Beijing, February 12 (Xinhua) -- Gao Tingyu jumped up, jumped on the highest podium of the beijing Winter Olympics speed skating men's 500 meters, and waved his arms in a neat way under the attention of the world! Such a scene, he and coach Liu Guangbin have been looking forward to for a long, long time.
On February 12, the champion China's Gao Tingyu was awarded the medal at the ceremony. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cheng Tingting
58 days ago, a few days after the end of the 2021-2022 Speed Skating World Cup series, Liu Guangbin seemed to have seen the outline of the gold medal, but at that time, the words in his heart could not be said to the outside world.
The four-stop World Cup series is the qualification tournament for the Beijing Winter Olympics and the most important window for the outside world to observe the level and status of athletes in various countries (regions). In these four races, Gao Tingyu's performance was somewhat erratic: there were both highlight moments when he broke the field record and won the championship in the Polish race, but also accidents and small episodes such as starting fouls and cornering errors.
However, Liu Guangbin is not worried, he and Gao Tingyu's goal for the World Cup is only to test the training level and observe the opponent while qualifying for the Winter Olympics, and these goals have all been achieved.
China's Gao Tingyu in the men's 500m final of speed skating at the Beijing Winter Olympics on February 12. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cheng Tingting
Through the World Cup competition, Liu Guangbin and Gao Tingyu built up confidence, and Gao Tingyu's level was better than he imagined after the closed training and before the start of the competition. Liu Guangbin, who had a good idea, had reservations in the later matches, and some games did not even let Gao Tingyu play.
Everything is predetermined. Liu Guangbin chose such a strategy in the World Cup for three main reasons. First, the pressure of playing at home at the Beijing Winter Olympics is huge, and if the results are particularly outstanding in the World Cup, it is easy to put pressure on yourself, and it is also possible to make yourself a "target" for your opponents. Second, the order of departure of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games is related to the performance of athletes in the World Cup. If the overall result is particularly good, the order of appearances at the Winter Olympics will be relatively low. When it comes to the game, it may also be because the players in front of them skate a good result and cause a psychological burden on themselves. Third, according to his observation, the top player in the World Cup often does not win the Olympic championship in the end.
"Enough points can be, we mainly consider the Beijing Winter Olympics, want to play in the front mid-section, do not carry baggage. Regardless of others, being yourself is our strategy. Especially in this project, everyone's strength is very close, it is a difficult bone to gnaw, and we have done what we can do in advance. Liu Guangbin said.
China's Gao Tingyu celebrates after the men's 500m final in speed skating at the Beijing Winter Olympics on February 12. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ding Xu
For Gao Tingyu's small mistakes in the game, Liu Guangbin did not care. The 500 meters is the shortest distance in the speed skating competition, and no matter which player wants to give it all, it is not uncommon to fall in the race. More importantly, after the previous training, especially the more systematic training since the beginning of 2021, Gao Tingyu's ability has been significantly improved compared with the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics four years ago, which makes Liu Guangbin more confident than four years ago, and Gao Tingyu's performance in the World Cup also confirms this.
In March 2019, when the reporter met Liu Guangbin in Changchun, he admitted that it would be more difficult for Gao Tingyu to go further at the Beijing Winter Olympics. However, after this season's World Cup series, Liu Guangbin did not hide his determination to attack the gold medal. This low-key northeastern man only said three words in a short time: confidence.
On the evening of February 12, everything seemed to be proceeding according to liu guangbin and Gao Tingyu's plan. The seventh group departed, which was exactly the same as when Zhang Hong won the women's 1,000-meter race at the Sochi Winter Olympics eight years ago, except that the date when Zhang Hong achieved the breakthrough was a day later than Gao Tingyu.
34.32 seconds! As soon as Gao Tingyu set off, it took only 9 seconds and 42 seconds to slide the first 100 meters. Amid the cheers of the live audience, a new Olympic record was born.
Gao Tingyu sat on the sidelines, waiting for the performance of the next 8 groups of players. If no one can be faster than him, he will become an Olympic champion.
China's Gao Tingyu in the men's 500m final of speed skating at the Beijing Winter Olympics on February 12. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xiong Qi
Seeing Gao Tingyu's achievement, the two senior speed skating coaches invariably told Xinhua News Agency that Gao Tingyu's ranking can at least be in the top three or top four, and whether he can win the gold depends on the performance of the players behind.
The competition was played in groups, and when there were still two groups left, gao Tingyu was still in the first place. When the penultimate group of runners set off, there was a rush. Both players seemed to be affected, and neither of them could surpass Gao Tingyu.
The final group was played by Canadian star Laurent Dibreuil and Japanese star Ritsuya Shinhama. Dibreuil, who has skated a seasonly best of 33.77 seconds at the Highland Ice Rink this season, is also regarded by Liu Guangbin as Gao Tingyu's biggest opponent, and Shinbinri is also a favorite to win the championship. Will they set off in groups to inspire each other and surpass Gao Tingyu?
The starting gun went off. Unexpectedly, there was another rush. Dibreuil and ShinHamatri are also back at the starting line, and the rhythm of both seems to have been affected. After starting again, according to the display on the big screen, their real-time results were about 0.2 seconds slower than Gao Tingyu at the same stage. Although it was only 0.2 seconds, it was an insurmountable chasm in the 500m. Sure enough, the gap between Dibreuil and Gao Tingyu was finally fixed at 0.20 seconds, and a new Olympic champion was born. Dibreuil ended up in fourth place, while ShinhamaRi also fell to 20th place.
"Some people told me I couldn't win the championship this time, and I wanted to tell them, what is this?" Gao Tingyu said as he raised the golden "ice pier" in his hand.
Four years ago, in Pyeongchang, Gao Tingyu had said that he would give the bronze medal to Liu Guangbin. After winning the championship on the 12th, he once again paid tribute to the coach.
"(Winning the championship) is indispensable to the encouragement and support of the coach. [He] has always given me hope that I will get my current results, otherwise I will retire after 2018." Gao Tingyu said.
Written by reporters: Wang Jingyu, Li Dian, He Leijing
Participating reporters: Yue Ranran, Luo Xin, Zhu Hong, Wang Junbao, Zhao Xuetong, Huang Xinxin
Editors: Ding Wenxian, Yu Sihui, Cao Yibo, Li Xinyi (Intern)