Li Yan
Wang Meng
He was a master and apprentice. Photo/Osports
Among the 13 winter Olympic gold medals won by the Chinese legion so far, the short track speed skating team has contributed 10, which can be called the ace of China's ice and snow sports. However, in the past two years, the overall development and performance of the Chinese short track team are not optimistic, with only 1 gold in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and two consecutive world championships.
On May 23, the Winter Games Center of the General Administration of Sport announced the establishment of a short track speed skating and speed skating national team, with Wang Meng as the head of the coaching team, which means that Li Yan, who has been in charge of the short track team for 13 years, has withdrawn from the front line, and an era of short track speed skating in China has come to an end.
The short track team was criticized for its poor readiness
On May 23, the short track speed skating "fixed point" work conference for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics was held in Beijing, and the Winter Sports Center of the State General Administration of Sport unexpectedly announced the establishment of a national team for speed skating and short track speed skating, with Wang Meng as the head of the coaching team. The day before, the Chinese short track team was still training in Shougang Park, and the team members did not know anything about the news.
Although both are skating events, short track speed skating and speed skating are very different in terms of equipment and technology, and merging the two events into one is the first time in the history of winter sports in China.
Less than 1,000 days before the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, this move of the Winter Games Center is a blockbuster, and the short track speed skating team is the ace of China's ice and snow sports. Of the 13 Winter Olympic gold medals won by the Chinese legion so far, the short track team has contributed 10.
The Winter Games Center's action against the short track team seems to be sudden, but in fact, there are traces to follow. During the 1,000-day countdown to the Beijing Winter Olympics on May 10, Gou Zhongwen, director general of the State General Administration of Sport, summed up the performance of several national brands last season and criticized several underperforming teams, including short-track speed skating teams, which have been extremely rare in the past.
Regarding the preparation for the new season, Gou Zhongwen put forward 5 requirements, the first point is to strengthen physical training, and the counterexample cited is the short track speed skating team, "Last season's short track speed skating World Championships, South Korea and the Netherlands divided all 10 gold medals, what is the basis? Rely on strong physical strength, rely on the solid basic skills laid by high-intensity training. Especially the Dutch team, the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze, the number of medals exceeded the Chinese team, last season's leading figure Shu Erting was invincible in the 1000 meters venue, ranking the top of the world ranking. The 'Korean Wave' has not gone, and the Netherlands has arrived, which must arouse our great attention. ”
Wang Meng currently only has coaching experience in the Great Winter Club. Photo: Wang Meng Weibo
There were no gold medals at two consecutive World Championships
At the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the short track speed skating team did not win 1 gold medal in the men's 500 meters until the last match day, which was the 1 gold that the Chinese delegation saved face. The pressure Pyeongchang has brought to the Chinese short track team is unprecedented, and head coach Li Yan needs to take sleeping pills twice a night to barely fall asleep.
After Pyeongchang, Li Yan, whose contract with the Winter Games Center expired, once had a retreat, and there was a lot of speculation about his successor. But in the end, Li Yan still chose to stay.
In the face of unprecedented pressure in the new cycle, Li Yan began to carry out drastic reforms to the national team, she subdivided the national team into three groups of training, the first and second groups maintain dynamic and healthy competition, and the three groups became part-time groups, while taking into account the speed skating training.
This grouping has caused controversy, the Pyeongchang cycle main han tianyu and others have been adjusted to the second group, the Winter Olympic champion Zhou Yang has been adjusted to the part-time group, they did not have any chance to play in the big competition last season, almost in a semi-retired state. At the same time, Li Yan began to build an international team. After the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Li Yan invited Cho Jae-bum, the former head coach of the Korean women's team. A month later, Zhao Zaifan beat up team member Shen Shixi during the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, and coaching the Chinese team was no longer over.
The team is green and yellow, the coaching team is incomplete, the short track speed skating team has entered a stage of the lowest fan in nearly 10 years, and the only highlight of last season was That Wu Dajing set a new world record in the 500 meters.
In the World Championships, which tested the status of each team's season, the Chinese team did not have a gold medal for two consecutive years. At the World Championships in Montreal last year, the Chinese team only won 1 silver and 3 bronzes, and missed the gold medal for the first time in 11 years. At this year's Sophia World Championships, the Chinese team that played with all the main forces once again had no gold, which led to Gou Zhongwen's public naming and criticism at the conference.
Wang Meng built a champion team last month
After staying as the head coach of the short track speed skating team last year, Li Yan talked about the overall preparation plan for the Beijing Olympic cycle. Two weeks ago, when Talking about this season's goals, Li Yan said that he wanted to "break through himself", "Time will always pass less and less, and the days of preparation will become more and more difficult." At the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, everyone has high expectations for us, and we will do our best. ”
Li Yan made a long-term training plan for the team, but there was no time to implement it. With Wang Meng as the head of the coaching team of the short track speed skating and speed skating national teams, Li Yan, who has been in charge of the Chinese short track team for 13 years, handed over the command. The newly formed short track speed skating and speed skating national teams will be managed by the Winter Games Center and have little to do with the Chinese Skating Association, which Li Yan is chairman.
In fact, since last year, Li Yan's short-track speed skating team is not the only national team. In November last year, the Hungarian team of the Chinese short track speed skating team was established, led by Hungarian Chinese coach Zhang Jing, with the aim of sending talents to the Beijing Winter Olympics.
On April 9 this year, Wang Meng became the head of the coaching team of the national speed skating training team. Careful people will find that although this team is called the Speed Skating National Training Team, the traces of short track speed skating are very heavy. In addition to inviting short-track speed skating star Xin Qingshan, and former head coach of the national team Yi Min as an adviser, the team members also include Olympic champion Zhou Yang, SNCT Winter Champion An Kai, Guo Yihan and other short-track speed skating celebrities, which is essentially different from the previous cross-border cross-event training team.
From this point of view, It may not be surprising that Wang Meng succeeded Li Yan. However, compared with Li Yan, Wang Meng, who is not yet 35 years old, lacks enough coaching experience in the competition, and her only comprehensive competition coaching experience is this year's Russian World Winter Games.
In charge of the Chinese short track speed skating team for 13 years, Li Yan led the team to participate in the 3 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Sochi and Pingchang, winning a total of 7 gold medals, creating the "Li Yan era" in the history of Chinese short track. After fading out of the first line, Li Yan's intersection with the national team may not be too big, and her focus will shift to the level of the Chinese Skating Association, such as promoting elite leagues or amateur events.
Beijing News reporter Sun Haiguang
Edited by Wang Xichong Proofreader Wei Zhuo