Return to the top of the road to champions

February 2006, 2, Li Chun.

At the Capital International Airport, a 127-member Chinese delegation participating in the Turin Winter Olympics boarded a flight to Turin, Italy.

In addition to the participating athletes, coaches and Chinese officials, there are also two doctors with special identities. They were both sent back to the capital for three major examinations and several consultations. Three days later, the most conservative treatment was adopted for the conditions of Tao Wei and Wan Xiaodong while ensuring that the competition would not be affected.

After three months, although the situation improved slightly, it was only maintained. This made Shi Yang and Rong Boyuan, who were always by their side, feel extremely heavy.

Rong Boyuan didn't know if other athletes were like this, but watching Tao Wei walking all the way, Rong Boyuan knew that it was too difficult and too tiring for this child who was always smiling.

Before leaving, standing at the airport, looking at Tao Wei in a brand-new red sportswear, and Rong Boyuan, who stretched out his finger outside for the first time to touch the smile lightly, revealed the impatience in his heart.

At that moment, there was a stark contrast between the gentle smile and the slightly trembling fingers. Rong Bo was far from expressing his distress. Tao Wei understood, but this was his dream, the dream he had pursued all his life.

Athletes suffer so much that athletes can’t understand it without being in it. Behind the applause, there is only blood and sweat. No matter what kind of brilliance they show to the world, behind them, they are just a group of ordinary people who are persistent for their dreams.

The roads we choose are different, and the things we face along the way are not the same, leaving no regrets is Tao Wei's greatest pursuit.

Stretching out his arms and hugging Rong Boyuan with tense facial features, Tao Wei turned and left, standing in the crowded airport, watching the white wings soaring into the sky, Rong Boyuan closed his eyes.

Thinking of Tao Wei who was quietly lying next to him last night, whispered softly, "Last time."

Rong Boyuan knew that this time would be Tao Wei's farewell battle, and Rong Boyuan also knew that even if he tried his best, Tao Wei would not let himself have any regrets.

Twelve hours later, the special plane from China landed at Italy's Caselle Airport at 12:[-] p.m. local time. Tao Wei, who had tensed facial features, had a smile on his face when he really set foot on this land.

After more than three months of conservative treatment, he did not participate in the first ice test of the figure skating team one and a half months ago. Tao Wei was actually a little uneasy under his calm appearance. Whether he will be able to participate in the Winter Olympics, Tao Wei, who only has "today" on the calendar, knows for the first time that he is also afraid. Knowing that he is a little closer to Turin, but now, he is here, he has come to Turin.

It seemed that the whole heart was let go, Tao Wei's expression was a little relaxed, but Ma Deming, who was standing beside Tao Wei, was secretly worried. Although Tao Wei's injury didn't seem to be getting worse, it was heavier than imagined. Three months of conservative treatment can only allow Tao Wei to persist in one game, but no one knows what the actual situation is.

Ma Deming understands Tao Wei's persistence, but because he understands it, Ma Deming is even more worried. Even if it's not a performance slip, Tao Wei still has two competitions, fierce competition, whether Tao Wei can persevere is unknown.

Like Ma Deming, Shi Yang was also worried. Wan Xiaodong's injury was more serious than Tao Wei's. Following the right ligament tear, Wan Xiaodong's Achilles tendon also had problems. Xiaodong hugged Shi Yang's neck and cried quietly.

Shi Yang couldn't forget Wan Xiaodong's choked up words, "The last time, the last time."

Seeing Wan Xiaodong with a bright smile beside him, Shi Yang's heart ached. Who could have imagined that this child with a bright smile came here to fulfill his last dream.

Shi Yang is not afraid that Wan Xiaodong has no toughness or ruthlessness, Shi Yang is afraid that Wan Xiaodong really bets the rest of his life on the field, and he can't stop it, and he can't stop it. All Shi Yang can do is to accompany him.

