working day and night to build a dream together, cultural confidence and praise of national style - the story behind china's rhythmic gymnastics gold medal in paris
2024-09-13
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original title: working day and night to build a dream together, cultural confidence and praise of national style (theme)
——the story behind china’s rhythmic gymnastics gold medal in paris (subtitle)
china sports daily reporter yuan xuejing
in the long history of the olympics, which spans more than a hundred years, there are not many sports that can show monopoly in terms of results. rhythmic gymnastics before the paris olympics is one of them, because no team outside europe has ever won a gold medal. european countries such as russia, bulgaria, and italy once led the development trend of rhythmic gymnastics, and "european aesthetics" were equivalent to world standards.
at the paris olympics, the chinese rhythmic gymnastics team perfectly performed the two programs "dancing together" and "phoenix singing to the sky" that combined international style and chinese style, and won the collective all-around gold medal, breaking the 40-year monopoly of europe on the olympic gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics and achieving a historic breakthrough. the chinese people were pleasantly surprised to find that the chinese style of chinese rhythmic gymnastics with the theme of the han and tang dynasties blew to paris, and also blew the chinese people's cultural confidence to the world, successfully making the aesthetics of rhythmic gymnastics gradually diversified.
there are too many unknown stories behind the breakthrough of chinese rhythmic gymnastics.
hard work to improve "internal strength" and export cultural confidence
the first part of "phoenix sings in the sky" has a very eye-catching design: when the guzheng with oriental sounds is played, the players on the field pull up the ribbons to make "strings", and huang zhang jiayang gracefully plucks the ribbons to "play the piano". the elegance of chinese style attracts the attention of the world.
rhythmic gymnastics is a diversified sport that demonstrates artistry in dance and expression, as well as competitiveness in physical and equipment difficulty, and requires extremely high comprehensive abilities of athletes. the training time of chinese rhythmic gymnastics team members lasts about 10 hours a day, with a wide range of projects and contents such as ballet classes, physical training classes, special training, and dance training.
"we have been taking ballet classes since we were young, and we have been exposed to jazz, street dance and other dance styles to enrich ourselves, because every year we update the choreography and the style is always changing." guo qiqi said that in order to perform the 3-band 2-ball "phoenix singing to the sky" routine well, the team members have carried out very systematic classical dance training since last winter training. "there are a lot of eye contact and emotional exchanges in classical dance, which will bring a lot of subtle influences, making the dance moves in our routine more contagious." huang zhang jiayang said.
in the words of head coach sun dan, ballet is the foundation of rhythmic gymnastics, the "bones", while dance is more of a stylistic enrichment, the "skin and blood". sun dan is so meticulous about the details of the dance that the team members are often afraid to enter the dance studio. "we will constantly replay the slow motion, and i will go through it frame by frame. a 20-second movement can take 2 hours to go through. your breathing, your hand position, your left shoulder seems to be 5 centimeters higher, where your eyes follow, and even your hair will have expression. the effort is put into places that no one can see, and only in the end can a near-perfect work be presented."
the team members worked very hard in training and had strong execution. hao ting had a serious injury like a fractured foot, but she never missed a day of training. "coach sun is very strict with us in training, pursuing perfection, and also hopes that we can show our best in the competition. when we encounter incomplete completion in training, everyone will work hard to adjust and cooperate. when we finally receive the equipment and can handle it properly, we will feel very happy." hao ting said.
unlike guo qiqi, hao ting, and huang zhangjiayang, three veterans who participated in the tokyo olympics, wang lanjing and ding xinyi, young players who joined the team during the paris cycle, are 6 or 7 years younger than their sisters. initially, there was a big gap in personal ability, technology, and teamwork. wang lanjing, who switched from individual events to collective events at the end of 2021, found it difficult to adapt at first. "the technology is completely different. individuals need to throw the equipment to themselves, and the collective needs to throw it to others. it is very difficult to find the right feeling for the shot and master the coordination and collaboration. the coach and sisters have been helping me. sometimes i am too tired to practice, but i must keep up with the collective pace and can't let everyone delay training because of me." at the 2022 world championships, wang lanjing made a mistake in the back-to-back, which affected the team's score and ranking. "i felt very guilty at the time. i was very depressed during that period and wondered whether i should choose this path. one month before the 2023 world championships, i was so stressed that i couldn't sleep. as soon as i closed my eyes, i would think of last year's failure and was worried every day. fortunately, the psychological teacher helped me, and the solid training every day gradually built up my confidence. i treated every set, every small segment, and every shot as the world championships. from the beginning of training, i didn't allow myself to make any mistakes, and finally i made it through." ding xinyi's situation was similar. at the beginning, she often couldn't master the technical essentials and couldn't cooperate with the big players. "the sisters demonstrated to me and told me how to do it, and i would make up for the gap and practice more after class. it was particularly difficult when i first started the set. my brain couldn't keep up and the physical test was also great. every night when i went home, i had to "review the lessons" and write down the places where i didn't do well or failed more during the day. before training the next day, i took out the small notebook to see what the requirements were yesterday and what i should pay special attention to today." the process of running-in was difficult, but the team members worked together to practice "internal skills". "once we didn't practice well and had to practice until midnight. sometimes when i had a breakdown or the training volume was too heavy, i would cry for a while when i got home at night, but i also knew that i had to adjust quickly and continue to do well in training the next day," said ding xinyi.
