Spinning at high speed for many weeks, he challenged movements that had never been achieved in the history of human sports, but in the end he did not succeed.
As Chinese favorite active Japanese player, Yusuke Yusuke's men's singles free skating competition finally achieved a score of 188.06 points, more than 30 points less than his personal best. Coupled with the failure of the previous short program, the total score of Yu Yu Yu was ranked 4th among the men's singles players in this year's figure skating, and he did not win the medal.
4A failed to land smoothly, the Olympic champion also lost his hand, in an interview with Japanese figure skater Shizuka Arakawa after the game, Yu Yusei confided in the chagrin in his heart: "To be honest, I am still very unwilling, I have put in a lot of effort, but also very painful... I felt a little bit like I hadn't been able to leave anything behind. ”
Why doesn't the effort pay off? Yu yusuke asked this question until the last moment of the game.
Since the encounter with figure skating, there have been places where feather string players have appeared, always accompanied by new breakthroughs in the history of figure skating. Including winning the Men's Singles Championships of the Sochi and Pyeongchang Winter Olympics for the first time in 66 years; breaking the world record 19 times, being the first person to jump around the outer ring after completing an international competition recognized by the ISU (International Skating Federation); or the first person in the history of figure skating to win gold medals in international men's singles events such as the Olympic World Championships, grand prix finals, four continents championships and the World Youth Championships, youth finals...
Abstract numbers are difficult to summarize the meaning behind this, not so much that the efforts of the feathered players have been rewarded, but rather by relying on the individual's limited understanding of the world, with a "born to die" style of hard practice, sprinting towards the limits of the unknown species.
And behind this success may be accompanied by unknown sprints of tens of thousands or more failures. Yu Sheng's 4A challenge at the Winter Olympics yesterday was also one of them.
Compared with the focus on "challenging human limits and failures", the Feather Knot Players themselves, who have been sprinting for this, may have more room for discussion. We wonder, how did the spirit of constant "transcendence" come about?
gaze
Dating back to the first contact with figure skating when Yusei was 4 years old, the talent that he could show at that time may be his different perception of performance.
At that time, Yusheng suffered from chronic asthma, and in order to improve his physical condition, his parents sent him to the "Izumi DOSC Ice Skating Rink" near his home to learn how to skate with his sister in a classroom. "I really enjoy acting and look forward to putting on my costume." In a later autobiography, Yusei recalls.
When standing on the ice rink and bathing in the eyes of the audience, you can feel the joy of figure skating.
As a child, Yusei idolized the Russian figure skating legend Yevgeny Plushenko, who always stood on the podium and held his trophy high, and Yusei wanted to be like him. At the age of 6, when he won the first gold medal in his life, he also learned to hold it high like an idol and let everyone see it.
Although he was only wearing a particularly boyish sweatshirt at the time, Yusheng, who had the same mushroom head as his idol, had already looked like "Little Yevgeny Plusshenko".
Habu soon became famous in the local area, and many people in the figure skating community knew that Sendai had a "genius mushroom".
The different attention of the outside world to this teenager is directly reflected in the coach's training. At that time, Tsukiji Akiichiro, who was teaching Habu, would give Habu a separate lesson before each group lesson.
This is obviously the proof that Yusheng is worthy of being excavated, but at that time he did not realize this, only felt that the training was so hard, "I vaguely remember wearing a helmet at that time, many times my head directly hit the ice, fell down again and again, really painful." ”
Peers play after school, while they carry their school bags to the training ground and face the harsh instructions of the coach. "I really hated training during that time, and I couldn't help but cry many times." At one point, he thought about giving up skating and moving to baseball, which he preferred at the time.
Even so, it is only at the stage of fighting with his parents, thinking about the efforts he has put into his skating career for so many years, and giving up directly always makes Yusheng feel unwilling. The sudden closure of the ice rink that had been training made him realize the significance of figure skating for himself at a young age.
At that time, Yu yu had just won the B group gold medal in the Japan Junior Figure Skating Championships, and before he could savor the joy of winning, he suddenly lost the field, and normal training became an unattainable thing, after that, Yu Sheng's performance declined, and he felt uneasy about the loss of flowers and applause.
Yusei finally realized that he couldn't leave skating.
This feeling stimulated Yu Sheng to tie the strings and became the driving force for him to practice desperately at that time. Unlike previous training, which is often lazy, "once there is a training opportunity, it is very happy." He quickly returned to the championship and went all the way to win more events.
At the age of 14, as the youngest player in history, Yu Yu participated in the World Junior Figure Skating Championships held in Sofia, Bulgaria, and this was his first time to participate in a world championship, with top figure skaters gathered.
He had a feeling: the 10 years he had spent for figure skating before was only "1% of the figure skating life", and through figure skating, Yu Sheng learned the other side of the world. An unknown world unfolds before his eyes, and he longs to leave his footprints here.
With such a surging idea, he appeared on the ice rink in Sofia, Bulgaria, and before he could start performing, Habu first shed a nosebleed.