The heart that has been filled with a deep sense of powerlessness is quietly tormenting Shi Yang. Shi Yang often feels confused. Is the honor of the country really so important?Is it really that hard to give up?Tao Wei is like this, and so is Wan Xiaodong.

He couldn't figure it out and couldn't see through it, even if he was a former athlete, Shi Yang still couldn't see clearly.

No matter how impatient he is, time will not stop its progress because of personal entanglements. After a short rest for a day, Tao Wei came to the training ground belonging to the Chinese team at eight o'clock the next morning to test the ice, and Wan Xiaodong Also rushed to the training ground to start their own training.

On February 2th, the four-year Winter Olympics officially kicked off after the grand opening ceremony. Tao Wei's first match was scheduled at 10:12 pm on the 500th. Two of the three events in the competition are directly cut off, as long as you prepare for the men's [-] meters.

But this time, Wan Xiaodong accepted all without any opinions, and the two brothers, who were no longer greedy and just wanted to bring their sports career to a successful conclusion, waited and prepared silently.

Two days passed in a blink of an eye. At 12:[-] pm on the [-]th, the men's figure skating short program competition officially began. Immediately after Yagudin retired, in just two years, a batch of outstanding players emerged in the figure skating arena. Sacek, Daisuke Takahashi from Japan, Lambiel from Switzerland, each with new faces, and each strong competitor made Tao Wei, who stood on the Winter Olympics again after four years, doubled the pressure.

Moreover, behind Tao Wei stands the covetous Plushenko, not to mention others, with the retirement of Yagudin, the soaring Plushenko has become the leader of the Russian team, known as the prince on ice Plushenko's increasingly skilled aristocratic temperament deeply attracted everyone's attention.

Under the background of many rookies, Tao Wei, who is too calm, can't block the dazzling brilliance of several people even if he has the Olympic halo. This kind of situation casts a dull pressure on the figure skating team.

And Tao Wei himself, at this point, no longer worry about gains and losses and panic. If he had to use one word to describe Tao Wei, it would be peaceful.

Concise as always, Tao Wei walked into the backstage. Tao Wei, who appeared ninth, took off his coat and started to warm up. There was no impatience or restlessness. The unexpected peace made Tao Wei seem out of place with the hectic backstage.

The short program was taken from the episode of the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Tao Wei officially appeared on the stage at 87.6:[-] p.m., with a calm appearance and gentle temperament. Gooding has created a game-high score of [-].

This made everyone's eyes hotter, and unconscious tension gradually swept the audience. Ice and snow lovers from all over the world didn't know what kind of excitement this king of figure skating would bring to everyone, but their expectations grew stronger.

Taking a deep breath, Tao Wei, who gave a slight gesture, moved in the slightly graceful music, with outstretched arms, slightly raised head, slender legs, flexible feet, accompanied by brushing The sound of breaking the ice, a three-turn, Tao Wei, who bypassed the half court, directly used the three-turn to connect, and then jumped inside the ice.

It was the first time I saw someone directly tap the ice on the back of the three-turn connection, and the audience let out an exclamation. They stared at the rapidly spinning figure in the midair with flickering eyes, and Ma Deming, who was holding the guardrail tightly with both hands, was unconsciously infected. This kind of tension, just a few seconds seems to have become extremely long.

With a sound of swiping, the steady falling ice connects with the perfect lo, and the introverted elegance is perfectly displayed at this moment. The stretched and slender limbs are graceful, elegant, and naturally exude a faint tranquility like a moon, spinning and jumping on the beat, It seems that this slightly graceful piece of music was prepared for Tao Wei.

In the short program of 40 minutes and 2 seconds, Tao Wei, who turned into a steel butterfly, perfectly combined strength, speed, softness and even tranquility. The performance conquered more than [-] spectators.

When the music stopped, Tao Wei, who was squatting and spinning, also stopped spinning rapidly. Tao Wei, who was breathing heavily and blushing, stood up. Cheers, shouts, and thunderous applause came together, making the huge venue buzz. song.

