[Short track speed skating] From academic master to Winter Olympic champion

"Senior brother," Gu Ran looked at Gao Ziyi and hesitated to speak.Under the dim light, his eyes were still bright, like sparks that would never go out, "I have a question for you."

"Ask." Gao Ziyi saw that he was planning to have a long talk, so he sat cross-legged on the bed.

Gu Ran bit her lower lip: "That's right, I'm a little curious... Yesterday, after you lost to Yin Canyu in the 1500m final, what were you thinking?"

Gao Ziyi felt that this was not a question worthy of his staying up all night, so he asked seriously: "I have lost three games before, and there is a high probability that I will lose another game next week. To be honest, this game is nothing special. a feeling of."

After hearing this, Gu Ran fell into deep thought. This was an unexpected answer, but it was reasonable to think about it.

However, Gao Ziyi's answer made him feel complicated.

Snowflakes were falling outside the window, and the room was well heated. Gu Ran pushed the quilt aside and sat with her knees hugged.

He asked Gao Ziyi again: "Don't you feel a little uncomfortable in your heart?"

Gao Ziyi asked back: "How do you feel?"

"It's just..." Gu Ran tilted her head and thought for a while, "Unconvinced, unwilling, angry, and desperate to win back."

Gao Ziyi understood what he meant: "Of course! I want to beat him every time. But objectively speaking, there is a gap in strength between Yin Canyu and me. Even if I try hard to surpass him, it will take some time."

Gu Ran bit her lower lip and buried her head in her arms: "Brother, I'm a little scared right now."

Gao Ziyi stroked his soft hair: "What are you afraid of?"

Gu Ran's head was still buried in his arms, and he spoke in a muffled voice: "Actually, those people on the Internet are right, indeed, because of the infighting among the Koreans, I won a gold medal for nothing. , I am not as good as them."

Gao Ziyi let out an "um" from his nose, and asked again: "And then?"

Gu Ran said: "Then, I think I might not be able to beat him in next week's competition..." At this point, he added, "I can't beat that Yin Canyu."

Gao Ziyi's voice sounded extra gentle at night: "It's okay, I can't win too?"

Gu Ran didn't speak, but shook her head slightly.

Gao Ziyi smiled: "Is this the trouble of a genius?"

Gu Ran raised her head to look at him: "What trouble?"

"It's the first time to participate in an international competition, and I am worried that I will not be able to beat them against the world's number one player."

Gu Ran asked: "Brother think I'm not good?"

Gao Ziyi shook his head: "That's not true, you must be able to do it, but not necessarily now."

"You are not yet 16 years old. The golden age of short track speed skaters is after 18 years old. Now many athletes can still maintain a good competitive state at the age of 30. Whether it is Yin Canyu, Huang Zaixian, Curtis, or other famous short track speed skaters Famous players, they are at the top level in the world in terms of age, experience and personal skills."

"It's normal that we can't win them for the time being, but it doesn't mean we can never win. There are still three years before the Winter Olympics. We can use these three years to train hard and polish our skills. Three years later in Beijing, that is the real victory." It’s a field to compete with them.”

Thinking of the contest in front of the house three years later, the blood boils in the middle of the night, and I can't wait to rush to the ice rink for a [-]-lap technical skating.

Gao Ziyi yawned and stood up, put his hands on Gu Ran's shoulders, and pressed him against the pillow: "So, you don't need to be anxious now, they should be anxious."

Gu Ran glanced at the time, it was almost eleven o'clock.They seldom go to bed so late.

He let out a deep breath again, feeling relieved: "Probably I was influenced by those comments. Brother is right, there is no need to worry about loans."

He patted Gao Ziyi's arm: "Go to sleep, brother, good night!"

After a few days of training in Canada, they flew to Salt Lake City.

During the next day's ice training, Canada's ice time was filmed behind the Chinese team. Gu Ran saw Lin Jiaxi again. The two just greeted each other in a hurry, and the latter was dragged away by his teammates.

