exclusive interview with sun dan, the coach of the chinese rhythmic gymnastics team: the phoenix sings loudly and the art blooms
2024-08-31
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original title: fengming loudly and artistically blooming (theme)
——our reporter interviewed sun dan, the coach of the chinese rhythmic gymnastics team (subtitle)
kong yihan, omnimedia reporter of china women's news
smiling and raising their hands, the chinese rhythmic gymnastics team signaled to the audience and walked onto the field of the la chapelle stadium in paris. they got ready and waited for the start signal, and the crystals hanging on their chinese-style "cloud shoulder" gymnastics suits trembled slightly with their breathing.
off the court, coach sun dan held his breath unconsciously and tightly grasped the arm of his assistant coach.
on august 10, the chinese team won the championship in the collective all-around final of the rhythmic gymnastics event at the paris olympics. photo by xinhua news agency reporter cheng min
the air was filled with tension. on the evening of august 10, beijing time, the paris olympics rhythmic gymnastics group all-around finals officially began. the rhythmic gymnastics group all-around event is divided into two rounds of competition, and the schedule was already halfway through. in the first round of the 5-lap program, the chinese team temporarily ranked first with a score of 36.950 points. sun dan knew that whether he could achieve the goal of standing on the highest podium depended on whether the team members could make this program "land smoothly".
during the two rounds, sun dan did not say anything extra. she just tried not to let the team members pay attention to the rankings and devoted herself to the second program. "after the preliminaries ended the day before, i had said everything i needed to say," said sun dan.
in the preliminaries, the chinese team performed well in both programs, but ranked only fifth. "in the finals, everything will start over again, so we have to give it a try. we have hope, although it is not so clear, but we still have to fight for that possibility." sun dan, who is always strict in training, spoke in a firm and gentle tone at this time, "the competition field changes rapidly, no matter what, we have done our best."
as the music started, the team members used dance to "pluck" the strings made of ribbons, and the world also heard the cry of the "chinese phoenix". in the end, the chinese team composed of ding xinyi, guo qiqi, hao ting, huang zhangjiayang and wang lanjing won the championship with a total score of 69.800. this is the first time that the chinese rhythmic gymnastics team has won an olympic gold medal, and it is also the first time that a team outside of europe has won a gold medal!
as the winner of the silver medal in the beijing olympics team all-around with the best result before, sun dan was very excited: "as athletes, our constant pursuit is to be the first and to climb to the top. several generations of us have been working hard for this goal. i am very proud that they won the championship!"
after years of hard work, it finally blossomed brilliantly in paris.
chasing dreams and light
rhythmic gymnastics originated in europe and was developed relatively late in china. in the 1880s, the chinese team began to send teams to participate in the rhythmic gymnastics world championships. in 1993, for sun dan, rhythmic gymnastics was a sport she had never heard of.
"i was 7 years old that year and was in primary school. the gymnastics coach came to the school to select players and thought that my figure was very suitable for learning rhythmic gymnastics." sun dan said. with the idea of improving their child's body through sports, his parents supported sun dan to start training.
before learning rhythmic gymnastics, sun dan had no relevant experience, but she quickly stood out among the group of little girls in training.
"i should be considered a relatively talented athlete," sun dan said. "at the beginning, i just felt that it was easier for me to learn the movements than others, and i could do them well without any effort. feeling this advantage, i naturally became interested in the project." in the heart of the young sun dan, the pain and tiredness of training from scratch could not compare to the joy of successfully learning a movement.
in 1994, sun dan joined the liaoning province rhythmic gymnastics second team and began to participate in competitions. in august 1997, she won the first place in the national youth rhythmic gymnastics competition. in the same year, she officially left home to train in beijing. from then on, her life was closely linked to rhythmic gymnastics.
the training of rhythmic gymnastics is not easy, not to mention the difficulty of leaving home at a young age, but in sun dan's narration, these difficulties were only briefly mentioned. "i didn't particularly resist training. of course, there were difficulties in daily training, but as athletes, we always have to overcome and persist." sun dan said that the current difficulties and challenges will never stop her from looking to the future.
optimism is the foundation of sun dan's personality. "to put it in today's terms, it means not wasting time." she said, "i have a lively and cheerful personality and can withstand setbacks, so i won't be immersed in one emotion for too long. if it is a solvable difficulty, i will try my best to overcome it. if it is an unsolvable difficulty, i will put it aside temporarily and let time take it away."
