She was the most beautiful golden flower of the Chinese women's curling team, and won the World Championship with her peers in 2009, breaking through history; 4 years ago, as the head coach of wheelchair curling, she led the team to win the first gold medal in the history of the Chinese Winter Paralympic Games, creating a new history; 4 years later, the champion division she led successfully defended the glory and achieved the feat of winning two consecutive Winter Paralympic Games.
She is Yue Qingshuang.
From curling to wheelchair curling, from athletes to coaches, she turned around gorgeously and realized the Olympic champion dream of Chinese curling step by step with love and perseverance.
01
"Curling sound" is the magic weapon
The Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games has a total of 6 major events and 73 minor events, and among the Chinese sports delegation, the wheelchair curling event can be described as the "C" position. At the opening ceremony, the elements of wheelchair curling were frequently presented, and such a setting reflected that the Chinese wheelchair curling team, as the defending champion, had high hopes in this Winter Paralympic Games.
Expectations often produce invisible pressure, the round robin Chinese team began to suffer two consecutive defeats, the pressure of the players increased sharply, but not afraid, head coach Yue Qingshuang has a good way to reduce pressure. In the final of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Paralympic Games, in order to encourage the team members, Yue Qingshuang once sang a song "Flame" for the team members in the open-air square with a cold wind, holding a water bottle as a microphone, and this hot "fire" also ignited the morale and hope of the team members, and finally the Chinese team won the championship in one fell swoop. Since then, whenever there has been a big competition, the Chinese wheelchair curling team has used pre-competition singing to relax the pressure and boost morale.
Of course, this tradition will continue, this Winter Paralympic Games "curling good voice" also repeatedly sounded in the "Ice Cube" field, especially the coach Yue Refreshing singing, the most mediated the atmosphere in the team, alleviate the pressure of the team members, although she is the whole team's "Mai Ba", but the team members are willing to listen to her singing. Since then, the confidence of the Chinese players has begun to steadily improve, winning 10 consecutive games, and finally defeating the final opponent Sweden and reaching the highest podium.
02
The first goddess of Chinese curling
Many years ago, the "four golden flowers" of Wang Bingyu, Liu Yin, Yue Qingshuang and Zhou Yan almost represented the image of Chinese women curling. To this day, they continue to be active in the field of curling in different capacities, the Beijing Winter Olympics and The Winter Paralympic Games, the four golden flowers have their own tasks, Wang Bingyu served as the director of the curling competition in the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, Zhou Yan served as the curling technical officer, Liu Yin served as a commentator on CCTV, yue Qingshuang coached the Chinese wheelchair curling team, and they met in different capacities in the "Ice Cube".
Among them, Yue Qingshuang, who is the second baseman, is the tallest, most beautiful and most fashionable member of the team, and because of his beautiful and sweet appearance, he is called "Jolin Tsai on Ice" and "the most beautiful curling golden flower" by jug fans. As for the nickname given to her by netizens as "Director of the Demolition Office", it is also very appropriate, because Yue Qingshuang's on-field duty is to clear the opponent's pot and escort his teammates.
Curling, known as "chess on ice", was not listed as an official Olympic sport until 1993, when China started late and the Chinese women's curling team was only established in 2003. The real curling whirlwind, let this unpopular sport into the public's vision is in 2009, that year the Chinese women's curling team won the world championship, in 2010, they won a bronze medal at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, which is also the first collective project medal of the Chinese sports delegation in the history of the Winter Olympics.
Although this is the best result in history, for Yue Qingshuang and her teammates, there are still regrets in her heart, and it also lays the groundwork for Yue Qingshuang to become the coach of the Chinese wheelchair curling team in the future, because she also wants to fulfill the Olympic champion dream in her heart.
03
From meritorious second baseman to peak coach
After the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, "Ice Jade Refreshing" faded out of the national team and began a new journey in life, yue Qingshuang returned to Harbin Institute of Physical Education to become a university teacher. In 2017, she was seconded by the China Disabled Persons' Federation and subsequently appointed as the head coach of the Chinese wheelchair curling team. She said that she chose this profession and could not give up her love for curling.
