xu Mengtao shed tears.
"Come back in four years!" Wiping away tears and leaving the arena, this was the most determined idea in Xu Mengtao's heart. At that time, Xu Mengtao was not yet 20 years old, playing in the Winter Olympics for the first time, and she was the second youngest player in the whole field, she dared to show the most difficult action in the world. Even if the last jump is not perfect, Xu Mengtao has proved that he can look forward to the future. Canadian coach Dustin Wilson, who was working as an adviser to the Chinese team at the time, was also impressed by Xu Mengtao's potential and competitive temperament, and in his view, Xu Mengtao was also a person who had the ability to change the sport of aerial skills.
On the snow field of rose manor on the shore of the Black Sea, Xu Mengtao once again stepped onto the field of the Winter Olympic Games. The 23-year-old is already the main player of the Chinese women's team and is also regarded as one of the favorites to win the Sochi Winter Olympics.
After returning from Vancouver four years ago, Xu Mengtao completed surgery to take a steel nail from her right knee. The nail was implanted in Xu Mengtao's leg in 2007 when the anterior cruciate ligament of her right knee was ruptured. At that time, in order to be able to successfully participate in the Vancouver Winter Olympics, Xu Mengtao postponed the nail removal surgery that was supposed to be carried out in 2009 until after the Winter Olympics. After solving the problem of leg injury, Xu Mengtao began to shine in the Sochi cycle.
Although before the start of the 2011/12 season, Xu Mengtao once fell into an emotional trough because of the defeat in snow training on Arshan Mountain, Xu Mengtao regained his familiar self when he stood on the World Cup. At the beginning of the season, Xu Mengtao won four consecutive championships in the four North American World Cup competitions; at the End of the Season World Cup Voss Station, Xu Mengtao once again stood on the highest podium. Xu Mengtao, who won 5 championships and 1 runner-up in a single season, also became the overall champion of the women's World Cup in the aerial skills project, and she also lifted the "Crystal Ball" trophy for the first time.
In the following 2012/13 season, Xu Mengtao once again achieved the achievement of five World Cup crowns in a single season. This time, she not only picked up the "crystal ball" of the aerial skill item, but also became the annual world cup champion of the freestyle skiing event. There were regretful bLdFF moves in Vancouver, and Xu Mengtao also successfully landed many times this season. In March 2013, Xu Mengtao won the World Championship for the first time at the Norwegian Snow Stadium, which had a perfect finale of the season a year ago, adding to her already fruitful season.
Before the start of the 2013/14 season, Xu Mengtao seemed to have all the conditions of a Winter Olympic champion – the difficulty of leading, the quality of the action, and the superior stability. It seems that she is also getting closer to the goal of impacting the gold medal. But in the Winter Olympic season, Xu Mengtao's original fiery state has slowly "cooled down". In the 5 World Cups before the Sochi Winter Olympics, Xu Mengtao only won two bronze medals, and among the four main players of the women's team, only Xu Mengtao failed to win the championship in this World Cup season, and the bLdFF action that had been successfully overcome was also a problem.
However, such a "small episode" as the ups and downs of the state did not affect Xu Mengtao's position in the team. Standing at the Sochi Winter Olympics, she still attracts much attention. Unlike the Vancouver Winter Olympics four years ago, the preliminaries and finals of this aerial skills event were all scheduled to be held on the same day, and the final was changed from the original two rounds of total scores to a three-round elimination format. This also means that players who reach the final round need to complete 5 jumps in up to 5 hours.
Xu Mengtao was one of the three "5 jumpers" that night, and the competition that day also made her bluntly say that she had "exhausted the power of the flood". Sochi's final trend is quite similar to Vancouver, Xu Mengtao, who successfully completed the bLFF in the second round, and "master sister" Li Nina entered the final round of only four people hand in hand, in the case of Li Nina's failure to fight hard, the last Xu Mengtao, who appeared in the end, is facing a situation that is completely consistent with four years ago, and she still has to challenge bLdFF. Compared with four years ago, Xu Mengtao had a higher success rate and more experience in completing this action, but she still lost her balance when she landed, holding on to the snow with one hand.
