Poster Design: White Wave
【Editor's Note】
The Beijing Winter Olympics have come to us, and when we celebrate this ice and snow boom, we should look back at history.
In the past few decades, generations of ice and snow pioneers have cut through thorns and thorns, interpreting the spirit of Chinese with sweat, love and perseverance.
Their bodies pave the way for the Chinese Winter Olympics, and they are the forerunners of China's ice and snow sports.
Coach Yao Bin is a leader in figure skating in China.
In the summer of 2015, in anticipation, Beijing won the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. That night, Yao Bin, then the head coach of the Chinese figure skating team, had a big drink with his friends.
Two years later, in 2017, the elderly Yao Bin stepped down as the head coach of the Chinese figure skating team, and his disciple Zhao Hongbo took over the title of mentor.
In the winter of 2021, Yao Bin, who has left the coaching position for 4 years, has returned to people's vision - the 64-year-old coaches of the men's singles, women's singles and ice dance groups, assisting Zhao Hongbo, the current head coach of the national figure skating team.
On February 14, the Chinese ice dance group Wang Shiyue / Liu Xinyu won the 12th place at the Beijing Winter Olympics, creating the best record in history.
"This is our winter people's own Olympic Games, I have been doing winter sports for 50 years, and I can catch up with this day in my lifetime (the Winter Olympics will be held on my doorstep), which is probably the last chance of my life."
Perhaps just like Yao Bin himself once lamented, he not only had to escort his disciples, but also could not give up his ice and snow love. At the Beijing Winter Olympics, The first generation of Chinese figure skaters and the meritorious coach of China's figure skating project, Du Zhi, fought again.
Yao Bin returned to the national team to assist his disciple Zhao Hongbo.
I didn't get good grades, and my heart was depressed
Yao Bin has always been labeled the "godfather of Chinese figure skating", and he has been engaged in this project for half a century from athlete to coach. But the initial story is accompanied by more bitterness and struggle.
In 1980, 23-year-old Yao Bin and his partner Luan Bo participated in the World Figure Skating Championships for the first time, ranking at the bottom of the results; at the age of 27, he participated in the Winter Olympics for the first time, and the results were at the bottom again...
Until the time of his retirement, Yao Bin's only commendable result was a bronze medal at the 1983 World University Winter Games, the first figure skating medal won by China.
"You see I skated from single to double skating, adding up to being an athlete for more than twenty years, did not get any good results, and felt depressed..." Once in the third season of "Readers", Yao Bin, as a guest, looked back on that time, not without regrets.
But it was this reluctance that made him feel that he still needed to continue to do something for the country on this project.
In 1987, Yao Bin officially became the head coach of Chinese figure skating, and looking back at that moment, Yao Bin said: "At that time, it was not that I must win the world championship in the future, because I didn't dare to think about it. But since the pragmatic Yao Bin chose figure skating, he is willing to give everything he wants.
"Skilful Male Mother"
In the barren era of Chinese figure skating, everything started from scratch, there was no teaching material, and Yao Bin tried his best to get a few foreign "Ice and Snow Sports" magazines. In order to read, he began to hold the English dictionary and teach himself English word by word; in order to learn the advanced technology of foreign players, he crouched in front of the black-and-white TELEVISION set to watch the game, analyze and study their movements, and in the era when the video recorder was still a rarity, Yao Bin used his brain and pen to record.
"If you want to give the team a glass of water, you must have a bucket of water, a good coach, the knowledge must be very wide, and you must know more, otherwise you will be very scarce when teaching athletes..."
Yao Bin himself as an athlete, limited by the conditions at that time, the domestic coach or single skating coach to transfer to the double skating, how to practice abroad, the domestic is not clear, even the rules are not thorough, Yao Bin to break such a situation.
At that time, in the team, some people called him "Skillful Male Mother", because everything had to be handled by him, "because of limited funds, I had to do everything myself." Yao Bin explained.
In the early days, he personally selected and edited the music of the team's competitions; Yao Bin, who learned to step on the sewing machine with his parents since childhood, also took over the design, ironing and sewing of the team's competition clothes.
In 1996, Shen Xue Zhao Hongbo participated in the World Championships, and the sequins on her clothes were sewn by Yao Bin himself - before the game, Shen Xue suddenly found that the zipper behind her skirt was propped open, and Yao Bin, who carried needles and pins with her, easily helped her get it.
Yao Bin and Zhao Hongbo (left).
"I've got gold and silver medals, I've got enough"
Yao Bin himself has been studying, and he has also urged his disciples to continuously improve their comprehensive quality.
In order to overcome the lack of artistic expression of Chinese players, he let the figure skaters observe a large number of foreign art performances, "I have been telling students that success depends on whether your goal is right or not, and if you see it, you must top to the end." ”
This is also a principle that Yao Bin himself adheres to: either don't do it, or do it to the end.
Thanks to Yao Bin's efforts, China has stepped out of more than 20 national and world figure skating champions in his hands - Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo, Pang Qing/Tong Jian, Zhang Dan/Zhang Hao, and three world-class players are his disciples.
At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, China's three pairs of pair skating combined scored second, third and fourth; the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics was the first, second and fifth place - at the Winter Olympics, the Chinese pair skating combination won the first and second places and also broke the myth of Russia winning gold medals for 46 years, which is something that Yao Bin is particularly proud of.
"I've had enough to push a project from the blank to the top."
The teacher went out of the mountain again
In 2013, disciple Zhao Hongbo became the head coach of Chinese figure skating pair skating under the recommendation of Yao Bin.
A few years ago, when Shen Xue Zhao Hongbo retired, Yao Bin once choked up tears, he did not want his disciples to leave the ice, but just like the original Yao Bin, Zhao Hongbo also completed the transformation from a team member to a coach, everything is like reincarnation, and the master and apprentice reunite.
It was also the year when Zhao Hongbo became a coach, Yao Bin was lying on the operating table because of cervical discomfort, and after three hours of general anesthesia surgery, he was full of tubes, but he still insisted on being discharged from the hospital with a neck support.
"If you are in good health, you must help Zhao Hongbo, help the horse and send a ride, and continue China's figure skating career!" This is Yao Bin's promise.
In 2017, he officially stepped down as the head coach of the Chinese figure skating team, and Zhao Hongbo took over the title of Shuai, which is the legend of the Chinese figure skating team, but it is by no means a final end for Yao Bin's coaching.
In 2021, at the last moment when the Chinese figure skating team was preparing for the Beijing Winter Olympics, Yao Bin was invited out of the mountains, and the 64-year-old looked much older than in the past, but he was full of heart:
"I can't predict how this result will be, because the charm of competitive sports is unknown, but our level has always been at the forefront of the world, coupled with favorable conditions, I believe our results will not be bad!"