when the training volume is the largest and the intensity is the highest, the athletes will cry from exhaustion, and sun dan will cry too. "you have to be very strong and make everyone push the training according to your requirements. you have to keep forcing others and pushing them forward. although everyone knows that this is right, after training, when i return home, i will also feel sad for forcing others and being forced to play the role of a harsh and cold coach. they are still children. but in this repetitive process, our tolerance is getting stronger and stronger."
at the paris olympics, the chinese rhythmic gymnastics group's 5-circle "dancing together" and 3-belt 2-ball "phoenix singing to the sky" both have distinct characteristics. "dancing together" takes environmental protection as its theme and shows an international perspective; "phoenix singing to the sky" takes the han and tang dynasties as its background and exports chinese culture. on the one hand, such choreography shows china's cultural confidence and exports china's beauty; on the other hand, it is also in line with international standards, with an international perspective and a big picture. it reflects the characteristics of being able to tell chinese stories well and interpret international trends.
it has also been a long process for china's rhythmic gymnastics collective project to export cultural confidence. as a main player in the 2008 beijing olympics, sun dan witnessed the first olympic medal for chinese rhythmic gymnastics. in 2019, he took over the coaching of the national team and had many feelings along the way. "in 2008, our understanding of chinese style was limited to some sporadic elements such as a short piece of peking opera sound, the accompaniment of chinese musical instruments, or a few decorative dance moves. the materials we could see at that time were not as rich as they are now. when i was an athlete, i was more exposed to modern dance, and the style was more european. when i first trained, i was better at rock, jazz, samba and other extroverted styles, because these are what i am good at. but slowly, i have to break the routine and think about the style that is most suitable and needed for the team." in this process, sun dan searched for a lot of materials and made brave attempts. "the first set of chinese style i created was a dunhuang-themed flying dance. i saw a ballet combined with dunhuang flying dance in a large-scale performance of the belt and road initiative. i thought the idea was great at the time, so i applied it to my own project. when i really tried to find inspiration in traditional chinese culture, i discovered its breadth and depth. i have access to more materials. nowadays, chinese style is everywhere. the confidence in traditional national culture is truly powerful because it has entered the lives of every ordinary person like us."
no matter how strong the cultural confidence is, it still needs to rely on solid skills to display and output. "since the last cycle, we have had a chinese-style set every year. the martial arts-style 3-lap 2-bar "heroes of heaven and earth" at the tokyo olympics was recognized. first of all, we have cultural confidence. secondly, as our results are getting better and better, we can also be bolder to show our traditional culture." guo qiqi said that at the beginning everyone was also worried about whether foreign judges and audiences could understand the chinese style, but soon there was no such concern. "because truly good things, everyone can feel and understand, and there will be resonance."
strengthen the guarantee and provide strong support for the composite team
when the team was just formed in the paris cycle, the gymnastics management center of the general administration of sports took the overall leadership and proposed that the team should aim to stand on the podium of the world championships. the team members felt that this was just a "pie in the sky". the two new players who joined the team at that time had a weak foundation, and the team's support level could not meet the goal requirements of the preparation. the difficulty of the team's preparation was obvious. in addition, except for the beijing olympics, the team has only stood on the podium of important international competitions a few times, and only stood on the podium of two world cups in 2014 and 2017.