"Last time it was not strong enough, this time it is not in a state." This time, Xu Mengtao, who saw the final score, threw off his left arm that was accidentally sprained when he fell to the ground with some chagrin, and also shed tears again. But when standing on the podium, Xu Mengtao dried her tears and her eyes were firm. Standing next to her is gold medalist Ala Supel, a 35-year-old Belarusian veteran. On the other side of the podium was la sheila, the winner of four years ago and xu Mengtao was all too familiar. In the final round, Rasilla challenged a move that only a male player could complete, and finally won the bronze medal due to a mistake. Both Super and Rasilla are "mom-level" players who are rare in aerial skills. Seeing their persistence, Xu Mengtao also had more motivation. This silver medal is not the end for the 23-year-old.
Before standing at the starting point of Pyeongchang Phoenix Snow Park, Xu Mengtao experienced twists and turns in four years of preparation, but she finally survived. She had imagined countless celebrations when Pyeongchang landed steadily, and she thought she was finally ready to reach the top podium of the Winter Olympics. But in Pyeongchang, Xu Mengtao once again backfired.
Entering the Pyeongchang cycle, Xu Mengtao began to adjust his technical movements. In the 2015/16 World Cup, her form also fluctuated. At the 2016 Xinjiang National Winter Games, Xu Mengtao made a mistake during the competition, causing a tear in the anterior cruciate ligament of the left knee and a sprain of the medial collateral ligament when she landed. After this major injury, Xu Mengtao's left knee meniscus was removed by nearly 70%. She has been the "king of difficulty" since her debut, and she also had to leave the familiar snow field and jumping platform for a while and start a long recovery period.
Compared with the right knee injury when he was 18 years old, this time Xu Mengtao felt a little powerless, "26 years old is indeed not as fast as the 18 years old, and every day to a lot of rehabilitation training, especially boring." At the end of a full day of training, Xu Mengtao's sweat could soak the four sets of clothes he had prepared. And when Xu Mengtao was in the gym with the equipment, her teammates were all on the stage to practice special techniques. She was a little anxious and a little hesitant. What scares Xu Mengtao the most is all the unknowns that he will face after choosing to stick to it, "Everything is unknown, I don't know how I can recover, and I don't know what kind of difficulties I will encounter that will knock me down." At that time, Xu Mengtao was talking to herself every day, thinking about whether to persist in the end, and the "angels" and "demons" in her heart were also tugging.
"Xu Mengtao, you must top it!" Even though she knows that there are only a lot more obstacles on the way, or even "no way back", Xu Mengtao still decided to bravely face the trough that she had not yet walked out of before the injury and all the unknowns on the road to injury recovery, "As long as you choose, you can't look back." ”
Only 10 months after the operation, Xu Mengtao returned to the World Cup in Peking University. Having not won a World Cup in two years, she returned to the top podium here. Although Xu Mengtao had not yet resumed the three-week stage action at that time, with her stable performance throughout the season, she once again won the "Crystal Ball" trophy. At the World Championships at the end of the season, she also won a bronze medal. It's not easy to recover quickly and return to the front line in less than a year after a major injury. According to Xu Mengtao, it actually takes two years to re-establish the "proprioception". With steel nails still on her left knee, Xu Mengtao's meniscus hurts when the field is particularly hard and the landing posture is not quite right. But she thinks more about injuries and how to take the action of the three-week platform to participate in the game.
In the World Cup season before the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Xu Mengtao re-emerged on the three-week stage. With a steady performance of two championships and two sub-divisions in the sub-stations, she was crowned the overall champion of the air skills single season for the fourth time. Playing in the Winter Olympics for the third time, Xu Mengtao has difficulty, experience, and good state, and the distance between her and the champion seems to be "infinitely close".
