On the evening of February 15, Zhu Yi appeared on the figure skating women's single skating short program. With the melody of "Paint It Black", she gradually got into a better state and completed all the technical actions well. In the waiting section, in the warm applause and cheers, Zhu Yi smiled and compared his heart to the audience. The show scored 53.44 points, breaking through the team competition short program results.
What does figure skating mean to Zhu Yi? What was her Olympic selection journey like, and what were her plans for the future? With these questions in mind, the reporter interviewed Zhu Yi. From her answers, we can see a more authentic Zhu Yi - a serious, sincere 19-year-old girl who strives to chase her dreams.
China's Zhu Yi competes on Feb. 15. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ran
On February 15, China's Zhu Yi greeted the audience after the game. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xue Yuge
Reporter: What was your exposure to figure skating? What are your feelings for figure skating?
Zhu Yi: When I was 7 years old, a friend dragged me to the ice rink, and it was my first time on the ice, and I felt very happy. After that, I always let my mother take me to skate, and my feelings for figure skating became deeper and deeper.
I really like figure skating. Because of the different physical conditions and technical conditions, every figure skater has their own characteristics, and will also show their personality in the slide and performance, and use the program to express themselves, I feel that this is a very attractive and interesting point of figure skating.
Reporter: In the past few years, your Chinese have spoken better and better, have you done any special training?
Zhu Yi: The most important reason is that I have finally returned to China. Because I have been living in the United States since I was a child, I have basically been training there during the holidays, and the people around me speak English, and there is almost no opportunity to practice Chinese outside. In fact, this is a bit to blame myself, because mom and dad will use Chinese chat at home, many times I can understand, but I did not take the initiative to try to say, so there will be some difficulties in language organization.
In the past few years after returning to China, everyone in the national training team was particularly willing to help me, and when I couldn't understand and express it clearly, they were never in a hurry, but especially patiently explained to me what this means, and what that means. They also taught me dialects, for example, I found that northeast chinese especially like to use "what", what to do, what do you see, similar to this, especially interesting.
Reporter: How was the practice after returning home?
Zhu Yi: When I first came back, I was a bit unaccustomed, our coach was very demanding, such as letting me skate two free skates in a short period of time, which I had never tried before. The training rhythm is also more intense, with 3 to 4 hours of ice practice in the morning and afternoon, evening classes in the evening, and 3 to 4 hours of physical fitness classes a week, so that day after day training. Later, due to the epidemic situation, it was necessary to train in the team for a long time, there was no way to go home, and after a long time, there would be times when I felt very bitter and tired and doubted myself. Later, I found that the way to overcome difficulties is to practice more, stand up once you fall, stand up a hundred times when you fall a hundred times, and slowly learn and progress slowly in this process. I am very grateful to the coaching team, with their help, I really got a lot of improvement.
Reporter: A figure skater has to go through countless falls before he jumps out of a successful jump. What is supporting you to continue with figure skating?
Zhu Yi: Figure skating training is very hard, but every athlete who loves this sport has put a lot of effort into it, and it is not easy for everyone, not only me. And because the practice process is very hard, you want to make yourself stronger and love this sport more. For me, I want to be better every day than the day before, I want to improve myself in every practice, every game. Since I returned home, I have always thought so and worked so hard. This idea supported me to continue to figure skate.
Reporter: You qualified for the Beijing Winter Olympics after the selection competition, can you share your experience of participating in the Olympic Trials? What is the atmosphere in the team?
Zhu Yi: The selection competition is a total of 3 stops and 5 games, and the 4 individual bests are selected to add up, and the player with the highest total score participates in the Beijing Winter Olympics. All three of our women's singles players fought to the end, and my overall score was a little bit higher.
Before that, I competed in the Italian leg of the Grand Prix of Figure Skating and got my first taste of the World Series. With the guidance and help of the coach, my mentality has been greatly improved in a short period of time, and I have set a new personal sports career in Turin, and this experience has given me more confidence in participating in the trials.
My teammates have had great results in the past and we have competed together. In the auditions, the morning was shorter than the program, and the afternoon was more free skating, which was the first time we had experienced such a strong competition. When there is no game, the training is constantly repeated. I know we all feel a lot of pressure because we really all really want to succeed and all three of us girls have great things to do.
I am especially grateful for the opportunity to train with them and play against them. The atmosphere within our team is good, and everyone supports each other and understands each other. Because all three of them are fighting for their dreams together, they understand each other's feelings.
Reporter: You once said that it is your dream to represent your country in the Olympic Games. What does it mean for you to really stand on the field of the Beijing Winter Olympics now?
Zhu Yi: For me, the meaning is super big, super super big. I went to the scene to watch the men's singles free skating competition before, saw Jin Boyang's performance, and was so moved that I couldn't hold back tears at all. For us, in the past 4 years, there have been many difficulties and challenges, I have suffered large and small injuries, and I will feel lost because of loss, thinking that I have come here? In the most difficult time, the belief that supported us was to represent China in the Olympic Games, and my teammates also gave me great support and encouragement to find myself again. I am very grateful to be able to stand here.
When I stood on the field in the team competition, I felt that "the venue is really big", as if it was bigger than any of the competitions I participated in. I especially wanted to perform well and show everyone what I was capable of, but I couldn't do it, which made me sad.
Reporter: You are 19 years old this year, how do you allocate your time for study and training, and what kind of planning do you have for yourself in the future?
Zhu Yi: In order to better participate in figure skating competitions, I was temporarily suspended from school this year because the daily training intensity was very high, and I could only use my free time to teach myself. I especially hope that with the help of the platform of the Beijing Winter Olympics, more children in our country will feel the charm of figure skating, become interested in it, and more and more good seedlings will emerge.
I know that our women's singles are still far from the top international level, and I really hope to see its development and progress. In the future, I may choose to be a figure skating coach, fight side by side with our coaching team, and also want to invite high-level coaches from abroad to work together to help improve the strength and level of this project at home. Just thinking that there may be small players here who will slowly grow up and eventually represent China on the podium of international competitions, I think there is nothing more fun than this.
Source: Website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission
For more exciting content, please download the "Morning Video" client in the app market. Press leads are welcome and are paid as soon as they are adopted. Breaking news WeChat concern: xxcbwx, 24-hour report hotline 0731-85571188.