Recently, in the third round of women's surfing at the Paris Olympics, Chinese surfer Yang Siqi lost to United States players and stopped in the round of 16, but has set the best result of the Chinese team in this event. 15-year-old Chinese athlete Yang Siqi is not only China's first Olympic surfer, but also the youngest athlete in this event. She said that she regretted that she did not complete a complete pipe wave in this Olympic Games, but her appearance is undoubtedly a progress of the new generation of Chinese surfing to break the dimension.
Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ma Ping
From Daliang Mountain to Tahiti, this girl has let the world see Chinese surfing
Seeing the sea for the first time at the age of 8 and practicing surfing at the age of 9, this little girl who came out of the mountains made history in just six years. Compared with a group of foreign players with superior conditions, our Chinese "little sister" is not timid in the face of world-class waves, and foreign media have praised them.
Summing up the Paris Olympics, Yang Siqi said that she has gained friendships in this competition, challenged her limits, and is more aware of the gap between herself and the top athletes. "I'm very happy, I caught a lot of big waves, but I still have regrets if I didn't finish a pipe wave." She said.
Tiahupu is known for its huge pipe waves, where Yang didn't surf for the first time until she arrived in Tahiti on the eve of the Olympics to prepare for the Games, and she hasn't trained specifically for the waves, but she says she's not scared. "Actually, I'm not afraid of the waves here, so every time I fall, I can catch the next wave."
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency, Fernando · Agre, president of the International Surfing Association, said, "Yang Siqi has performed very well, she is young, focused and understands the sea. The waves of Tiahupu are not easy. You have to have a strong mind to get down into that kind of wave, let alone paddling, taking off, and rushing into the pipe wave, but she did it all. ”
"Surfers generally mature between the ages of 25 and 30. She's only 15 years old and could compete in two more Olympics. "It's her first time competing at this level, she can't win the title, but she's already an Olympian and she's already making history...... She has a very good future ahead of her. ”
Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ma Ping
I had never seen the sea before the age of 9, and at the age of 15, I danced with the waves at the Paris Olympics, which is the story of a mountain girl who challenges the sea
Fifteen-year-old Yang Siqi was born into a rural family in Yimen Township, Huili City, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province. In the eyes of her mother, Yang Siqi has shown strong athletic ability since she was a child. "She likes basketball, running, cycling and other sports, and she does well." At the age of 8, she was selected by He Shifei, the coach of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture Amateur Sports School, for her lively personality and excellent physical fitness, and began her sports career.
In an interview with a reporter from Xinhuanet, Coach He Shifei talked about Yang Siqi when he was a child, saying that 8-year-old Yang Siqi is like a boy, with good physical fitness, very sensitive movements, showing good athletic talent and having the potential of a professional athlete. Initially, she studied judo with Coach He, but was unable to participate in the provincial competition due to her lack of age, and then Coach He recommended Yang Siqi to learn sailing at the Qionghai Water Sports School in Sichuan Province. In 2018, with the establishment of the Chinese surfing team, Qionghai School also opened surfing courses, and Yang Siqi transformed into a surfer with her good sense of balance and courage to challenge.
In Coach He's view, Yang Siqi's ability to get the Olympic ticket is inseparable from his usual hard training. For the past six years, Yang Siqi has been accompanied by the sea every day, her skin has become dark under the sun, and her hair color has turned burnt yellow under the corrosion of the seawater, which are the marks of Yang Siqi's hard training.
Seeing Yang Siqi's wonderful performance at the Paris Olympics, Coach He was very pleased and proud of Yang Siqi. Coach He said, "I hope that Siqi can reach a higher level in water surfing in the future, can represent the country in more competitions, and stand on the highest podium in the future."
Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ma Ping
Knowledge Class: Learn about surfing, an emerging Olympic sport
Surfing is an extreme sport powered by waves, and its principle of movement is to use the waves as the power, with the help of the power of the waves, to complete the waves, watch the waves, paddling, catching the waves, taking up and standing, and control the direction of the surfboard with the center of gravity, shoulders and legs of the body, so as to glide and unlock various technical actions. According to the data, the surfing event entered the Olympic family for the first time in the Tokyo Olympics, and the Chinese team did not send team members to participate at that time. Entering the Paris Olympic cycle, 15-year-old female athlete Yang Siqi made rapid progress and qualified for the Paris Olympic Games, becoming the first Chinese surfer to appear in the Olympic arena, achieving a breakthrough in Chinese surfing.
How to understand a surfing competition?
The surfing competition adopts a scoring system, the full score of each wave is 10 points, and the judges of each group of competitions are composed of 5 people, who give a score between 0 and 10 points according to the performance of the competitors, and then remove the highest and lowest scores, and take the average score given by other judges as the final score of the wave. Skill in action, difficulty, risk factor, etc. are all scoring factors, and some scores also take into account the wave conditions and weather changes of the competition venue. Competitors can catch a maximum of 10 to 15 waves in the competition, and the individual race lasts between 15 and 30 minutes, and the final ranking is determined by the total score of the two best waves.
What is Surf Priority?
Races are usually played in groups of 2 to 4 athletes, who need to catch the best waves possible during the race time. According to the rules, only 1 competitor can surf at a time, and the person closest to the crest of the wave has priority in surfing. Each athlete is given at least one priority in the race, and the competitor with priority can choose the wave and glide direction unconditionally, and the rest of the athletes are not allowed to interfere with it.
Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ma Ping
Source: Xinhua News Agency