Coaching a disabled sports team is not easy, there are many things to worry about in all aspects, and the most direct change is to experience the taste of insomnia. Originally when he was an athlete, Yue Qingshuang was a player with a big heart, and on the night before the final of the 2009 World Championships, when Wang Bingyu and Zhou Yan could not sleep, Yue Qingshuang said that he lay on the pillow for 5 minutes and fell asleep. After becoming the head coach, Yue Qingshuang often slept only 6 hours a night, sometimes shorter, full of deduction tactics, how to play in the lead, how to play behind, how to deal with unexpected situations, etc.
In 2018, she led the Chinese wheelchair curling team at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, achieving a "zero breakthrough" in gold medals and medals since China participated in the Winter Paralympic Games for the fifth time, breaking the 2006 Turin Winter Paralympics wheelchair curling has become an official competition project, the Canadian team's monopoly on the champion of the project, Yue Qingshuang said: "This gold medal not only fulfilled the dream of the team members, realized the dream of the Chinese wheelchair curling team, but also fulfilled my dream." ”
In order to realize one dream after another, during the preparation for the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, Yue Qingshuang ate and lived with the team members, during which she only returned home twice, and she and her son could only see each other in video more often. Compared with the loss of her "small family", in exchange for the achievements of "everyone", the "master of kings" of the Chinese wheelchair curling team has won the 2019 World Championships and the 2021 World Championships, plus two consecutive Winter Paralympics to the top, achieving the double crown of the World Championships and Winter Paralympic gold medals.
04
The strong who do not bow to fate
Because wheelchair curling can only use the putter to throw, there is no ordinary curling in the ice sweeping link, can not adjust the running line of curling, but after each throw, the athletes of the Chinese wheelchair curling team are always accustomed to using shouts to "control" curling, so it is also ridiculed as "sound wave ice", but it is obvious that what can make curling accurately fall according to the team's concept is not the shouting on the field, but the sweat under the field.
Compared with able-bodied people, it is more difficult for people with disabilities to engage in sports, such as cold ice, sedentary practice... These are real difficulties for wheelchair curlers. Beijing girl Yan Zhuo is a new face on the winter Paralympic stage in the new cycle, due to congenital spina bifida, Yan Zhuo's legs can not walk, in order to prolong the training time, Yan Zhuo once reduced the frequency of going to the toilet by controlling the amount of drinking water, and even held urine to insist on training, resulting in severe hydronephrosis. But in order to participate in the competition, Yan Zhuo returned to the ice rink with a urinary catheter after stent surgery. In addition to this, she also encountered other challenges. "The legs are unconscious, frostbite I don't know, there are often frostbite on the legs, in order to prevent frostbite will be pasted 'warm baby', but sometimes forget to take off and will burn."
The hard work and tenacity of the team members are beyond imagination, which makes Yue Qingshuang, who is born as an athlete, also very admirable. Yue Qingshuang said that when he was an athlete in the past, he would also be prone to "ice-weary" psychology because of boring training, and after the training class, he hated not being able to leave quickly. "But I've never seen that mentally exhausted and weary state in the wheelchair curling team." Yue Qingshuang said, "The team members never have to supervise, I have to give the order 'Hurry up to eat, there is training in the afternoon!'" 'to get them out of the training ground. ”
05
"Two-way rush" to achieve each other
You can't imagine what they've been through, they're so grateful for the sport they can "sit on", and without wheelchair curling, Wang Haitao, the captain of the Chinese wheelchair curling team, might still be running a grocery store in his hometown of Yilan and occasionally working in the fields. Chen Jianxin, the main player in the team, also said frankly: "Sports gave me a second life, and curling gave me hope to live." ”
Yue Qingshuang said that she is often touched by the spirit of disabled athletes, and their tenacious sense of hard work and the spirit of encouraging and cooperating with each other regardless of good times and adversities have had a great impact on her. In the eyes of the team members, Yue Qingshuang used his motherly care, patience and care to hold up a blue sky for them like a spring wind and rain.
They thank each other, admire each other, learn from each other, cheer each other, achieve each other... Together, we completed a beautiful "two-way run", so sports are more exciting.
Text/Qiu Ye
Photo: Xinhua News Agency