Bending down and bowing, Tao Wei, who ended the short program, showed a slight smile on his face, slipped his feet, and Tao Wei, who left the arena, disappeared from everyone's sight. Tao Wei, who was staring at the big screen, finally showed a bright smile at this moment.

At 90.56, Tao Wei, who defeated Plushenko in one fell swoop, got the highest score in the game. Finally relieved, Tao Wei smiled and grabbed the towel hanging around his neck and rubbed his wet scalp vigorously.

The game, which lasted for more than four hours, did not come to an end until eleven o'clock, and Tao Wei also firmly occupied the first place with the highest score of 90.56 in the game.

On February 2th, Tao Wei did not have a game, but Wan Xiaodong had a preliminaries. In the famous Orver-Lingotto Stadium, Tao Wei, who had completed the system inspection at 13 o'clock, finished his daily inspection and put on a sports suit. The clothes hurried away.

Tao Wei, who rushed to the gymnasium at [-]:[-], saw Yang Xiangle sitting in the athlete zone, "Has Xiaodong's competition started?"

Before sitting down, Tao Wei asked loudly. In the noisy gymnasium, Yang Xiangle, who needed to get close to hear clearly, shook his head when Tao Wei spoke again, and handed Tao Wei the game table in his hand, "Hurry up."

Tao Wei, who finally caught up, breathed a sigh of relief, but at this time Tao Wei didn't know that the results of the morning's examination made the hearts of several team doctors, team leader Huang Zhong, and coach Ma Deming clouded.

Especially the two specially recruited doctors, they never expected that Tao Wei's situation would become so serious in just one game. The original jagged bone connection had broken, and what was even more chilling was Tao Wei's pelvic cavity. There are free fragments inside, and the number of fragments has reached an astonishing five, one of which is not small in size.

Under normal circumstances, Tao Wei should be in unbearable pain and unable to move at this time, but after the morning checkup, Tao Wei who disappeared quickly moved extremely quickly, and he couldn't tell that he was a patient at all.

This made the two people a little puzzled and confused. After thinking and thinking, they looked at each other. Dr. Zhao Guiqin looked at Ma Deming, "Coach Ma, have your team members done antibody training?"

Antibody?What's the meaning?Ma Deming, who was completely puzzled, shook his head, "Doctor Zhao, I don't know exactly what you mean."

After thinking about it, Zhao Guiqin explained briefly. To put it bluntly, Tao Wei is better than ordinary people in terms of pain tolerance. Maybe the players of the national team have done similar pain training.

As soon as Zhao Guiqin finished speaking, there was silence in the room. Ma Deming, who was smiling wryly, resisted the momentary sadness and shook his head, "Doctor Zhao, it is impossible for our team members to do this kind of training. Look, all the players of the national team are actually suffering from injuries all the year round, and for a long time, they must be better than ordinary people in terms of pain tolerance."

The simple explanation made Zhao Guiqin stunned. She is a military doctor. In her heart, only some special arms have the endurance like Tao Wei and the others, but she never thought that such a group of young people would be like this. At this moment, Zhao Guiqin couldn't Know what to say.

Of course, Tao Wei was not clear about all this. After waiting for more than 20 minutes, when the hour hand pointed to nine o'clock, Wan Xiaodong appeared. Wan Xiaodong, who represented the national team in the men's 500-meter preliminaries, stood on the first track The gunshot sounded, and Wan Xiaodong, who rushed out of the starting point in an instant, slid rapidly like an arrow off the string, his strong arms and strong legs all jumped up, even standing on the stands, Tao Wei could still see clearly the Stretched and bulging big bag.

Although he knew that with Wan Xiaodong's tenacity, he would be able to persist in the game, but Tao Wei was still worried. Tao Wei had experienced the pain of torn ligaments before, and the pain that followed all the time made people very irritated.