in just three years, from the "small goal" of getting on the world cup podium to winning the olympic gold medal as the strongest dark horse, this team has created too many "milestone moments". "europe was still many, many years ahead of us. the reason why we finally 'overtook on the curve' was that our entire team was very united. we were heading in the right direction. on the one hand, we quickly internationalized and absorbed the essence; on the other hand, we did not give up our own strengths. we made the best combination." sun dan said emotionally, "our girls are a generation that can endure hardships and loneliness. they are highly focused and hardworking in training."
when feng yujuan, deputy director of the gymnastics center, took charge of the project in 2022, she realized that preparations for the rhythmic gymnastics project must be strengthened, and a composite support team that includes high-level coaches, medical rehabilitation, physical fitness, information collection, nutrition regulation, physiology, biochemistry and psychology should be formed. "under the overall leadership of the center, the gymnastics center has invested everything it can, and we have also exerted the spirit of 'nailing down' to mobilize shanghai, jiangsu, sichuan, zhejiang and chongqing, and have the provinces and cities where the five team members are located have sent long-term support personnel to the team."
unlike individual events, if one player has a problem, the whole team cannot train systematically. "in the olympic year, the whole team is walking on thin ice. the daily training must be closely monitored. if a player is tired, it will be adjusted in time. the coach controls the training volume. players with serious injuries must develop individual training plans. at the same time, we strengthen the strength of rehabilitation, physical fitness, psychology, information collection and other aspects." physical fitness needs to be strengthened from the perspective of injury prevention and ensuring the stable performance of technical level. therefore, in addition to the three physical fitness teachers stationed in the team for a long time, the team also hired a physical fitness teacher from italy to come to the team for guidance at important time nodes. the psychological counselor will often sit in the field when the players are training to observe their training and life. "the team has psychological training methods and means, such as regularly organizing reading club activities. the psychological teacher recommends books to read according to the age characteristics of the team members, and everyone communicates together. rhythmic gymnastics requires the support of cultural and artistic cultivation. the team often arranges for the team members to watch performances, exhibitions, movies, etc., which are also compulsory courses and basic skills. because artistic and cultural influences need to be accumulated bit by bit, they cannot be achieved quickly." in the sprint stage of the olympics, the team also strengthened nutritional support. "sometimes they practice until noon or the canteen closes at night before class ends. we bought a small trailer and a microwave oven, and the support staff packed lunches and sent them to the training venue or dormitory. sometimes the training volume is too large, and the support staff will make milkshakes with fruits, dried fruits, and yogurt to replenish the energy of the team members in the middle of the training. when the team members are too tired to eat dinner after training, we will help them add meals and make soup to supplement their nutrition." feng yujuan said.
in terms of increasing the teaching staff, sun dan has two more assistant coaches this cycle, one is russian foreign coach anastasia (anna for short), and the other is xu yanshu, a member of the national team who retired after the tokyo olympics. "the leaders have given us a lot of support, and we can always feel the care, love and expectations." sun dan is a "leader" of this team. "the team members are still very young, the two assistant coaches are very young, and everyone is working towards this goal. i am in the middle and often feel very stressed." sometimes late at night, sun dan would pace back and forth in the dark corridor of the apartment, "is what you edited right? does it conform to the rules and trends? is it just something you think is okay? i also have moments of self-doubt. but no matter how big the problem is, when i open the door of the training hall the next day, i will be the most cheerful and energetic person."
foreign coach anna unexpectedly attracted attention from the outside world at the paris olympics, but in sun dan's view, this coaching team is indispensable, and the two assistant coaches have made great contributions. "anna mainly provides support in terms of technical details and requirements, and control of rules. xu yanshu spends a lot of time on basic training and daily management. sometimes i have left, and she continues to watch the players train for an hour in the gym. she is very hardworking and motivated. she used to be teammates with the three old players, and they can get along well. she cares a lot about the players in life. it is rare for three women to form a team. we are very united. anna has a strong sense of integration. she does not regard herself as a foreigner. she is a person with very high quality and cultivation. the three of us are all from collective projects. we are very aware of serving and assisting others. we have a clear division of labor and close cooperation. we are very happy to work together."