On the first day of the air skill team's training in Phoenix Snow Park, Xu Mengtao saw the snowboard slope obstacle course award ceremony held in the next venue, and her yearning for the competition was more in her heart. Even though the arena was windy at that time, many players only practiced for two weeks in order to be safe, but Xu Mengtao still firmly wanted to go to the three-week stage, she told coach Ji Dong: "I am not afraid of anything, this Winter Olympics I am not here to participate in the competition, I must adapt to this venue, this stage, I want to fight a prepared battle." ”
As expected, Xu Mengtao easily advanced in the first round of the qualifiers. Raheela, whom she regarded as her biggest rival, and American and world champion Caldwell both stopped qualifying for the second round. Xu Mengtao felt that he had ushered in another good opportunity to "fight for gold medals". Before the start of the final of the aerial skills women's group, the Chinese delegation was still in Pyeongchang without gold, and Xu Mengtao looked forward to his first record for the Chinese team. On the bus to the stadium, Xu Mengtao wrote the text of "I don't get the first gold for China, I retire" in the circle of friends. But this circle of friends, which was originally only used to motivate themselves, was inexplicably widely spread on social media. Of course, Xu Mengtao, who was under the jumping platform at that time, did not know what kind of noise she had set off.
In the first round of the final, Xu Mengtao successfully advanced to the second place. In the second round, Xu Mengtao chose the three-week platform action bFTF (backflip for three weeks, the first and third turns 360 degrees, the second week of the group). But in this action with a good success rate in the past, Xu Mengtao planted a heel. Among the nine people shortlisted for the second round, Xu Mengtao was one of only two players to use the three-week stage action, but she ranked at the bottom and lost the opportunity to impact the gold medal.
"The speed is too slow, too slow..." This time, Xu Mengtao's tears of regret were still left in front of the camera. Raheira, who competed with her for three Olympic cycles, came to the mixed area to hug her and firmly said in front of the camera: "She is the champion!"
Because he could not achieve the desired speed from the starting point to the starting platform, Xu Mengtao was already convinced that it would be difficult for him to complete the action when he took off. When landing, Xu Mengtao made a forward roll on the landing slope because he lost his center of gravity. The ten seconds from there to the finish line were almost the longest moments of her life. There was also a voice in her head: "It's over, no one has fallen worse than me." ”
If Xu Mengtao adopts a two-week stage action like most players in the second round, maybe she can advance to the final round safely, and maybe there are more hopes to compete for medals. But Xu Mengtao is not unaware that the two-week platform is more stable and the three-week platform is more risky, she just wants to fight for the gold medal that the Chinese team has never been able to get, just like the previous two Winter Olympics.
For the veterans of the Chinese team, whether to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics in four years is like a somewhat tangled choice, after all, participating in the Winter Olympics at home is always of great significance, which is a unique experience that no one wants to miss. But on the other hand, the impact of age and injury cannot be ignored, and what variables will occur in four years is even more unpredictable.
As for whether to fight for another four years, Xu Mengtao, who returned from Pyeongchang, did hesitate. When she was in Pyeongchang, she did not even enter the final round of the final when she was in perfect condition, and Xu Mengtao doubted whether she could not win the Olympic championship in her life, "Such a good state can not get the championship, and it is impossible to take it in the future!" In March 2018, Xu Mengtao lay down on the operating table again and completed the meniscus surgery for both legs. During this break away from the public eye and the arena, Xu Mengtao also made a sufficient ideological struggle between "going" and "staying". But in the end, the love of the aerial skill project and the "unwillingness" of the defeat in Pyeongchang still made Xu Mengtao decide to return to the team and start his fourth Winter Olympic cycle.
Less than 4 months after completing the operation, Xu Mengtao returned to Qinhuangdao to start the summer training before the new season with his teammates. In November 2018, the air skill team transferred from Qinhuangdao to Arshan for snow training. Xu Mengtao successfully recovered the difficulty of the two-week platform after a month, and also prepared physically and mentally for the first World Cup season of the Beijing cycle. In fact, Pyeongchang's memory is not far away, but that defeat has brought a little change in Xu Mengtao's mentality, "I have fallen to the ninth place in the Olympic Games, what am I afraid of?" In Xu Mengtao's view, Pyeongchang's "real major failure" has made her more free.