He was so easily excited. The same scene also occurred when he first experienced the adult competition of the All Japan Figure Skating Championships, competing on the same stage with the stars of figure skating at the time, Masayoshi Asada and Mihime Ando. Before the game, yusheng had just entered the stadium when he heard some players say, "There are a lot of spectators", and he was so excited that he couldn't help himself and had a nosebleed of excitement.
In the first half of that free skate, Yu Yu made three consecutive mistakes. There was applause from the audience, Yusei completed the second half of the jump while motivating himself, and in the "Paganini Theme Rhapsody" that sounded on the field, accompanied by the clapping of the audience, Yusei successfully completed the second half of the competition.
It was a special game for him, where he felt the beats of the audience and the feeling of energy in the athletes.
But this kind of mental stimulation also has an impact on the timing of the game. At the World Championship he participated in for the first time, Axel at the beginning of the show jumped for three weeks, yusheng jumped perfectly, he was overjoyed, his body tilted in the air, but he could not stand when he fell on the ice.
In a post-match interview, he admitted that when he took off the jump, he felt that "I can do it", he was relieved, and most of his strength was lost.
At the age of 21, a program team interviewed Yusei and asked him if he felt that he was a powerful person. At that time, he was trapped in the pain of his left foot, and had just failed to jump on the training ground, Yu sheng looked haggard, he smiled and revealed to the camera, he was very fragile, and the surrounding environment would have a huge impact on his mental and physical state to a certain extent.
"I think maybe the reason I can't shape myself is because I'm too vulnerable," Habu knows his weaknesses better than anyone.
Expose weaknesses
For competitive sports, "exposing weaknesses" is a big taboo for any athlete. This means giving the opponent an opportunity to take advantage of it. But Yusei yushin is an exception, he always takes the initiative to expose his weaknesses and put them in the public eye for examination.
In 2016, the Japanese in-depth character documentary "Love Hot Continent" filmed Yu yutsu, and after the program was broadcast in thousands of calls, it rarely encountered a crisis of public opinion.
As a 20-year-old Japanese national documentary program, "Love Continent" has always been known for its ability to dig out the unknown side of the subject, but in the 900th episode of the documentary about Yu yusuke, such ability does not seem to be exerted.
The reporter in charge of the interview at the time, Hiroyuki Morita, responded to this in the reporter's note later, mentioning that when facing The Feather, because Yusei himself has always responded to the media with sincerity, the method of "Love Hot Continent" with the formula of "showing the interviewee is different from the plain face in front of the camera" has failed - because there is no fundamental difference between Yusei in front of the camera in the Hot Continent and Yusei who usually accepts media interviews.
He never seemed to hesitate to expose himself.
Since childhood, "want to win" has been hung up by Yusheng knots. At first, in various post-match interviews, Yu yusuke directly expressed his "want to win" mood, and then simply specifically "I want to win a certain game", each sentence is like a small banner standing on his figure skating road.
With the continuous improvement of figure skating level, Yusheng's goal is also getting bigger and bigger, "I want to become a Winter Olympic champion", "I want to break records"...
When he first competed in the figure skating adult competition at the age of 14, he let out a harsh word: "I want to become a legend." I want to show you that in some way, the first breakthrough of mankind, only I have done it. I want to engrave the name 'Feather Knot String' in history! ”
Just after his 21st birthday, he proposed on the eve of the World Figure Skating Grand Prix in Barcelona: "As an active Winter Olympic champion, in order to win the gold medal at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, I must be better than other players." I will enjoy the challenge without a trace of uneasiness in my heart. I want to be the absolute king. ”
A few days before the start of figure skating men's singles free skating at this year's Beijing Winter Olympics, Yu Sheng yu was interviewed, also raising everyone's expectations, he said that I want to jump out of the real 4A in the Olympic games.
Mie Noguchi, a sports writer who has been tracking down Habu's many years, understands Habu's intentions in doing so, "This is the voice that dares to speak out in order to give herself a task," she mentions in her book "Habu Yuki: The Road to The King".
Yusei himself admits this: "Speaking boldly and then going all out, this is my method." Although language has no intrinsic magic, it will leave traces in the heart. If we just think about it, our brains will still forget, but if we say it, although we will taste humiliated when we lose the game, if the goal is achieved, the joy will be very different (than before). If you can't move forward with such motivation, your goal will definitely fall short, right? ”
The more the media gathers, the more attention is paid to the moment, the more you have to say "want to win" and create pressure on yourself. "If I lose a game, I feel embarrassed, so I will go the extra mile", which is the terrible thing about Yu Yu.
He took advantage of his weakness that was prone to fluctuations in his mental and psychological state, and constantly made external declarations to stimulate himself to work harder, and did not hesitate to force himself into a desperate situation again and again.
This constant mental stimulation makes Yusheng sing high, but at the same time, it also buries hidden dangers. After all, people's carrying capacity for pressure is limited, especially when the pressure brought by this mental stimulation is snowballing and getting bigger and bigger, when one day, the pressure exceeds the critical value of the bearer, and people are likely to collapse.
