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The naturalization of the Chinese short track speed skating team also has an invisible "welfare" - exporting a top idol Lin Xiaocheng for the Chinese sports world. Now, his identity is upright, he has become the ace of the Chinese short track speed skating team, and with the blessing of the gold medal of the World Championships, he will unleash greater commercial potential in the future.
Author丨Zhang Bin
Picture丨From the Internet
The naturalization of Chinese football has gone to a chicken feather, but it has repeatedly achieved miracles in ice and snow sports. Following Gu Ailing's shine at the Beijing Winter Olympics, unrelated naturalized athlete Lin Xiaocheng shined at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships.
At the 2023 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in South Korea, the Chinese short track speed skating team, which has always been a king, encountered unprecedented difficulties. The Chinese short track team changed its head coach and welcomed back Zhang Jing, who had been coaching overseas for many years, and the team was newcomed, Olympic champions such as Ren Ziwei and Wu Dajing hung up their exemption cards, and Lin Xiaocheng, who joined the Chinese team shortly after, became the backbone of the team.
Historically, in the first season after the Winter Olympics, the Chinese short track speed skating team will change blood to give newcomers more opportunities to perform, and the results are often unsatisfactory. This year's World Championships are slightly different, because of the presence of Lin Xiaocheng, the Chinese team still gained a lot. Despite a low-level mistake without a timer in the men's 500m final, Lin led the Chinese team to gold in the men's 5,000m relay and silver in the 2,000m mixed relay.
Lin Xiaocheng's naturalization as a Chinese athlete was unexpected. His situation is somewhat similar to Ahn Hyun-so's naturalization of Russian citizenship, but it is not exactly the same. As a gold medalist at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Lin Hyo-chan faded out of the South Korean national team because of "picking his pants" and chose to become a member of the Chinese team at the peak of his sports career.
His joining can immediately improve the strength of the Chinese team, especially in the two relays. Unfortunately, due to time, Lin Xiaocheng did not make the Winter Olympics in Beijing. This past season, he officially qualified to play for China.
Throughout the season, Lin Xiaocheng showed good strength, winning a total of 4 gold medals and 3 silver medals at the World Championships and World Cup. In the men's 5,000m relay, he led the Chinese men's team to win gold and silver at the World Cup and World Championships. In addition, he also showed good strength in the 500m individual event, with two gold medals in the World Cup and no gold medal at the World Championships due to off-field mistakes.
After eating Gu Ailing's dividend, the winter project did not stop the road of naturalization. In addition to Lin Xiaocheng, the brothers Liu Shaolin and Liu Shaoang, who won the Winter Olympic championship on behalf of Hungary, have also applied to change their nationality and identity. Given that their mentor Zhang Jing has become the head coach of the Chinese team, it seems that it is only a matter of time before they play for the Chinese team. Hungarian media also revealed that the Liu brothers have obtained Chinese citizenship.
Lin Xiaocheng is about to turn 27 years old, Liu Shaolin is almost 28 years old, the youngest of the three, Liu Shaoang, is also 25 years old, and in the Winter Olympics three years later, they are all about 30 years old, entering the twilight of their careers.
I'm always skeptical that they can help the Chinese short track speed skating team win gold and silver at the Winter Olympics. The world pattern is changing rapidly, in addition to the new Korean team, the Netherlands and Canada also have good strength. If the veterans of the Chinese short track speed skating team take charge, they will lack sufficient competitiveness on the Olympic stage.
However, this does not mean that naturalizing Lin Xiaocheng and others is worthless. First of all, we have to admit that the Chinese short track speed skating team is far from the stage of newcomers, Ren Ziwei is 26 years old, and after him there is a lack of enough powerful middle-generation athletes, and Li Wenlong is the only one who is considered the leader of the younger generation. The addition of Lin Xiaocheng and the Liu brothers has consolidated the talent foundation of the Chinese short track speed skating team and provided richer employment options.
In addition, Lin Xiaocheng has immediate combat power, which can be seen with the naked eye on the improvement of the strength of the Chinese short track speed skating team. With his current ability and form, he is still one of the best male short track speed skaters on the planet. At this World Championships, he may not be as dazzling as Park Ji Won, but his strength should not be underestimated.
The Liu brothers have not played in the past season, and it is impossible to judge their form for the time being. But in the past one or two seasons, they are still at the peak of their sports careers, especially their younger brother Liu Shaoang, who is one year younger than Ren Ziwei, and the future is still promising.
Their participation as Olympic champions will not only enhance the strength of the Chinese short track speed skating team, but also contribute to the promotion and popularization of the project. Lin Xiaocheng is close to becoming popular in China, because of his outstanding looks and proud achievements, he has countless fans on social media. His outing is similar to Ning Zetao back then.
Because of their Chinese blood and humorous personality, the Liu brothers also have a fan base in China. Of course, their performance at the Beijing Winter Olympics affected their favorability among fans to some extent. But at the moment when the tide of patriotism is surging, the small troubles of their past after becoming members of the Chinese team are easily selectively forgotten. After all, even Lin Xiaocheng's "pants picking" incident is no longer a stain.
Ten thousand steps back, even when it comes to the Milan Winter Olympics, the strength of these three naturalized champions is embarrassing, and there is no loss for the Chinese short track speed skating team. Of course, the premise is that we don't think too much about the monetary costs of naturalizing them. We can't worry about this either, because the real cost of naturalization is not enough for outsiders.
Will the existence of Lin Xiaocheng and the Liu brothers suppress young Chinese players? To ask this question is alarmist. Although short track speed skating is also a group event, it is more testing the absolute speed of the individual. If young people are already above these Olympic champions, no one can stop them from playing for their country. After all, competitive sports speak according to achievements, not seniority.
The naturalization of the Chinese short track speed skating team also has an invisible "welfare" - exporting a top idol Lin Xiaocheng for the Chinese sports world. Before the blessing of the world championship, Lin Xiaocheng's influence was already exaggerated, he has more than 2 million followers on Weibo and nearly 1 million followers on Xiaohongshu. It is worth mentioning that his fans have a high proportion of female fans, high stickiness and loyalty, and have the attribute of rice circles.
Before he qualified to play for the Chinese team, he has become the darling of the brand. During last year's Winter Olympics, he received an ad placement from Ilian Muhi on Little Red Book. Now, his identity is upright, he has become the ace of the Chinese short track speed skating team, and with the blessing of the gold medal of the World Championships, he will unleash greater commercial potential in the future. This is something he can't reach in South Korea, after all, China's business market is broader.
Of course, Lin Xiaocheng's identity as a naturalized player and the "pants door" incident will still discourage many brands. This could become a major obstacle to unleashing his brand value. But given the huge traffic value behind him, these issues may be overlooked. Before the "smashing urine sample" incident, Sun Yang was also riddled with negative news, such as the conflict with coach Zhu Zhigen and the "knife teaching" incident, but these were not enough to prevent him from making money as the "first brother" of Chinese sports.
At the time when Sun Yang and Ning Zetao are gradually retiring and Su Bingtian is about to retire, Lin Xiaocheng's birth can not only fill the gap of the vacuum of Chinese idols, but also reflect the inclusiveness of Chinese sports. It can be said that the vigorous naturalization of China's ice and snow sports has borne fruit, which is enough to make the Chinese men's football team shameful.