however, the biggest challenge for athletes is not the hardship and fatigue of training, but the enemy that follows them everywhere and must be fought against relentlessly - injuries. in 2006, during a training session, sun dan broke her foot. this serious injury forced sun dan to undergo surgery. the doctor removed part of the bone from her hip and placed it in her foot, and then put three nails in to fix it. since the hip injury affected the whole body, sun dan had to stay in bed for a long time after the surgery. "at that time, i couldn't even do the simplest turning over and getting up by myself."
the injury has not gone away, and rehabilitation training is urgent. "if i miss one day of rhythmic gymnastics practice, i will know it, if i miss two days, my colleagues will know it, and if i miss three days, the whole world will know it." sun dan said. during rehabilitation training, sun dan could not move both feet at the same time, and had to ask others to help him. the two of them took turns to complete the simple bicycle leg kick. the road to rehabilitation is painful and long, but when mentioned again, sun dan just smiled and said, "i am very grateful to my friends in the team for accompanying me through that difficult time."
it was half a year later that she stepped onto the training ground again. the countdown to the 2008 beijing olympics was getting closer and closer. she had to quickly improve her declining technical level and lose the weight that had increased wildly during her recovery. rhythmic gymnastics does not have a strict weight limit, but excessive weight not only affects the rhythm of the movements, but also increases the risk of joint injuries. "at that time, i kept giving myself confidence and told myself that i could definitely participate in the olympics." during those moments when she ran around the training ground alone and stayed in the sauna room for more than an hour sweating profusely, another voice often rang in sun dan's heart: now it's actually pretty good, rehabilitation and training have been going well, do i have to work so hard to hit the olympic peak?
"when those thoughts of retreating come up, i will seriously consider and weigh the pros and cons. will i regret not participating in this olympics? which is harder to bear, the regret or the hardship at the moment? i don't want to always look back on the past and think, 'i could have done this and that' in the future," said sun dan.
during the preparation period before the beijing olympics, sun dan, who is 178cm tall and weighs 70kg, reduced her weight by 10kg. her efforts paid off - sun dan and her teammates created history in chinese rhythmic gymnastics, won the silver medal in the rhythmic gymnastics team all-around, and stood on the podium of the beijing olympics.
back on the field
sixteen years have passed since the beijing olympics and the paris olympics. recalling her experience of winning the silver medal, sun dan no longer remembers many details. from the "last dance" at the 2009 national games to today, her coaching career has been longer than her athletic career.
"in fact, before the 2008 beijing olympics, i was mentally prepared to retire." as a professional athlete, sun dan clearly knew that her physical injuries and athletic function would hardly support her to continue to pursue the limit on the gymnastics stage in the next olympic cycle. in the 2009 national games, despite her unsatisfactory physical condition, she still insisted on representing liaoning province, which nurtured her, and won the championship. "i think this is a perfect ending." sun dan said with a smile.
after retiring, sun dan quickly took up the position of coach for the national youth rhythmic gymnastics team, but how to teach became the first challenge she had to face.
"i learn movements very quickly. the teacher tells me how to do a movement, and i can understand the general situation of the movement after imitating it for a few times." as a "natural athlete", sun dan has never carefully thought about the specific steps to complete a movement. unable to describe it in words, she can only demonstrate it to the team members over and over again. sun dan is so anxious that she is "smoking" every day because she can't teach the team members. often, she is exhausted at the end of the day, but the team members still have only a vague understanding of the movements.
"looking back now, as a coach, i should have explained to the players the positions of the left and right feet, corrected the players' kicking direction and the muscles they use to exert force, instead of just demonstrating over and over again." sun dan couldn't stop laughing when he recalled his youthful coaching experience. while learning to be a coach "from scratch", he also got to know the young players of the youth team. after about half a year, sun dan finally found the feeling of being a coach.
competing in an olympic games and coaching an olympic games were sun dan's goals when she became a coach. she believed that only when she fully understood the two important roles of athlete and coach could she truly master rhythmic gymnastics. she had already achieved the former goal in 2008, and the latter goal came 10 years later, accompanied by unprecedented challenges.
during the 2018 tokyo olympic cycle, the coach of the rhythmic gymnastics team was unable to continue to lead the team due to poor health, so sun dan was appointed to take over the baton of the national team coach. the reason why he was appointed was that the team was in a critical period of preparation and adjustment. the rhythmic gymnastics team did not perform well, and if they could not get tickets to the olympics, the team would face the risk of temporary disbanding.
sun dan still remembers the scene when she first took office. the national team was "short of food and grass", and some training equipment had to be borrowed from various provinces and cities. team members also needed to be optimized. as the only coach in the team, she had to deal with everything from arranging and adjusting sets of movements to designing gymnastics uniforms, paying attention to team members' injuries and making pre-match preparations. she also needed to pay attention to every detail, emotional expression, and technical standardization of the team members in training. "at that time, i often walked around the field all day, and rarely had time to drink water or sit down to rest." sun dan said.
at that time, the imminent challenge was the 37th world championships which kicked off in azerbaijan in september 2019. this was a crucial battle to determine whether the team could get an olympic ticket and whether the team could be saved. the pressure the players had to face can be imagined.
