When the Chinese alpine ski training team was training in Switzerland, a local coach once said to the staff of the Chinese team: "We see Chinese skiing here, just like you see Indians playing table tennis in your own country." ”
Alpine skiing, also known as Alpine skiing, Europeans enjoy the advantages of the Alps, and have long developed alpine skiing into a sport with a broad mass base, mature commercial development and high competitive intensity. In China, most people don't know what alpine skiing is.
Pyeongchang participated in the competition to see the idol Heilongjiang girl open her eyes to see the world
Alpine skiing in China didn't actually start very late, and people began to be exposed to it in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1980, when the Chinese delegation competed in the First Winter Olympics in Lake Placid in the United States, alpine skiers Wang Guizhen and Park Dong-seok won 18th place in the women's slalom event and 34th in the men's slalom event respectively, which was also the best result achieved by Chinese alpine skiers in the Winter Olympics.
Both athletes are from Tonghua, Jilin Province, one of the first places in China to practice alpine skiing. And 38 years later, a girl from Shangzhi, Heilongjiang, represented China on the starting stage of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, and her name was Kong Fanying.
Friends familiar with China's alpine skiing should know that Heilongjiang Hegang and Jilin Tonghua are known as the home of China's alpine skiing, and for decades, athletes in these two places have dominated the highest peak of China's alpine skiing. Kong Fanying from Shangzhi City, Harbin, is a bit abrupt, but she has also been exposed to the sport since she was very young, and has shown her talent in this unpopular project early. In 2018, she represented China at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, competing in the Slalom and Slalom competitions. However, at that time, most Chinese people did not know the existence of Kong Fanying, and even did not know the existence of alpine skiing.
Kong Fanying successfully completed the competition in the Giant Slalom event at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. In the slalom race, she made a mistake on the track in poor snow conditions due to the low starting order and did not finish the race.
Alpine skiing tracks use icy snow, in which athletes carve the blades on the sides of the snowboard into the ice to make turns. Late-departing athletes need to compete in the thousands of ravines that the front athletes skate, while the order of departure for the first round of alpine skiing is determined by the world rankings. This brutal format determines that if you want to stand on the top, you must step by step from the harsh track environment to break through and improve your world ranking.
While in Pyeongchang, Kong Fanying also had a great gain - he met his idol, Marcel Hirscher, the "King of Turns". Hirsch is considered the greatest alpine skier in history, with 2018 being his last time competing in the Winter Olympics. In 2019, he retired from the golden age of 29 and returned to his family, which is quite a bit of "lonely and defeated". Kong Fanying witnessed the last Winter Olympics of the "King of Turns" at the scene, and she called her idol "Big Brother". In Pyeongchang, she filmed a video of The Hirschel's Big Slalom tournament and posted it on her personal social media with the caption: "My eldest brother is so powerful, the only idol."
Technical players transform to overcome fear and stand on the starting platform of the speed category
Alpine skiing is divided into technical events and speed events, including slalom and large slalom, with more emphasis on the steering ability of athletes; speed events include super large slalom and descent, with more emphasis on the athlete's body control ability under high-speed conditions.
Although they are both sub-categories of alpine skiing, the requirements for athletes in the technical and speed categories are completely different, and most athletes focus their training and competition on a certain category of events throughout their lives. For example, Hirsher focuses on technical projects, and Sofia Goggia, who dominates the women's speed project today, has not been outstanding in technical projects. Athletes who take into account both types of sports but are not outstanding will often take the all-around small event as their breakthrough.
However, during the preparation cycle for the Beijing Winter Olympics, Kong Fanying, as China's best female alpine skier, faced great pressure to "participate in all projects". She was originally a technical athlete. However, in order to help the motherland to achieve full-project participation in the Winter Olympics, Kong Fanying began to practice speed sports.
The process of earning points for speed-like items is painful. In the speed event, the super gravity and centrifugal force that the athletes have to fight are several times that of the technical items, which has higher requirements for the athlete's lower limb strength and core strength, and even challenges the athlete's weight.
It has been asserted that Asians with sensitive physical conditions may be able to enter the world-class stage in technical projects, but it is basically impossible to break the wrist with European and American masters in speed projects.
Of course, in addition to overcoming physical and physical difficulties, overcoming the speed project also needs to overcome psychological difficulties. From the beginning of "standing on the departure platform scared" and "sliding down from above is like picking up a life" to participating in all five women's small events and one mixed small event at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Kong Fanying only took less than four years.
Many of the athletes who are preparing for the same cycle with her will have their legs trembling on the starting platform of the speed event to this day. Alpine skiing is a sport that does not allow athletes to be afraid and distracted, and any movement of trembling or deviation of the center of gravity may bring disaster to athletes who are sliding at a speed of 120-130 kilometers per hour.
Kong Fanying not only stood on the starting platform, but also crossed the finish line. The Chinese woman skated into the termination zone of the speed event of the Winter Olympics for the first time.
The finish list of alpine skiing for the Winter Olympics must have the name of Chinese
In alpine skiing, completion does not mean success. But Kong Fanying opened up four new events for the Chinese team, super big slalom, downhill, all-around and mixed team, and all of them successfully completed, which is undoubtedly a huge breakthrough for herself, for Chinese alpine skiing, and even for Chinese winter sports.
When his idol had already retreated at the peak of the rapids, Kong Fanying once again, no, stood on the starting stage of the Winter Olympics six times. This time, she said: "Although there are six competition tasks, it is already very tiring to train every day. But I want to finish the race steadily, and on the finish list of alpine skiing, I have to have Chinese name. ”
Faced with the new circuit of the National Alpine Ski Center, many of the world's top masters did not finish the race. As a rare athlete who participated in six events, Kong Fanying successfully completed all the competitions in all events.
On February 20, the tournament was about to end, and she lost to Allenberger by 3.30 seconds in the mixed team match, and the Chinese team was also eliminated by the Swiss team. Kong Fanying, who had completed all the game tasks, could finally rest. But this Chinese leader in alpine skiing will surely learn from this valuable experience and once again devote his enthusiasm to the next four, eight or even twelve years.
As she wrote in her first Weibo in 2022: "With a sincere heart, we will learn the lessons of the years, respect the enthusiasm of young people, and hope that the future will be better than the past, and we will always be full of tears." ”
Written by/Ruda
Editor/Li Xu Liang Lina
Visual/Wang Ye