Hohhot, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- When the clock rings and the glasses clang, we toast to the new year, and at the same time we are one year older.
Some people say that if you want to see the world from a different perspective on a snowboard, it is best before the age of 30, if you want to point ice on your toes and swim like a dragon, it may be earlier, after all, it is as strong as the Russian figure skating "three babies", all of whom are facing the development of puberty - if you lose your technical movements due to weight gain, you will not be able to do so.
In view of the limitations of human physiology, professional athletes are often regarded as a profession that eats "youth rice", especially when dealing with "cruel" ice and snow events, it seems that it is not too early.
On the "Fourteenth Winter" field, 12-year-old snowboarding "Rising Star" Zhou Yizhu made a shocking appearance; The 20-year-old Winter Olympic champion Su Yiming turned the tables against the wind and won the first gold medal of the individual Winter Games; "Post-00" Sun Long was crowned the "Four Gold Kings" of short track speed skating ......The people who go up the mountain are embracing the world, and the "people who go down the mountain" after climbing the peak have made our blood boil, and also made us sigh: the back of the young and promising often says that the years are invincible.
The wheels of time roll on, but in the "Fourteen Winters" event, there is one exception - curling. In the arena known as "ice chess", age is not a shackle, but a medal of experience.
On February 23, Sichuan team players Zhou Yan (left), Wang Bingyu (middle), and Jiang Simiao were in the game. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Xinbo "That's Wang Bingyu. "It doesn't feel the same. On the 22nd, the audience of the women's curling arena was not very calm, and Wang Bingyu, Yue Qingshuang, and Zhou Yan, who had retired for several years, returned to the arena, making everyone shout: "Dream back to 2010". Even they sighed: "Seeing my former teammates, it's like I'm back in Vancouver." ”
In 2009, they and teammate Liu Yin's "Four Golden Flowers" won their first gold medal at the World Championships, and the following year they won bronze at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Now, as coaches and teachers, they are at peace in the face of victory and defeat. "It's a very rare opportunity to compete with my old teammates, and I feel lucky to be able to participate in the quadrennial National Winter Games. Many people choose to leave for a while and come back, which is also the charm of curling. Wang Bingyu said.
Teammate Zhou Yan also attaches more importance to "presence". She said: "I want to pass on my dedication, dedication and love for the project to the young team members. ”
On February 22, Sichuan team players Wang Bingyu (left) and Zhou Yan were in the game. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Xinbo Like them, in the men's curling field, veterans such as Ba Dexin, Zang Jialiang, Zou Qiang, and Xu Xiaoming also appeared, some of them served as coaches and athletes, and some were "full-time" players for the whole winter meeting. In the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics with the Chinese men's team won the fourth place, Ba Dexin, chose to return to the Winter Games after retiring, and he is not old, in the mixed doubles final against the Fujian team, through the extra game to strengthen the defense "steal" points successfully, to help the Heilongjiang team win 7:6 narrowly won the gold.
The opponent is a little more physical than us, so we just keep our composure and use our experience to try to drag the game to the end to see who is more nervous. Ba Dexin said.
On February 20, Heilongjiang player Ba Dexin (second from right) celebrates the victory of the game. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Xinbo Using humor to resolve tension is Ba Dexin's consistent practice. He only started curling at the age of 16 and never left at the age of 34, and he jokes that his curling career was a little later than others. "From athletes, coaches to teachers, in addition to wanting to change their lifestyle, I also want to pass on curling knowledge to more students, and I hope that more people will participate in this sport. Ba Dexin said that he hopes that curling can enter the campus and let more people fall in love with curling by opening curling classes and building curling venues.
Age makes him more calm, and it also gives more curling veterans experience and precipitation.
Looking at the medal-winning teams of previous Winter Olympics, it can be found that in the "rivers and lakes" of curling, "seniority" and more experience in competitions are the key factors for victory. At the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese men's curling team, with an average age of more than 29 years old, was considered a "latecomer" against the European powerhouse dominated by the "veterans of many dynasties", and their opponent, Norwegian curling player Tog Nel, was over forty years old. Jones, the captain of the Canadian women's curling team at the "Mom" level, also said in an interview that although she is more than twice the age of many opponents, she still feels young.
On February 22, Heilongjiang team player Ma Xiuyue was in the game. In the end, the Heilongjiang team defeated the Jilin team 7:2. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Fan "Just like playing chess, the more situations you encounter, the more solutions you have. Ma Xiuyue, who represented the Heilongjiang team in the "14th Winter", said in an interview that she still felt regretful when she looked back on the experience of the Beijing Winter Olympics two years ago. "We have participated in too few international competitions, our performance is not very consistent, and we lack the details of key games. ”
From just walking to ninety-nine, there is almost no age limit for curling. Tan Weidong, a former coach of the Chinese women's curling team, said with a smile, "Stable technique, calm temperament and calm mentality often determine the outcome of curling matches, and these may only be given by time." ”
When the "sabre-rattling" arena becomes a "reunion of old friends", a proof of the love of the past and a journey of the soul, age is just a simple number.