Portraying One Another and Themselves
Sui Wenjing and Han Cong paired up in 2007. Their coach is Luan Bo who has made a name for herself in the skating world. That year, Wenjing was 12, and Han Cong was 15. Since then eight years have passed, the two remained together through thick and thin, and went on and off the ice rink regularly. Due to this, they have developed a strong understanding for each other.
In Han Cong’s eyes, the fact that Wenjing can endure hardships proves she’s brave and intelligent. “She always take the initiative to practice more, she trains nearly the same amount as male athletes. When girls start practicing difficult elements like throw jumps, most of the time they will be slightly afraid, but not Wenjing who was so relaxed and free that you couldn’t see any evidence of fear on her. We secretly call her Liu Hulan (notable female spy during Chinese civil war). She’s very sharp. When doing a difficult element like the throw quad, it’s not enough if you’re only brave because then you’re just doing it for the sake of doing it, and there would be no elegance to the element. Even the smallest details need to be handled smartly in order to execute the element well. In pairs skating that requires the cooperation of the movements between two people, I feel like Wenjing is smarter/sharper than other girls.”
During the conversation, Han Cong also showed off his “senior experiences”. “Wenjing has many strong points, but I’m not one to be always praising her. This is because she is still quite young and has less experience in society so I’m scared that she will be too proud. I tell her when she’s doing something wrong in the technical aspects, and which parts she can improve further. There are also times when I make careless mistakes and she would remind me too.”
In Wenjing’s eyes, despite Han Cong’s complex personality, the calmness and steadiness never changed. “When we were first paired up, I was 40cm shorter than him so I had to “look up” to him every day. If I don’t execute a move correctly, he would glare at me with squinted eyes. Although I was young, I was rather godly (I didn’t understand what this sentence meant so let’s just roll with the direct translation here, sorry). One time, I felt extra sad after being lectured by him so I burst into tears, and since then he became much gentle. After so many years together, he transformed from a figure of authority to an older brother who wanted to improve alongside me. Even though there can be conflict in the relationship between a brother and a sister, we always resolve ours very quickly.
In a battle of wits and wisdom with Han Cong, Wenjing has figured out her own strategy to it: “Han Cong is rather stubborn and it’s not easy for him to change his opinions. So I would go and complain to our coach in secret. Our coach would lecture him and only then would he accept. (She laughs.) Han Cong is not good at talking, especially when it comes to saying praises. He's is able to give criticism, though he can barely give any words of inspiration, but his encouragement to me shows in his actions.”
The experienced and sensible Han Cong is accustomed to view his shortcomings hypercritically. Before every practice session, he would stand alone in a corner to have some peace and quiet so he could run through all the technical elements in his mind once. He said that he has weaker coordination. “My lower secondary teacher told me, Han Cong, you are a silly bird, and silly little birds need to fly first.” Even when everyone was doing the same question, Han Cong would take longer than the rest to find the answer. The same thing happens on the ice rink: others can learn a move really fast whereas Han Cong needs to practice many times before he can grasp the same moves. “I’m persistent. When I set my mind on something, I must go and try it. There is a possibility that I will fail if I only tried an element once, but when I try an element twenty times there’s bound to be a few times where I’m successful at completing it. If we don’t try anything, how will we know the results?”
Wenjing, on the other hand, maintained her consistent conducts. “My biggest flaw is that I’m careless and not attentive to details. However, my flaw can sometimes be an advantage to me. I have a good and bold character so I’m always very open/lively during practice sessions or competitions. I won’t have too much burden and I could get along with anyone.”
