Zijun Li has retired

[Eclair]

It's official now. Zijun Li has retired from competitive skating.

Source:
https://m.weibo.cn/status/4202962698103081
https://m.weibo.cn/status/4202670526721552

She completed the retirement procedure at the end of last year.

Any news or updates about her plans for the future are appreciated

A more in-depth interview earlier this season with one of her coaches HongBo Zhao revealed, that apart from the minor hip injury that was still bothering her in October, there seems to be some issues with Zijun's own motivation to continue skating. Hongbo Zhao explicitly named Yulia Lipnitskaya and the word Anorexia, when talking about Zijun's motivation to continue skating, indicating that there may be more going on behind the scenes.

source: https://3g.163.com/sports/article/D2GRKIGN00058782.html#adaptation=pc
and this with the whole video interview with HongBo Zhao:
https://3g.163.com/sports/article/D2KJRMCF00058782.html#adaptation=pc

All in all, Zijun is a beautiful skater with great potential. I had hoped to see her compete for a longer time, but chances seems to be slim.

For those who are not familiar with Zijun, she had a wonderful debut in 2013 with the second highest tech marks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlYGfkxaL20

during growth spurt and puberty, her career had ups and downs, but she brought us some wonderful and beautiful programs, including her Worlds 2016 SP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9h39Bg6n-I

and her to-date last competition at WTT which resulted in a new personal best:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bARqJw1FMQ

While her lines, presentation, interpretation and SS steadily improved over the years, her PCS were on a downwards trend, accumulating in her career's low at the last World championship (49 in PCS for her FS if I remember correctly). She was planning to compete to 'Galaxy' and 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' this season, but a minor hip injury resulted in her missing the earlier season competitions.

There were various weird things going on with Zijun, including her being left off the World Championship's team last year only days after she gave an interview about her former coach and her strict diet. Later on, she was again added to the list, but there were numerous rumors of what went on, including: she had a fever and was in bad physical shape (official statement), she missed a doping test, so the fed thought she might have doped and pulled her just in case, but later this was proven wrong thus her reinstallation on the Team (never proven or official statement), Zijun had a fight with her fed regarding the one Olympic spot in 2018 (never proven) or that it was because of the interview she has given and that was published just days prior the decision.

Whoever wants to know more about Zijun, here is a link for a documentary about her. It was due to this documentary that I fell in love with her skating and personality, as it shows that there is so much more depth to her personality than just the inital soft spoken pretty girl. Sadly there are no subtitles, but maybe someone can change that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6ykBIgauDM

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I made this tribute to one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. She just has a way about her that I found so inspiring and I’ll never forget her. Thru the ups and downs...she was a true gem!

https://youtu.be/vl7yIgPmNNw

What a sad day :sad21:

 

[Spirals for Miles]

No no no....
I must hope that this isn't true!!!!

 

[gsk8]

She is indeed a lovely skater. In addition to injuries, she has had several coaching changes over the past few years and probably feels as though she reached her peak.

 

[solar]

I hope that's not true. Watching her skate at 2013 Worlds, she showed so much potential, and I hope for the best for her.

 

[Spinning]

Nooooooo :sad21:

I know she has a tough season but still hoping for her to regroup and aim for Beijing2022.

 

[Eclair]

I hope that's not true. Watching her skate at 2013 Worlds, she showed so much potential, and I hope for the best for her.

me, too, especially since she has already choreographed and practiced her 2 new programs that we'll probably never see in international competition and high video quality :sad4:

 

[Mrs. P]

Oh no.

 

[lavenderblossom]

I first saw Zijun last year at 4CC. Perhaps for her it was not the best memory, but I thought she was a wonderfully elegant skater in spite of her flaws. I was so happy for her at WTT. :sad4: Noooo!

 

[icybear]

She really does seems to have lost her motivation for some reason. I thought she was really to fight for the olympic spot at the start of the season given that she had 2 new programs but recently her social media just seems to be about doing other activities like singing, painting, snowboarding. Kinda a shame since she's still easily China leading lady since the field is so empty and could compete at the international stage for quite a few more years

 

[Crossover]

No....I really hope not. She is such a lovely and elegant skater that still can give to the world many things with her skating. The recent discordant relationship between the fed and injuries have worried me, so her imminent retirement is not entirely shocking, but still sad. Though I've thought she still aims to compete until 2022 Olympics where she proudly can present her skating in front of the home crowd. I hope she finds her motivation and not retire now.

 

[OS]

What can I say, I am devastated... She could be China's brightest star, natural born charisma, elegance, skating pretty and lovely in spades, and has not reached her potential nearly enough.

No point in finger pointing, but things went weird after 2013 when I hear stories about her fed want to limit her water intake, injury slump, power and stamina issues, coach uncertainty, fed politics while PCS went to pieces (undeservedly).. I don't think she received the support that is needed at her level... team and fed support are so important in this 'sport'.

 

[Crossover]

What can I say, I am devasated... She could be China's brightest star, natural born charisma, elegance, skating pretty in spades, and has not reached her her potential nearly enough.

No point in finger pointing, but things went weird after 2013 when I hear stories about her fed want to limit her water take, and there's the injury slump, while PCS went to pieces..

Since the sensational senior debut at the 2013 Worlds, I thought she can be a big star after Lulu. Oh, well..

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

I first saw Zijun last year at 4CC. Perhaps for her it was not the best memory, but I thought she was a wonderfully elegant skater in spite of her flaws. I was so happy for her at WTT. :sad4: Noooo!

https://instagram.com/p/1k6t9wTXwX/

 

[tars]

Very sad news. She's always reminded me Yuna Kim, just without a proper team and often underscored.
Beautiful slim figure and hands, good jumps and innate grace. What a waste of talent. :scowl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bARqJw1FMQ

 

[purplecat]

I always enjoyed watching her. Wishing her the best in whatever comes next for her!

 

[anyanka]

Two moments for me that defined her: her fabulous FS at 2013W, and Lori Nichol consoling her as she got off the ice after her disastrous FS at 2015W on home ice, when Lori said "please don't cry" while Zijun was distraught.

I'll miss her, she never reached her full potential as a skater.

 

[blackey]

I think it is confirmed. Well, I think we all see this coming..

 

[livetoskate]

This is sad because she has worked to hard to get to her level of skating, but based on Instagram, she looks to be in a happy place. Thanks for the link to the documentary. I haven't watched all of it and can't understand everything, but it looks like eating/diet was a big deal. She blames her bad season on growing bigger, and there's something she says about her coach telling her not to drink so much water?? to lose weight. Her mom, who attended every practice, said something about how she felt bad that Zijun was on a diet, so if Zijun didn't eat anything, then her mom would also not eat. I always thought she was a pretty and elegant skater, just a bit slow and weak with the jumps. Hope she can find other things to satisfy her outside of skating now.

 

[hippomoomin]

I had high hopes for her around 2012, 2013 but in the past three years, it is just very frustrating to watch her. I don't really see significant improvement in her SS and presentation. She has the same type of programs year after year. She hardly had any meltdown in jumps but her programs are very basic and UR has become a big issue for her. If Xiangning Li didn't outrank her at Worlds last year, she may have stronger motivation to stay in competition. It is also impossible for her to get into top 10 at worlds now.

Since there is only one spot at the Olympics, trying hard but end up not being qualified might be a huge embarrassment for her. She had little challenge in China for so many years. To be honest, Xingning Li has much better SS and better spins, though her jumps need much improvement.