The curtain fell on the Beijing Winter Olympics, and in the bobsleigh event, 4 gold medals were won by the powerful German team.
The young Chinese bobsleigh team finished 24th in men's single sledding, 29th in women's single sledding, 17th in double sledding, and 12th in team relay events. This young team, which was only established in 2015, gained competition experience through the tempering of this competition. The four participants, whose average age is less than 23, will start from the Beijing Winter Olympics, learn from sled powers such as Germany, accelerate their growth in the next Winter Olympic cycle, and aim for the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics.
Record for the first time
The Chinese team made breakthroughs in the four minor events of the Bobsleigh Event at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Among them, the team relay event ranked the highest, ranking 12th out of all 14 participating teams. Wang Zhonglin, the leader of the Chinese bobsleigh team, affirmed the performance of the whole team in the Olympic Games and hoped that the players could continue to improve in the future.
The Chinese bobsleigh team qualified for the Beijing Winter Olympics and completed all four events, achieving valid results. Wang Zhonglin said that it is not easy for young players to participate in the Winter Olympic Games for the first time, and they have already slid out the level of usual training, and everyone has performed very well. "The players are more mature on the pitch and haven't made low-level mistakes."
China's bobsleigh project started relatively late, and the team was formed after the successful bid for the 2015 Beijing Winter Olympics, and the 2017 season officially participated. Bobsleigh crew members are selected through cross-disciplines, and they have not been exposed to this project since childhood, not only lacking the feeling of sledding and track, but also lacking practical experience.
In Wang Zhonglin's view, the current results of the bobsleigh team can not be separated from the team's hard work and dedication, which has been best confirmed by the "00" young general Wang Peixuan. According to reports, less than 50 days before the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Wang Peixuan's left foot was injured in the game, there were 3 bone fractures, and he could only wear special shoes to glide during the preparation period. But she still endured the pain of training and playing. And in the Beijing Winter Olympics women's single sled must complete 3 rounds of skating, with a time of 3 minutes 01.402 ranked 29th, did not qualify for the final round. But this achievement has written a new history of the Chinese bobsleigh team.
Cross-item selection is beginning to show results
The athletes of the Chinese bobsleigh team all come from other sports, Fan Duoyao's original event is cross-country skiing, Wang Peixuan has practiced sprinting and javelin before, Huang Yebo's original event is sprinting, and Peng Junyue was previously a basketball player.
According to Fan Duoyao, the most difficult part of the transfer is the understanding of different sports, "cross-country skiing is pure endurance, and sledding tests pure explosiveness." Another difficulty is weight, because the bobsleigh project needs to use weight to get acceleration, at the beginning I was very thin, how to eat can not eat, but I was injured once, lying in the hospital for two months, the weight rose from less than 70 kg to more than 80 kg. ”
Wang Peixuan said that Chinese athletes are short on the sledding event, she has practiced throwing and sprinting before, the upper limb strength helps her to obtain a higher initial speed when starting, and the explosive power of the calf also allows her to better pedal the head of the sled and keep the body stable.
Huang Yebo's partner, Peng Junyue, is from Guangdong and has never seen snow before he was ten years old. After only two or three years of practicing sledding, the two formed China's first pair of tandem bobsleigh sets in October 2018. After experiencing many skidding, fractures, and concussions, the two have become more mature in technology and more tacit understanding. On November 31, 2021, during the official training before the World Cup in Sochi, Russia, the two flipped over, both had more serious concussions and prolonged amnesia, and after about 10 days of rest, together with other teammates, in the subsequent World Cup in Winterberg, Germany, the Chinese team achieved a good team relay result (ranked 10th).
King Germany won 4 gold
At the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, bobsleigh became an official sport. The German team is the team that won the most gold medals in the bobsleigh event at the Winter Olympics, and this time, they won all four gold medals in the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Since the 1980s and 1990s, Germany has shown its kingly demeanor in three slide events: bobsleigh, bobsleigh and steel frame bobsleigh, and often wins more than half of the gold medals in all the events. The strength of the slide event has also allowed the German Winter Olympic delegation to fall out of the top three of the medal table once since 1992.
Norbert Locke, head coach of the German bobsleigh team, said, "German bobsleigh athletes have been exposed to this sport very early, the youngest is four or five years old, and some are seven or eight years old. There are many famous circuits in Germany, and the level of domestic competition is also very high. Of course, there are equally good athletes in many European countries who have come to prominence through youth competitions. ”
Locke admits that sledding may not be as popular as football, basketball, F1, and tennis, but it does not prevent many children from participating in sledding from an early age. Sledding is more dangerous than some ball sports, so as a grassroots coach, you must cultivate your child's interest in the sport from an early age, rather than training them by coercive means.
According to Locke, the four Olympic champions of the German bobsleigh team at this Winter Olympics began training and competing together almost at the age of 13, and they were all injured when they were young, but they will also slowly learn after recovering from injuries and become psychologically strong. In addition, the coach will teach them how to deal with stress and how to work as a team. It can be said that the Olympic champions you see now have been tempered for more than 20 years to have today's achievements.
Future targets aim for medals
Seeing the success of the German team, Wang Zhonglin believes that a lot of experience is worth learning from the young Chinese bobsleigh team. He admits that Germany's dominance in the bobsleigh project is inseparable from a good foundation. Bobsleigh is widely used in Germany, with more than 2,000 professional athletes and 4 professional tracks, and many events are organized every year. Local children are exposed to bobsleigh at a very young age and start to glide from the low starting point of the track at the age of seven or eight.
China is only a rising star in the bobsleigh project, and after the establishment of the team in 2015, it began to explore the way from material selection and training. In Wang Zhonglin's view, the bobsleigh project is very professional and difficult, and "quick success" is impossible.
Wang Zhonglin said, "An athlete who skates 1500 times can reach the level of entering the World Cup; and 5,000 taxis can become one of the top athletes." At present, the number of Chinese bobsleigh members is no more than 1300, even if they are added to the sliding from a low starting point. ”
He further said that through the experience of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the dream in the hearts of Chinese bobsleigh athletes has been ignited, and they also want to play a role for the teachers and sisters behind them in the next or more Winter Olympics, "One day, I hope that the Chinese bobsleigh team can also stand on the highest podium." ”