"please come in and go out" from understanding to recognition
inviting anastasia to coach the chinese team is an important step for chinese rhythmic gymnastics to "come in". "in april 2022, i interviewed anna online and asked her a question: can you bear the team training 10 hours a day? as a result, anna said that she could accept more than 15 hours of training a day. i thought i heard it wrong, so i asked again, and the answer was still the same. only then did i realize that our training may not be the most." recalling this scene, feng yujuan smiled. "after dominating the rhythmic gymnastics event for many years, the russian team must have unique training concepts, methods and means. we didn't have the opportunity to access them before. anna opened a window for us."
as the champion of the london and rio olympics, and the runner-up of the tokyo olympics, anna's career as an athlete is so brilliant. if it were not for the special period and background, it would be difficult for her to choose to coach in china. the chinese team was also nervous about her arrival at first. "anna came from afar, did not speak the language, grew up in a different background and culture, and was bound to have a difficult period of adjustment with the team. but we treated her with the attitude of caring for her like family, and the whole team treated her well with all our heart, and she also felt it." anna adapted quickly and got along well with the chinese rhythmic gymnastics team. "at the beginning, anna would cry when she saw that the chinese players were training hard, and she remembered her experience as an athlete. she really wanted to help the chinese team. as a high-level russian athlete, anna brought advanced technology, and she often demonstrated in person, which was very dedicated. so before the paris olympics, we completed the phased renewal of the new cycle." feng yujuan said.
in addition to "please come in", the general administration's gymnastics center also strongly supports the chinese rhythmic gymnastics team to "go global". "we used to be very reserved. when we first took over in 2019, the team ranked around 10th in international competitions. the athletes were also timid and did not dare to take the initiative to communicate abroad. i will give them more encouragement. we will take the initiative to take pictures and communicate with other teams, express our respect, appreciation and love for each other, and we will find that foreign coaches and athletes are very easy to get along with, and they are also very willing to help the chinese team." sun dan led the team to participate in competitions and training abroad, communicated with referees and coaches from different countries, and took the initiative to listen to other people's opinions. "from the perspective of international referees, asian culture is niche. how do you tell your own story well? on the one hand, we must have good choreography, and on the other hand, we must constantly communicate with others, tell others your intentions and ideas, and let the other party empathize. for example, when we were training in italy in 2022, when we were communicating with coaches and referees, the other party heard our chinese-style music set "water dragon song". i explained the sound of water in the music and the slow-paced design to the italians. i said that i hope every drop of water can fall on your heart. they laughed and understood the unique aesthetic of leaving blank space in the east." sun dan said.
the characteristics of rhythmic gymnastics determine that "going out" is an inevitable choice for development. in the past, the team figured out the rules by themselves and lacked communication with the referees, resulting in a lack of consensus with the referees on the difficulty of the set. it was not clear which action was successfully determined to be difficult, with a "blind guess" nature. since the rules of the project are semi-open, the set choreography needs to be tested through competitions to see whether it meets the requirements of the rules. therefore, with the strong support and guarantee of the gymnastics center in the paris cycle, the chinese rhythmic gymnastics collective group can compete as much as possible and increase international exchanges. through continuous participation and exchanges, the team can better understand the rules. through continuous research on the winning rules, the team vigorously developed physical difficulty in the winter training before the olympics. compared with the 5-circle set in 2023, the difficulty score has increased by 2 points, and the 3-belt 2-ball has also increased by more than 1 point. the new set is more competitive in terms of difficulty value. in order to get a good grasp of the judges' scoring direction before the olympics, with the support of deputy directors chang cheng and feng yujuan of the gymnastics center, the team also "invited in" high-level referees: from last year's winter training to before the olympics, they continuously invited high-level referees from home and abroad to come into the team to review the choreography and check it, and then they kept polishing and reviewing the complete choreography to make it perfect day by day.
one month before the olympics, the team transferred to a city with similar climate and venue conditions to the paris olympics, and organized three pre-match tests, strictly following the olympic games competition time and the order of appearance in the qualifying rounds, to conduct full-process simulation tests. at the same time, the team built a high platform at the training base in beijing that basically simulated the paris olympics competition venue in terms of size and layout. these early preparations played an important role in helping athletes quickly adapt to the competition environment at the olympics.
paris blooms with one dance and becomes famous all over the world
the chinese rhythmic gymnastics team came to the paris olympics with more confidence and determination than in previous olympics, but suffered a "wake-up call" in the qualifying round and only advanced to the finals with fifth place, which was significantly below the team's expectations.
