Li Zijun | Page 17 | Golden Skate

Li Zijun

Caustica

Caustica

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Crossover said:
I know, but her fans are not limited to China..Besides, I think we would have a lot of slow voters since this is a kind of semi-off break before Junior or Senior Worlds, so they can look into GS forums during Weekends or later on. That's why I wrote the post. :biggrin:
Click to expand...

Honestly Zijun is just getting caught in a crossfire between overly zealous Korean and Japanese fans. I would hazard to say that it's more a nationalistic sentiment thing rather than having anything to do with the skaters themselves.
 
E

Eclair

Medalist
Joined
Dec 10, 2012
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 :laugh:

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.
 
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E

Eclair

Medalist
Joined
Dec 10, 2012
Zijun is adoreable at that documentary:luv17: very well spoken and comes off as really thoughtful and smart

There are two issues I'd like to adress after I watched her documentary:

1. The first one is that it showed how vulnerable young girls are for critizsm, even from strangers on the internet. While I'm not shy to point out flaws or whatever I personally don't like about a skater, especially with young (senior debut year) skaters I try to be very careful how I adress a certain flaw (in my opinion). I would never go and write on a 15 year old's fb or weibo that she should be ashamed that she posted all these photos of her enjoying life, instead of training :drama::palmf:

2. The second issue is Zijun's weight. For some time I have felt that she lacks energy in her skating, maybe because she's too thin. I usually am very reluctant to judge other people's weight, but after watching this documentary I feel that zijun really is very talented (she herself said that maybe it was due to the lack of obstacles before, everything went very smoothly since she was little, that she didn't deal with the problems of her growth spurt very well).

And that this talent is being held back by her lack of stamina and strenght. I think some muscles and weight gain would improve her skating.

Having said that, I think it's irresponsible of her coach (and her parents!!) to restrict an athlete's water intake. That's seriously dangerous and everyone will tell you that you perform better when you're not thirsty. Also, I fear it's not a really good thing that her whole family is so focused on her weight control. Very bad infuence for a young girl, especially since we've all seen what happened to julia antipova. :cry:
 
B

Barb

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
Eclair said:
Zijun is adoreable at that documentary:luv17: very well spoken and comes off as really thoughtful and smart

There are two issues I'd like to adress after I watched her documentary:

1. The first one is that it showed how vulnerable young girls are for critizsm, even from strangers on the internet. While I'm not shy to point out flaws or whatever I personally don't like about a skater, especially with young (senior debut year) skaters I try to be very careful how I adress a certain flaw (in my opinion). I would never go and write on a 15 year old's fb or weibo that she should be ashamed that she posted all these photos of her enjoying life, instead of training :drama::palmf:

2. The second issue is Zijun's weight. For some time I have felt that she lacks energy in her skating, maybe because she's too thin. I usually am very reluctant to judge other people's weight, but after watching this documentary I feel that zijun really is very talented (she herself said that maybe it was due to the lack of obstacles before, everything went very smoothly since she was little, that she didn't deal with the problems of her growth spurt very well).

And that this talent is being held back by her lack of stamina and strenght. I think some muscles and weight gain would improve her skating.

Having said that, I think it's irresponsible of her coach (and her parents!!) to restrict an athlete's water intake. That's seriously dangerous and everyone will tell you that you perform better when you're not thirsty. Also, I fear it's not a really good thing that her whole family is so focused on her weight control. Very bad infuence for a young girl, especially since we've all seen what happened to julia antipova. :cry:
Click to expand...

I know. If you are thirsty is because you need liquids. I understand it at competitions but not at training. And agree she needs muscle. Even Elena and Evgenia look more muscular.
 
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B

begin

Medalist
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Eclair said:
Zijun is adoreable at that documentary:luv17: very well spoken and comes off as really thoughtful and smart

There are two issues I'd like to adress after I watched her documentary:

1. The first one is that it showed how vulnerable young girls are for critizsm, even from strangers on the internet. While I'm not shy to point out flaws or whatever I personally don't like about a skater, especially with young (senior debut year) skaters I try to be very careful how I adress a certain flaw (in my opinion). I would never go and write on a 15 year old's fb or weibo that she should be ashamed that she posted all these photos of her enjoying life, instead of training :drama::palmf:

2. The second issue is Zijun's weight. For some time I have felt that she lacks energy in her skating, maybe because she's too thin. I usually am very reluctant to judge other people's weight, but after watching this documentary I feel that zijun really is very talented (she herself said that maybe it was due to the lack of obstacles before, everything went very smoothly since she was little, that she didn't deal with the problems of her growth spurt very well).

And that this talent is being held back by her lack of stamina and strenght. I think some muscles and weight gain would improve her skating.

Having said that, I think it's irresponsible of her coach (and her parents!!) to restrict an athlete's water intake. That's seriously dangerous and everyone will tell you that you perform better when you're not thirsty. Also, I fear it's not a really good thing that her whole family is so focused on her weight control. Very bad infuence for a young girl, especially since we've all seen what happened to julia antipova. :cry:
Click to expand...

The part about restricting her water intake is horrifying! Her coaches and parents seem ill-informed about the nutrition an elite skaters needs to perform well if they believe starving her is going to make her better.

I don't want to accuse them of disregarding her long-term health, but their actions are very worrisome! :(
 
dorispulaski

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
While you are voting, you might want to watch all her videos that I added to the OP ;)

Best wishes to her at Worlds!
 
E

Eclair

Medalist
Joined
Dec 10, 2012
dorispulaski said:
While you are voting, you might want to watch all her videos that I added to the OP ;)

Best wishes to her at Worlds!
Click to expand...

Thank you doris! The link to her 2014 interview about how she likes yuna doesn't work .. Instead it's a video about animal cruelty:( I just discovered it per coincidence, when I was scrolling down the OP and accidently clicked on it :laugh:
 
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dorispulaski

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
It worked all right. It just is a blatant fake to get people to watch their video. Since it is in Korean, I didn't know this.
I am sorry.
 
E

Eclair

Medalist
Joined
Dec 10, 2012
dorispulaski said:
It worked all right. It just is a blatant fake to get people to watch their video. Since it is in Korean, I didn't know this.
I am sorry.
Click to expand...
No need to be... I wouldn't expect you to watch ALL the videos of the multiple OP's you're managing ;)
 
Layback11

Layback11

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
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