From an Olympic champion to a mother, Shen Xue's identity has changed dramatically in the past ten years, but what has not changed is the pure heart for figure skating.
Shen Xue, born in November 1978 in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, is a former Chinese figure skater and currently the president of the Chinese Figure Skating Association.
She is China's first Winter Olympic pair skating gold medalist, a member of the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame, a Winter Olympic Figure Skating Champion, and has twice broken world records and won the Figure Skating Pair Skating Championship.
Shen Xue, Zhao Hongbo from 2002 to 2003, and then to 2004, from "The Nutcracker" to "Turandot", and then to "Song Dynasty", their success in each step marks the hardships and tempering of more than ten years.
In 1992, Shen Xue was 14 years old.
Although she was selected by coach Yao Bin from more than 100 girls, when Shen Xue, who was less than 1.5 meters tall, stood in front of Zhao Hongbo, who was five years older than her, Zhao Hongbo still showed a look of disdain: "Try it, practice for a month first." ”
Zhao Hongbo's attitude deeply stimulated Shen Xue, who was already not willing to accept defeat: "Practice for a month and practice for a month!" Shen Xue, who looked docile, calculated in his heart. And Shen Xue's words also gradually showed its weight in Zhao Hongbo's heart from that moment on.
In 2002, they got their wish and won the World Championships in pair skating for the first time.
In 2011, they continued to write brilliantly again, winning the applause of audiences around the world with their wonderful and charming dance postures and exquisite techniques, and with constantly innovating movements and difficulties, they stepped step by step towards a new peak of figure skating pair skating in the world.
On February 16, 2010, at the 21st Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo won the figure skating double skating championship with a total score of 216.57 points (short program score 76.66 points), and the best record of breaking the world record (short program score and total score) twice.
This is the first gold medal of the Chinese delegation at the Winter Olympics, and it also rewrites the history of the Chinese Figure Skating Winter Olympics without gold medals. They broke the Russians' monopoly on figure skating for figure skating for 12 consecutive Winter Olympics in 46 years and successfully completed their last Olympic trip.
On February 18, 2010, Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo officially announced their retirement.
In the eyes of the outside world, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo are one, and their Weibo account is also called "Shen Xue Hongbo".
In 1992, 14-year-old Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo "held hands" and became a pair skating partner, and together they walked through 18 years of professional athlete career. They have experienced countless injuries and rehabilitations, waiting and suffering, retiring and coming back, and finally fulfilled their lifelong dream at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, winning the gold medal in figure skating pair skating, breaking Russia's monopoly on the project for 46 years. Subsequently, they officially announced their retirement.
When they won the Olympic championship, Zhao Hongbo was 37 years old and Shen Xue was 32 years old, making them the oldest champions in the history of pair skating. After fulfilling their Olympic gold medal dream, they announced their retirement. This also means that Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo's record is fixed in: he has participated in four Winter Olympic Games and won 1 gold and 2 bronze; the World Championships 3 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze; the World Figure Skating Grand Prix finals 6 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze, and the Asian Winter Games 4 gold.
To this day, the scene of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo on the ice still makes ice fans reminisce.
Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo: Frozen - acquaintance.
First meeting.
Although Shen Xue was selected by coach Yao Bin from more than 100 girls, when Shen Xue, who was less than 1.5 meters tall, stood in front of Zhao Hongbo, who was five years older than her, Zhao Hongbo still showed a look of disdain: "Try it, practice for a month first." ”
In order to solve the problem of improving artistic expression, the Chinese figure skating team hired American experts specifically for the two. In the 01-02 season, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo performed "Turandot", which poured the wisdom and efforts of coach Yao Bin, foreign experts, xiaoxue and Hongbo himself.
During the preparation for the 19th Winter Olympics, Yao Bin thought that Shen Xue, as the world's best female double skater, she has the ability to reach the height required for 4 weeks of running and jumping, and the number of rotations in the air. With zhao hongbo and Shen Xue agreeing, the training began! Finally, after 43 failures, Shen Xue successfully fell on the ice on one foot after 4 weeks of turning in the air for 4 weeks. The people at the scene immediately cheered.
In 2003, two days before the official competition, Shen Xue Zhao Hongbo was practicing around the throw when his right foot hit the baffle and his right heel swollen.
Shen Xue was determined to keep playing. However, when she was actually standing on the ice, she couldn't move her steps at all. Her face was twisted by the sharp pain, and after five minutes she couldn't stand at all, the huge bruise had spread to the outside of the upper of her shoe to look so frightening that she had to untie her shoelaces. Yao Bin took her to see the doctor of the organizing committee, and the diagnosis result was a serious sprain. The doctor asked the girl if she agreed to inject the anesthetic needle, and she accepted.
The free skating competition began, and Shen Xue, who had played closed, perfectly completed a series of actions including throwing and jumping around the ice with his feelings. He won the defending World Championship title.
There were many elite people on the scene, including those who won figure skating, who recognized this as the greatest show in the history of pair skating. "Some of us have been watching pair skating performances for 60 years," said one former Canadian pair skating champion, "and we agree that this is the most perfect pairs skating performance we've seen so far, so tacitly coordinated, every move and every detail is done to the extreme, it's an insurmountable set of pair skating pinnacles – except for Shen Zhao himself." ”
Fall on your knees and achieve fairy tale love.
On March 21, 2007, at the World Figure Skating Championships in Tokyo, Japan, Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo won the third World Championships of their careers with a perfect performance. At the end of the song, Zhao Hongbo fell on one knee and openly proposed to Shen Xue, and the couple finally came together after holding hands for 15 years, and all the bits and pieces were gathered in this happy moment.
Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, a couple on the ice, have been up and down for 23 years, from partners to husband and wife. They work together tacitly on the ice rink, soaking each other in life, leaving many memorable moments in the history of figure skating. Every gorgeous turn, every smart jump, every rapid gallop... Frame after frame of romantic footage recorded their "love affair on ice".
The 45-year-old Zhao Hongbo has gray hair on his forehead, is a bit old, and looks like a 50-year-old.
After retiring from the army, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo were very busy, and both had their own careers.
Shen Xue, 40, is the first president of the Chinese Figure Skating Association and is in a high position, while Zhao Hongbo, 45, was promoted from head coach of pair skating to head coach of the figure skating team last year.
The two are usually too busy, and sometimes they can't even take care of the children.
The two had a daughter in 2013 and began to cultivate their skating talent from an early age, and now the daughter often participates in the junior competition and wins many awards.
I hope that my daughter can inherit the good genes of her parents and go further in her skating career.
On August 16, 2017, Zhao Hongbo, head coach of the Chinese figure skating team, won the "CCTV5 Ice and Snow Model" Best Coach Award. In short, the two couples only do one thing in their lives: figure skating, and do it vigorously and beautifully. If everyone can do one thing well Chinese, then China will really be very powerful!
Finally, I wish this family of three more and more happy.