Fortunately, Wan Xiaodong is the number one runner in the 500 meters after all, so there is no suspense, Wan Xiaodong advanced to the semi-finals as the number one.

Perhaps it was because the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics were too ugly. There hasn't been a case of black judgment in this year's Winter Olympics. This also made Tao Wei, who saw Wan Xiaodong cross the finish line first, heave a sigh of relief.

However, Tao Wei did not leave in a hurry, but Wan Xiaodong's 500-meter semi-final will start again at [-] p.m.

Tao Wei didn't know how the two consecutive games had hurt Wan Xiaodong. He advanced to the semi-finals as the number one, and Wan Xiaodong, who walked off the field with a smile, just walked into the backstage and met Chen who was welcoming him. Fei and Shi Yang.

The slightly stiff right leg made Shi Yang and Fade Chen's hearts sink. He pulled Wan Xiaodong's hand back to his seat. Shi Yang took off the skates on Wan Xiaodong's feet, and immediately lifted Wan Xiaodong's hand Looking at the socks, Wan Xiaodong saw a big bump on the top of Wan Xiaodong's right heel, and his skin was also edematous. When he opened Wan Xiaodong's trouser legs, his knee, which was also shiny due to edema, was extremely red and swollen.

Lightly touched with his hand, the scorching heat came from under his palm, pressed Shi Yang's hand, and gently pulled it away, Wan Xiaodong put down his trousers and put on his socks.

Wan Xiaodong, who refused Shi Yang to check again with his actions, looked up at Shi Yang and Fade Chen standing in front of him together, "I want to participate in the competition."

Wan Xiaodong, who immediately blocked Chen Fei's refusal, made Shi Yang stiff. He moved his lips and wanted to speak, but was blocked by the shining eyes that fell on his body.

It was a kind of heat that couldn't be described in words, and it was also a kind of persistence that completely blocked his life. At this moment, everyone present understood Wan Xiaodong's choice, and would rather die on the field than be this deserter.

Closing his eyes to block the scorching heat in his eyes, Shi Yang turned around and left the backstage and also Wan Xiaodong.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, Wan Xiaodong played again, still on the first track, still with injuries invisible to others, this time the competition was more intense, not the same as in the morning, this time, Wan Xiaodong, who was in Group B, had A strong opponent, Hamlin, a world famous short track speed skating player from Canada.

If Wan Xiaodong is the well-deserved king of the men's 500m, then Hamlin is the current all-around king of short track speed skating. The two people who should not have met so early unexpectedly stood on the same field in the semi-finals.

Shi Yang, who was standing on the coach's bench, saw Hamlin for the first time, and his heart sank. Shi Yang knew Wan Xiaodong, and at this point, Wan Xiaodong would never give up the gold medal no matter what, but haha Mlyn is too strong.

If Wan Xiaodong wants to win the gold medal, he must first grab the tickets to the finals. He looked at the overly calm Wan Xiaodong with worried eyes, and Shi Yang's heart seemed to have sunk to the bottom.

Lowering his eyelids to hide the sadness in his eyes, Shi Yang raised his eyelids again and shouted, "Xiaodong."

Following the shout, Shi Yang raised his abnormally heavy arm and stretched out his fingers high. The raised thumb made Wan Xiaodong's eyes brighten, and the slowly rising smile made Shi Yang's chest feel bright. As if hit hard.In the twinkling eyes, joy, confidence and high fighting spirit poured out from Wan Xiaodong's eyes.

When the hour hand pointed to 35:[-], the race finally started. The moment the gunshots rang out, two figures rushed out in front of the starting line. The two figures seemed to be one shadow, flashing out indistinguishable from each other. Wan Xiaodong of the first track took advantage of the track to take the lead in completing the corner turn.

Hamlin, who followed closely behind, completed the same in just one second with an agility not inferior to Wan Xiaodong's. In the fourth turn, he overtook the leader Wan Xiaodong from the outer lane.