"we were all quite surprised when the qualifying scores came out. we have participated in many world cup competitions this year, and we ranked relatively high in both artistic points and completion points. the qualifying completion points were very different from our expectations." although there were some doubts and disappointment, chang cheng and feng yujuan urged sun dan not to let the team members be affected, as there is still a chance in the finals and stability is of vital importance.
feng yujuan said: "i told sun dan not to lose confidence. the final preparation should be based on eight words: do your best and wait for opportunities." since bulgaria and israel won the gold medals in the collective and individual events at the tokyo olympics, the international situation of rhythmic gymnastics has been in chaos. "in the collective events, any of the seven teams, israel, bulgaria, italy, spain, china, brazil and france, may be on the podium, but they may also be seventh. without the russian team, there is no one dominating, and no one is absolutely sure. before leaving for paris, we hope that the team can do well in the controllable part, adjust their mentality, show their training level, and attack the opponent with the mentality of a challenger." "do your best and wait for opportunities" is not just a consolation, but also a prediction based on data analysis. "looking at the performance of each team in this year's world cup, there are not many teams that can complete all four sets in each race. our success rate ranks among the top, and the only team that can be comparable to us is the israeli team. in the end, we won because of the success rate. almost all opponents in the final made mistakes, and even two strong teams made 'catastrophic mistakes'. however, the chinese team did not make any big mistakes such as dropping equipment in the four sets from the qualifying round to the final. it can basically be said that we achieved zero mistakes." feng yujuan said.
looking back on this process of first depression and then rise, sun dan fully affirmed the performance of the team members. "you can't be too brave or too cautious. you must maintain a stable level, because every action on the field has the risk of mistakes. in such a tense occasion as the olympics, the five girls are in a stable state of mind. everyone can control themselves and not be impatient. it is not easy to present high-quality and complete works on the world stage." sun dan is not obsessed with the color of the medal. in her opinion, it is enough to be the best of yourself. "in fact, when i was waiting for the other teams to score, i felt very complicated. of course, i hope we can win medals or even gold medals, because the whole team has paid a lot for this. but there is also something i can't bear to see. how can you say that you are the most hardworking? which team doesn't work hard? when we see some teams fail, we also have mixed feelings in our hearts, so we are eager for the result of winning the gold medal, but if we don't get it, we can also let it go because we have done our best."
the team members were not so calm. one month after the olympics, they still couldn't express their excitement when they looked back at the moment of winning the gold medal. "after our scores came out, the three teams behind us came on stage one by one. the first team didn't score higher than us and got on the podium! at this time, i said to my teammates, 'it would be great if the medal could be silver.' then the second team didn't score higher than us and got the silver medal! i said again, 'i really want to sing the national anthem at the olympics.' the score of the last team came out and they got the gold medal! with excited hearts and shaking hands, we couldn't speak and could only hug each other and shout." huang zhang jiayang said with a smile.
wang lanjing is a "ruthless person". "while waiting for the final score, i said i was willing to exchange 10 years of my life for a gold medal." looking back on the process from being on the world cup podium, which seemed like a "pie in the sky", to winning the olympic gold medal, wang lanjing feels very lucky. "it's like a dream. it's not easy. the whole team gave us great support and all our efforts were spent on these two sets of works. i feel very lucky. it's not easy for my sisters. they have been working hard from the last cycle to now. i have only been here for two or three years and i have won the olympic gold medal. thanks to the accumulation of so many generations of predecessors, we will continue to pass on the quality and spirit of the rhythmic gymnastics team, which is hard training, hard work, teamwork, and mutual help."
after returning to beijing from the olympic champions' hong kong and macau tour, ding xinyi and wang lanjing have resumed training. "the sisters have laid a very stable foundation, so lanjing and i can go so smoothly. during the los angeles olympic cycle, we must also take every step down to earth." ding xinyi said that sometimes she would envy ordinary 20-year-old girls who can enjoy life easily, but embarking on the road of rhythmic gymnastics has made her gain more. "although it is a bit hard and tiring, the future development will be better. especially after winning the olympic gold medal this time, i am more grateful for my previous efforts and persistence."
after the paris olympics, according to the unified deployment of the gymnastics center, the chinese rhythmic gymnastics team will start the talent selection work for the los angeles olympics at the national championships in october and the national training camp in november. "in the next cycle, we must continue to provide good guarantees and strengthen the coaching force. this olympic gold medal has excited the national rhythmic gymnastics community. all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities will pay more attention to and support the project. i hope it will promote better development of the project." in feng yujuan's view, chinese rhythmic gymnastics still needs to consolidate its foundation and seek new breakthroughs in the future. "our foundation is here. the traditional european powers are still very strong in talent reserve strength and thickness. we still have a big gap and a long way to go."
source: china sports daily