Yusei knows this, and he admits that he often can't withstand the pressure, but he still chooses this suicidal way of working hard. This is the admirable and at the same time tragic side of him.
In the yusheng training hall, there is a wall covered with nameplates with the names of the Olympic medal winners and world champions who have trained in this venue. In 2015, Javier Fernandez's nameplate was hung.
Yu Yu Yuki quipped to the camera, saying that he was particularly unwilling every time he saw it, "Just think, damn, why is this happening?" Often when I am very bitter and tired, when I see that wall, I want to make myself insist, and I must not be discouraged, so I hint at myself. ”
Human tenacity
After knowing that mental stimulation can bring him motivation, Yu Yu has his own set of training methods, and mind practice is very important to him.
He mentioned in his autobiography that when he is in good shape, he can do a jump action, and then he can think of a 3D image of the jumping momentary posture, and then know, "Ah, there is something wrong here, you have to adjust it slightly." "When you're in particularly good shape, you can even see a 360-degree full-angle image.
Many times, people see Yu Sheng knot down the ice rink, but in his mind, he is still training himself. Today, he has almost no life except figure skating.
In an interview, a reporter asked him what he wanted to eat when he came to Osaka this time. Habu said he has always wanted to eat Akashi yaki from Osaka, but he has never eaten anything particularly authentic, and has only eaten it twice so far, and it is still a fast food at a convenience store. In life, there are usually only two options for eating, to a convenience store or to order a hotel room service.
It is precisely this kind of training accumulated over the years that makes Yusheng Yuxin very keen for the subconscious capture of dynamic pictures.
When he was 16 years old, Yusuke Habu, who was training on the ice rink, was hit by the Great Japan Earthquake, and the Izumi DOSC Ice Skating Rink in Sendai City, where he was located, was originally a rice field with a soft foundation and a strong earthquake. At the beginning of the earthquake, the ice surface of the ice rink became undulating, and Yu sheng, who was training, had no time to take off his skates and could only step on the ice knife and rush outside.
Although the body was not injured, the picture of the earthquake was deeply embedded in Yusheng's head.
"The visual impact of the earthquake is too strong, and there has always been a habit of doing image training, which probably has a synergistic effect." The memory was so painful that I didn't dare close my eyes. When I was in the shelter, I just kept looking at the ceiling. Falling asleep and dreaming again, the first three days almost became my nightmare. ”
Even for a long time after the earthquake, the images of the earthquake moments have been lingering in front of Yusheng's eyes, "All of them can be seen clearly, and they remember clearly, as soon as you close your eyes, the picture at that time will suddenly come to mind..."
After the earthquake, there were water, electricity and gas everywhere, and it was impossible to predict when basic life would be restored. The Habu family lives in the gymnasium of the local elementary school, which is the resettlement site for the victims, and everyone can only listen to the radio to understand the situation around them.
The images of his hometown being destroyed were replayed over and over again in his head, and Yu yusuke, who was a figure skater, felt very powerless. In an interview, I tried to say something uplifting, hoping to bring hope to rebuild everyone's life, but soon regretted it, and in the face of the catastrophe, it seemed empty to say anything.
He began to think again about the meaning of his profession.
The earthquake allowed him to see the smallness of man. Near the home airport, there was originally a residential area that stretched all the way to the coastline 2.5 km away. After the earthquake, the Habu family drove by, but found that there was no building there, and all that was left in front of them was a piece of silt on the seabed, with black waves surging in front of them, and broken items piled up into ruins. But at the same time, it also inspired his tenacity as a human being.
Yu Yu knew that he could not help the disaster area in specific matters, so he decided to get out of the empty phrase "for the disaster area" and do what he should do as a professional figure skater.
If the former Yusei Yushin engaged in figure skating in order to understand the larger world, then after experiencing the earthquake, he added a sense of responsibility, and it was through this sense of responsibility that he found his place again, and also rediscovered the meaning of his existence as a figure skater.
The olympic spirit of being higher, faster, and stronger is itself guiding and inspiring human beings to attack the limits of being human, to challenge something bigger outside the scope of human beings.
As a figure skater, Yu sheng broke one record after another precisely in practicing such a thing, and it is precisely in this process that he overcame the fear brought by earthquakes and natural disasters, and with this transcendent spirit, everyone was encouraged and felt resonant.
Like Axel, who he's always insisted on jumping around, this is considered to be the most difficult epic action of figure skating, which is equivalent to turning 4 and a half times in one second, spinning 1620 degrees in the air. It's just one side of his journey to the limit.
Obviously, it is human, but it is necessary to challenge things that exceed the limits of human beings. Destined to be a very tragic thing. Yusei said in an interview, "It's not just a jump for me. ”
It doesn't matter if the 4A is completed or not, what matters is that he has the courage to go beyond.
The cover image is from Visual China
Resources:
1. "Yusheng Knot: The Road of Kings", CITIC Publishing Group, 2022.1
2. Love Continent Figure skater Yu Yu knot
3. "Cangyan", Beijing United Publishing Company