During the Beijing cycle, the coaching team of the Air Skills National Training Team also welcomed a new member – Dimitri Kaunov, a well-known coach who once coached 2017 World Championship champion Ashley Caldwell. Previously, Xu Mengtao did not have much experience working with foreign teachers, and Kaunov's arrival brought more freshness to her daily training. Kaunov pays attention to detail, whether it is a problem of technical movements or emotional ups and downs, he can be keenly aware. In terms of training arrangements, Kaunov gave the experienced Xu Mengtao more freedom.
With a more relaxed mindset, Xu Mengtao steadily moved forward in the Beijing cycle. In the 2018/19 season, Xu Mengtao, who had just recovered two weeks of difficulty, won three championships in the World Cup and was crowned the overall champion of the season for the third consecutive year. At the World Championships at the end of the season, Xu Mengtao not only won another single bronze medal, but also led the team to win a silver medal in the mixed team competition. In the 2019/20 season, Xu Mengtao regained the difficulty of the three-week stage, although she failed to win the "crystal ball" again, but her success rate on the three-week platform also increased with the deepening of the season.
The global outbreak of the new crown epidemic in early 2020 temporarily slowed down Xu Mengtao's pace of progress. Throughout the 2020/21 season, the Aerial Skills National Training Team failed to compete abroad. In the past, Xu Mengtao called herself a "good racer", and whenever the INTERNATIONAL Snow Federation announced the schedule, she would be excited to see the names of the countries and cities where the competition would be held, and she also looked forward to the exchange with the opponent. But this season, she can only train at home. But she still pays attention to the dynamics of the World Cup, the performance of her main opponent Laura Peel and her good friend Ashley Caldwell and other "acquaintances", and observes what is going on on the field.
When the calendar was turned to December 2021, just two months before the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Xu Mengtao returned to the international arena in Ruka, Finland. When she stood at the training ground wearing her iconic blue ski suit, many foreign players who had not seen her for a long time also greeted her: "Peach! In the six races before the Winter Olympics, Xu Mengtao won 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze in a single event, breaking the record for the number of World Cup wins held by Australian star Cooper, and also won two mixed team championships with his teammates. In each game, she also tried her best to challenge herself to the three-week stage action. Because at the Beijing Winter Olympics, she still wants to be the one who "fights" the gold medal with high difficulty, rather than reducing the difficulty in order to "protect" the gold medal. However, unlike the previous three Winter Olympic Games, although Xu Mengtao still wants to "fight", her obsession with the gold medal is a little less than before. She wants to leave milestones in the sport more than that gold medal. This four-year, Xu Mengtao's dream was in the Beijing Winter Olympics, but her dream was not limited to gold medals.
In an interview after the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Xu Once described the Aerial Skills project as a "game of the brave." In her opinion, the person who can laugh to the end in this game must have both a strong heart and dreams and beliefs. When standing at the starting point of the Winter Olympics for the fourth time, Xu Mengtao still had dreams and firm beliefs, and her heart was stronger in the grinding of the four Olympic cycles. The closer it is to the Winter Olympics, the more calm and powerful Xu Mengtao's heart becomes. In the field of aerial skills, Xu Mengtao, who has her own record and has stood on the podium of the World Series many times, has become the person who changed the sport, as Wilson predicted 12 years ago.
Even if Xu Mengtao's gold medal map is the only one in the Winter Olympics, who dares to say that she is not the winner of this "brave game"? A silver medal in the hybrid relay also proves the efforts of China's short track speed skating over the past 4 years. In the following competition, several main players, including Xu Mengtao, Jia Zongyang and Qi Guangpu, also launched an impact on individual projects and wrote a new story for the Chinese air skills team at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Wen | Gongke
Editor| Fat Cat Li Yifan (Intern)