The flashing figure caused Wan Xiaodong's eyes to burst into dazzling light. He bit Hamlin in front of him tightly, not giving the opponent a chance to get rid of it. On the sixth track, he went from the outside like Hamlin. Overtaken by Wan Xiaodong, he regained the number one position.

At the seventh and eighth corners, the race was less than 50 meters away, and Wan Xiaodong, who maintained the lead, blushed.

He waved his arms vigorously and rushed towards the finish line, but Hamlin, who was closely behind Wan Xiaodong, rushed to Wan Xiaodong's side at this time, and at the same time raised his arms and equally powerful legs fiercely. Trapped on the ice, amidst the swishing sound, Hamlin who slightly surpassed Wan Xiaodong in the last ten meters made Wan Xiaodong's eyes red.

Wan Xiaodong suffocated, shouted angrily, swiped, and at the last moment took the lead to cross Hamlin and cross the finish line. Hamlin, who was less than a second away, lost to Wan Xiaodong by half an arm.

Although it was a bit regrettable, Hamlin didn't care about it. After all, the tickets for the final had already been bought at this time, and what Hamlin was waiting for was the final.

Taking a deep look at Wan Xiaodong, Hamlin walked towards the exit, and Wan Xiaodong, who couldn't hold back his momentum, also walked off the field after making a circle.

Shi Yang, who was waiting at the exit, supported Wan Xiaodong's arm as soon as Wan Xiaodong walked off the field, looked down at Wan Xiaodong's violently trembling right leg, and Shi Yang clenched his hands.

The semi-finals were over, but Wan Xiaodong, who returned to the station, couldn't stand up. Wan Xiaodong, whose right leg was all swollen below the knee, was examined by Zhao Guiqin and others, and it was confirmed that the ligaments on both sides of his right knee were completely ruptured, and that he was following There was also a slight rupture of the tendon. At this stage, in order to stabilize Wan Xiaodong's injury, Wan Xiaodong had to withdraw from the game and undergo surgery.

When this result was ruthlessly spit out from Zhao Guiqin's mouth, Wan Xiaodong, who was sitting on the bed with his head down, trembled slightly with his fingers, and everyone looked at Wan Xiaodong, "Xiaodong...."

"Xiaodong, retire."

"Yes, Xiaodong, you are still young, and you still have a chance."

A sound of persuasion made Wan Xiaodong's fingers tremble more and more. Wan Xiaodong, who was silent for a long time, filled everyone present with helplessness and powerlessness. Tao Wei, who had been silent all the time, squatted on Wan Xiaodong's bed until all the persuasion disappeared. Before, he held Wan Xiaodong's icy fingers, "Brother, retire."

Wan Xiaodong, whose eyes were reddened, raised his head the moment Tao Wei's voice fell, "Second baby."

There was incomprehensible sadness and unacceptable stubbornness in the glaring eyes, and he shook his head vigorously, "I want to participate in the competition."

Word by word, Wan Xiaodong's powerful six words, even gnashing his teeth, deeply shocked everyone present. Zhao Guiqin pressed Wan Xiaodong's shoulder for the first time, "Xiaodong, you can't participate in the competition, you right If the Achilles tendon is strained, it will completely rupture, and now you are not thinking about the game but about surgery."

With earnest persuasion, Wan Xiaodong burst into tears, and pressed his lips tightly, "It's not broken yet, Dr. Zhao, I can compete. Dr. Zhao, I'm going to retire. This is the last of my sports career." A game, can you let me finish it? Even if I don’t win the championship, I want to compete, I just want to finish this last step, okay?”

The choked up begging made Zhao Guiqin's heart sour, as if stuffed with sour fruit, how could he agree?She is a doctor, and her responsibility is to protect Tao Wei and Wan Xiaodong. Tao Wei's injury has already shown the worst results, and Wan Xiaodong is even more so. Now that he is undergoing surgery, Wan Xiaodong still has a chance of life, but when the time comes The rejection on the lips could not be spit out under those eyes full of sadness.