I've finally found some time to watch the documentary yyyskate posted above. Here's the youtube link since I couldn't watch it in yyyskates link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6ykBIgauDM
I didn't understand everything, but here are some key moments from what I understood. If there's anything wrong, feel free to point it out!:
Some coaches (?) talking about zijun:
- the first time I met her, I reckonned her to be a very intelligent child
- She's an all around skater
- her skills are well above comparison (relative to other chinese ladies skaters)
Zijun herself talking about her path:
- in 2014 I was physically not ready, because at that time my body was growing... I changed coaches .. both mentally and physically I was in bad shape.
her mother:
- she kept growing and growing. She fell even when doing things she usually didn't fall on (video showing zijun falling on an ina bauer)
then the narrator cited some people on weibo who critized Zijun for 'not training hard enough, instead spending too much time playing around and relaxing'.
zijun: Some people will compliment you, some will critized you. At that time I was very sensitive, because I was young and had never been confronted with such (critizism) before.
Zijun's mother: I think a lot of people don't really understand how it is to be an athlete. Before the competition training is hard, but after the competition it's time to relax.
Then they show Zijun and her mother enter the arena at 7:30 am, -28°C :shocked: is it really this cold outside??
Zijun's current coach:
She came to me in 2014. At that time both physically and mentally she's been at the very bottom.
Zijun about her current coach:
- He's different than other coaches. Not as strict. And not so (hostile???)
- when I have a bad training session, my mood might be a little less cheerful for the rest of the day (laughs)
Zijun about her father:
- my father is the kind of going-to-work-support-the-family-doing-laundry-cooking-dinner-type of father (laughs)
her mother:
- at first we didn't expect her to become an athlete. My colleague's daughter was learning figure skating and Zijun happened to be at one of her competitions. Afterwards Zijun told her mother, that she wanted to learn figure skating too.
Zijun: Because when I was little my mom was looking out for me 24h a day. And I felt, maybe, that when I learn how to skate, at the rink, she couldn't catch me.
In 2008 Zijun and 2 other girls were chosen to train abroad for one year. After she returned, she kept winning competitions, mostly first place.
Mother: there was one year, 2013-2014, she had trouble keeping her weight.
Zijun: Actually, I feel that the hardest part (about weight control) was not that I had to control my food intake, but rather it's that I was limited at drinking. At that time my coach forbid me to drink. Because even though you don't gain fat from drinking water, water is very heavy.
Mother:
- I made a pact with myself. Whenever Zijun had to leave out dinner, I wouldn't eat either.
- For normal people zijun seems to be very thin, but as an athlete, we have to maintain that.
Father:
- the more she weights, the greater the impact on her body.
Zijun:
- My father is more of a silent supporter. Especially when I feel very down or tired, he would say to me: If you're really tired, let's stop training and go home. I'll support you (financially) for the rest of your life. But I feel, since I've chosed this profession and have presevered for so many years, I shouldn't be talking about quitting.
Father:
- usually I don't come to her training, only when she's having a really hard time. Or when she's competing.
- I couldn't understand the rest of it since the background was so loud, something about the hard life of his child and that everyone wants to win gold, and it's not that only because you've endured the most, that you automatically win ??
Zijun:
- at that time my father rarely came to watch me practice, because he thought that my training was too hard. He was cheering for me at the distance (laugh)
Some coach??? I don't know who she is:
- I haven't seen her in a long time, but we would regularily keep in touch (internet, cell phone). I wish for her, that she can let it go a little and develope at a natural pace. Because her skills have already supassed the other chinese ladies skaters.
some snippets of zijun coaching, telling the child to do the jump again. And asking the other one, whether she thought her spiral position was more beautiful than the corrected one.
Zijun: I feel what I need to do the most right now, is to improve my results in competitions and then I would feel better (??).
After the competition her mom bought her a cake, saying that she will be ecstatic, since she loves to eat cake.
Seeing, zijun's reaction, it was rather subdued
After zijun won her national title (?): I would say, for me, this time winning gold probably wasn't the most important goal. It may more be about surpassing myself, having ?? in my heart.
I hope at the very end I will be able to have a good result. (sth sth??)
I thank my mom and dad for their support over all these years.
:luv17:
:luv17: adoreable
