Beijing time last night (17th), the Beijing Winter Olympics figure skating women's singles free skating competition came to an end. In the end, Valieva was ranked 4th for her aberrations, Serbakova was on the highest Olympic podium, Trusova set another record but only won a silver medal, and Japan's Hanori Sakamoto broke through the russian players to win a bronze medal.
The continued fermentation of the Valieva incident has brought unprecedented attention to the figure skating women's singles free skating competition held on February 17, and this match is indeed full of stories and complex emotions.
The players who appeared in the last two groups almost all left their best form on the Winter Olympics, only Vallieva, who ranked first after the short program, played abnormally under heavy pressure and burst into tears on the ice rink. Sherbakova, who completed two Phillips' four-way jumps, swept through the ups and downs of the first half of the season and landed on the Olympic podium, but she seemed to be more immersed in the emotion of "can't believe it" than excitement. Trusova, who completed five four-week jumps, set another record, but could only take away one silver medal, and after the game, she shed tears because "everyone else has a gold medal and I don't". Among the contestants who made their debut in the last group, the happiest person may be the Japanese girl Hanaori Sakamoto, who played in the Winter Olympics for the second time and completed two sets of zero-error programs, and also broke through the encirclement of Russian players to win a bronze medal. On February 18, at the awards plaza, Hanori Sakamoto finally won his first Olympic medal. After all, the bronze medal in the team competition, which originally belonged to her and other Japanese teammates, has also been delayed because of the lack of conclusion of the Valieva incident.
Among the Russian women's singles players of the same generation, Sherbakova, who is called "Little Qianjin" by Chinese ice fans, may not have been the most optimistic or the most concerned one. When the "three little ones" had just landed in the adult group, Serbakova was not as difficult as Trusova, who mastered more kinds of four-way jumping, and her performance in the international arena was not as good as that of Kostnaya, who was more favored by the referee. Vallieva then entered the adult group during the Winter Olympic season, swept the Grand Prix, the All-Russian Championship and the European Championships before the Winter Olympics, and became the most watched supernova in the women's singles arena.
But what's amazing about Serbakova is that she's been able to show her best in every game of all. In the All-Russian Championship, known as the "Shura Field", Serbakova won the women's singles championship for three consecutive years. At the 2021 World Championships, Sherbakova, who was once affected by pneumonia in the middle of the season, won the championship with two sets of programs with stable overall performance, even if she failed to complete the four-week jump. Coming to the Winter Olympic season, Serbakova, who had a fluctuating jump in the first half of the season, first won medals and received tickets to the Winter Olympics in both the All-Russian Championships and the European Championships, and then completed the two best programs of the season and two cleanest Philip around the jump at the Winter Olympics. In the most important races, it is always more and more courageous, and Serbakova's competitive temperament is really impressive.
After the race, sherbakova came to the mixed mining area with the "ice pier" in one hand and her signature easy bear tissue box in the other. Even though he was firm and confident on the field, the "little Qianjin" who won the Olympic gold medal said the most, "I still don't dare to believe that this is true." From the pre-match to the moment she stood on the ice rink, Serbakova thought more about doing her best on the field to complete the show, so when she stepped off the ice rink, she was happy that she had done two sets of programs well. The real feeling of becoming a Winter Olympic champion may take more time to slowly settle down.
Trusova, who appeared before Serbakova, also left the best set of free skating of the season on the field of the Winter Olympics. Although Trusova had been challenged to complete five four-week jumps in a set of four-week jumps in a set of events in the Russian domestic test slip at the beginning of the season, her program had been problematic in the official competitions that followed, and Trusova herself was plagued by a left leg injury. At the Winter Olympics, Trusova, in the case of a three-week jump fall in the short program Axel, firmly and decisively completed five four-week jumps in the free skate, of which two hookers were placed in the second half of the show. Trusova's free skating technical score (106.16 points) can also be ranked in the top three in the men's singles competition of this Winter Olympics, and it is not an exaggeration to call this program "epoch-making significance".
However, in this game, it is worth remembering that it is not only Trussova's five four-way jumps. Serbakova also completed two Philip Four-Week Jumps on the show, while Vallieva originally designed three Four-Week Jumps and one Axel Three-Week Jump in the show, but failed to complete them due to poor form. In addition to Vallieva, four contestants, Liu Yong, Higuchi Shinba, Liu Meixian and Kawabe Aicai, tried Axel's three-week jump. Four years ago, in the women's singles free skate at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, only Cheung Chau Future had the ability to challenge Axel's three-week jump. The women's singles free skating competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics is also a portrayal of the rapid increase in the difficulty of jumping in the women's singles in the past four years.
Among the top six contestants in the final rankings, Hanori Sakamoto, who won the bronze medal, was the only one who did not challenge Axel to jump for three weeks or four jumps, but her powerful gliding and silky smoothness when entering each jump and completing the steps also set her apart from the other two Russians on the podium. But at a time when the difficulty of women's singles jumping has almost become a "trend", in the next four years, do we still hope to see players like Hanori Sakamoto once again on the podium in international competitions?
After a three-week jump error in the short show Axel, Valieneva had more problems in the free skating race. Free-skating 7 sets of jumps, Vallieva only managed to complete 2 of them, and also fell twice. In the end, Vallieva, who ranked first in the short program, only finished fifth in the free skating, and ranked fourth in the overall score.
After the International Court of Arbitration for Sport announced its decision to allow Vallieva to continue to compete in women's singles competitions, the International Olympic Committee immediately stated that if Vallieva entered the top three women's singles, there would be no flower ceremony or medals awarded during the Winter Olympics. Vallieva's eventual missing out on the podium seems to have given a lot of relief to many people – at least the girls who won the top three can receive their own "ice piers" and medals. The medals are given to their owners and the ceremony is held as usual, but is this really a happy ending for everyone?
Since the exposure of Valieva's positive doping test, she is not yet 16 years old, and her collapse during the women's singles free skating competition is not difficult to understand. As after the short show competition, Valieva once again quickly passed through the mixed mining area with a tissue box after the free skating competition, leaving a room full of reporters looking at her back or trying to follow.
But while Valieva was under pressure alone, her coach, Tutty Lizer, could always stay out of the way. Tuti Lize and her coaching staff have always been known for being strict with athletes, and the figure skating community has always been critical of tutty Lize coaching team's concept of strict weight control over athletes, high-intensity training, and allowing young athletes to practice difficult jumps. While the attention of the outside world is all on Valieva, have you ever thought about how much dominance she has in the whole thing in the midst of the storm? Is Tu special Lize the one who should be held accountable?
It is worth mentioning that after The end of Vallieva's game, the broadcast camera captured Thatuti Lize still harshly accused her of "why give up" for the first time after the game. Trusova, who completed five four-week jumps and won a silver medal, was in tears and moody in the mixed picking area after the game, and while not satisfied with the results, Trusova also mentioned that she "hated skating". Trusova and Vallieva also trained under Tuti Lize, and once left Tutty Lize's coaching staff because of a disagreement. The Valieva incident finally gave the real situation of the Tuti Lize training team a chance to expose the tip of the iceberg, but will the attention of the outside world be silenced because of Valieva's failure to reach the podium? The result of the women's singles competition may seem like a fair situation of "belonging to the owner", but the controversy and attention raised by the Valieva incident have not yet reached the end.
Wen | Gongke
Edit | Peppery Soup