"when helping athletes adjust their mindset, i will not simply comfort them and tell them to let go of the pressure, but will tell them that this is an opportunity." sun dan's tone is as firm as ever, "all the good things in this world will not fall on your head out of thin air, they all require you to jump up and reach, and fight hard to get them. don't think of it as a stone weighing on your heart, but as an opportunity and a challenge." the girls seized this opportunity, achieved the best result in the past six years at the world championships, and got the precious olympic ticket as they wished.
it took sun dan 11 years to go from a retired athlete who didn't know how to teach to a coach of the chinese team who was in charge of all training and competition affairs.
a different approach
from "flying moon dance" and "heroes of heaven and earth" at the tokyo olympics, to "water dragon song" and "pozhen music" that won the world championships, to "symbiosis and dance" and "phoenix singing in the sky" that won gold medals in paris, a series of magnificent chinese-style performances have allowed more people to re-acquaint themselves with the chinese rhythmic gymnastics team and have brought the "chinese style" to the world.
2020 was a turning point for sun dan and the chinese rhythmic gymnastics team. a sudden epidemic forced the postponement of the tokyo olympics, disrupting the original preparations, but giving the team more time to prepare.
"the day i received the postponement notice, i decided to change the program. we can't go back to the old ways, but we have to make changes," said sun dan. she is not satisfied with just getting tickets to the olympics and ensuring the survival of the preparation team, but hopes that the chinese team can break out of the european monopoly of rhythmic gymnastics.
to break through, we must find new ways to inject unique highlights into the performance. "the excellent traditional chinese culture has come to this day and should be displayed to the world through the medium of sports. we always talk about 'new chinese style', which means we need to integrate some new things and show our culture to europeans." sun dan said.
"new" means there is no precedent to follow. this is another challenge of "starting from scratch", and sun dan, as always, chose to face the challenge head-on.
before officially starting to create the program, sun dan did a lot of preparation. if she wanted to convey the charm of chinese style in her movements, she had to study ancient chinese history and culture in depth, draw inspiration from books, exhibitions, and dances, and integrate them into the program. she had to train during the day, so sun dan read the materials at night until two or three in the morning. not long after resting, she appeared on time at 8 a.m.
as the "first person to try something new", sun dan was also worried: would the international judges understand the artistic style expressed by the chinese team in their works? for this reason, she even considered whether to make a special brochure for the works. however, the "actual experience" of the competition dispelled sun dan's worries, "art has commonalities. as long as the works are good enough, everyone will resonate with beauty."
the dunhuang-style "flying moon dance" amazed the audience, and the chinese girls "emerged from cocoons and blossomed beautifully" at the tokyo olympics.
"after the first day of qualifying, i saw that the japanese newspaper yomiuri shimbun used half of its page to publish photos of our team's game. at that moment, i had a hunch that we would succeed."
in the end, with perfect performance and unique creation, the chinese rhythmic gymnastics team won fourth place, setting the best result in overseas olympic games.
"in this competition, everyone showed their training level on the field, leaving no regrets, and everyone's performance was recognized." after the game, liu xin, captain of the chinese rhythmic gymnastics team, said, "we chose music with chinese characteristics in the olympics, just to show chinese culture and let the whole world see it. in order to perform the 5-ball set "dunhuang" well, we also went to dunhuang to collect folk songs, learn about the "flying apsaras" and dunhuang murals, and integrate dunhuang culture into our set of movements. the 3-lap 4-stick also integrates elements of martial arts, peking opera, and traditional chinese opera, so that others can tell at a glance that we are the chinese team."
after the tokyo olympics, the united states gymnastics association invited sun dan to give a speech about her choreography and creativity, which she had prepared for a long time. "our routine is not just a collection of movements, but a complete work. i want to convey my ideas, thoughts and storyline, and hope to use a new choreography to tell the world how chinese people think and think like this," said sun dan.
stunning paris
in preparation for the paris games, the chinese rhythmic gymnastics team must first adjust its personnel. tokyo olympic athlete xu yanshu retired and became an assistant coach to continue to shine for rhythmic gymnastics.
"shanshan (xu yanshu) helped me a lot. she has a deep understanding of technology and can clearly explain the skills that i have never heard of. the technology she taught is very delicate. she is also very meticulous in doing things, and she is 'complementary' to me." the addition of the new assistant coach has helped sun dan relieve a lot of burdens. the addition of assistant coach anastasia in 2022 completes the last piece of the "paris coaching lineup".
"anna (anastasia) has a very high level of coaching. she joined the chinese team as a coach right after retiring. her joining has helped us inject a lot of new things into standardization, basic equipment skills and other aspects," said sun dan.
in addition, the logistical support services provided by the general administration of sports and the gymnastics center also relieved the athletes of their worries. "the athletes in this session may be the oldest in average age compared to previous sessions. we have to thank the general administration, the gymnastics center and the logistical support staff who have worked silently, who have enabled the athletes to maintain a good competitive state and successfully pursue their dreams in paris," said sun dan.
with complete personnel and adequate support, sun dan and his assistant coaches are aiming for paris and have higher demands on their players.
"during training, i pay attention to every detail. i have very high requirements for the technical pursuit, emotional expression, artistry, and standardization of each detail." when the team members are training, sun dan and two assistant coaches will stand on the sidelines, carefully reviewing every technical detail together and loudly instructing the movements.
in a special film about preparing for the paris olympics, someone joked that "the olympics will not have her (sun dan) training scary", although it was a joke, it was enough to show how high sun dan's requirements were. the team members also knew that to challenge the "unprecedented", they must first pursue perfection.
"although i am very strict during training, the relationship between the players and the coach is very relaxed. for example, if someone says that i was too aggressive today, i will also say, 'sorry, was i a little too aggressive today?' everyone will cooperate and communicate and work hard towards the same goal." sun dan said.
in order to choreograph and optimize the new routines, the coaches will hold meetings and discuss, and communicate with the athletes for adjustments. which way will make the score clearer? which artistic presentation method can better impress the audience? after almost every game, sun dan will adjust the routines, and the athletes will also put forward their own ideas. in order to ensure that the details and technical points are calculated by the referees, the team also invited international referees to help check the routines and confirm the difficulty.
the "perfectionist" sun dan took into account every detail of the competition venue: the humidity in paris is high, and the ribbons are easily tangled due to moisture, so he went to southern cities for training in the months with high humidity; the last warm-up venue before the game is very low, and the equipment throwing and catching can easily hit the ceiling, so he searched for training venues with similar parameters in the country... only by doing enough difficult drills can the team members be confident on the field.
but accidents are always difficult to avoid completely. before a match in italy in june this year, team member hao ting injured her foot during training. although she took timely medical measures, she still needed to apply ice every day. three days later, the team was going to compete. "the whole team tried to reduce the training time as much as possible to cooperate with hao ting, and instead improved the quality of training to ensure hao ting's rest time." sun dan said.
although her foot injury has not healed, as a professional athlete, hao ting still acted as if nothing had happened when she went on the court. as she once said in an interview: "because our equipment is to be thrown to the other side, we must consider others and not be self-centered. you have to find a way to do your part for the team. it's not that i feel i can save a second and be a little lazy, so that your teammates will work harder when they receive it."
"we all felt sorry for her, but she was a very mature athlete, and any consolation at that time was pale. we all had one goal in our hearts: we would hold our breath and hold on until the olympics," said sun dan.
rhythmic gymnastics is a five-person project. if anyone is missing or left behind, it will not be perfect. the difficulties encountered in the training of five people are far more than people imagine. "when facing difficulties, it is difficult to overcome them if you think about your own suffering and tiredness. but when you think about the whole team behind you, the expectations and support of the auxiliary team, coaches, and teammates, you will have the strength to overcome difficulties." from a member of the team to a coach who unites the team, sun dan summarizes the team culture of the chinese rhythmic gymnastics team from his experience.
jade is polished and polished into a useful tool, and a sword is drawn and buried to support the sky. in the paris olympics, ding xinyi, guo qiqi, hao ting, huang zhangjiayang and wang lanjing, the "five golden flowers", worked together to coexist and dance, and finally became a phoenix soaring into the sky.
after the game, coach sun dan shed tears: "you just have to keep believing, keep waiting, and keep working hard. there may be a road with no direction, and you don't know when you can get there, but you can't stop. you have to keep going, be brave, and move forward. i think we are really strong chinese women!"
source: china women's news