During the official games, Gu Ran always looked over to the Canadian team intentionally or unintentionally, and saw Lin Jiaxi sitting in the corner all the time, when there was a game, she raised her head to watch the game on the field, and when there was no game, she lowered her head I don't know what I'm looking at.

His teammates were laughing and laughing beside him, but that kind of happy emotion couldn't be conveyed to Lin Jiaxi who was beside him at all.

He is obviously such a lively, cheerful and lively kid, yet he feels isolated.

Until the 1000m quarter-finals in the afternoon.Lin Jiaxi and his teammates were in the same group.This teammate also looks to be only seventeen or eighteen years old. Gu Ran remembers seeing him at last year's World Youth Championship.

This person's strength is not bad, and they are very hopeful to advance in this group. At the start, he slipped to the first position, followed by Lin Jiaxi.

Behind Lin Jiaxi was an Italian player and a German player.It is not difficult to see that the Italian player also has the strength to advance.

After watching the race for three laps, Gu Ran knew that the Italian had reservations and would definitely make a late effort. Lin Jiaxi in front was in danger.

Unexpectedly, the Italian player was more ambitious than he expected. On the seventh lap of the race, the opponent went out of the corner and cut directly to the outer lane. He overtook the two Canadian players in front on the straight. At the next corner, he took advantage of the situation. It's like trying to merge into the inner lane.

At this time, an accident happened.The Canadian players behind probably didn't want to give up their first position in the group, so they didn't slow down.When crossing a curve, everyone is leaning to the left due to centrifugal force, maintaining a delicate balance.

But at this very moment, even if the upper bodies of the two were entangled, the skates collided with each other.

The Italian team just staggered and did not fall, but Lin Jiaxi's teammate slid off the track.

Gu Ran saw with his own eyes that he reached out to grab Lin Jiaxi the moment he fell.And Lin Jiaxi also stretched out her hand, apparently wanting to help him.

But the result of holding on to it would definitely be that the two of them fell together, so Lin Jiaxi reacted quickly and immediately withdrew his hand again.

As a result, the Italian player was first in the group, Lin Jiaxi was second in the group, and his teammates failed to complete the competition.

As for who can advance in the end, it depends on the final referee's penalty.

Therefore, the waiting time for the final result after this game was a little longer.

Gu Ran was the one who finished the game in the previous group, and she was standing in the passage outside the crash pad.

When Lin Jiaxi came out, he greeted him, then lowered his head and put the knife holster on his skates.

At this time, Gu Ran leaned forward and talked to him on the crash pad: "This penalty should be given to your teammates."

Lin Jiaxi raised her eyebrows: "Sentence?"

"No." Gu Ran shook her head, "Sent him a foul."

Lin Jiaxi recalled: "It was the Italian player who suddenly changed lanes when he overtook, which caused the two people to collide, and the skates kicked together."

Gu Ran said: "But the Italian team had already surpassed by at least half a body position."

"But..." Before he finished speaking, the result of the game came out.Sure enough, the Canadian player was penalized for a foul and there was no score.

It could be seen that the player was very angry and puzzled. He felt that the referee's decision was problematic. Before he even walked out of the ice rink, he lost his temper.

When he came over, Gu Ran finished his discussion with Lin Jiaxi and was about to go to the coaching bench of the Chinese team.

So, the two of them walked in front, and Gu Ran walked behind. Along the way, he saw the Canadian complaining to Lin Jiaxi: "You are too useless!"

Lin Jiaxi looked at him in shock: "What does it have to do with me?"

"Why don't you stop him when he overtakes?"

Lin Jiaxi's forehead was full of question marks: "He came from outsiders, how can I stop him?"

"You fucking asked me? This is not a task assigned to you by the coach. In the 1000-meter race, you should protect me. What did you do? Are you thinking about advancing by yourself?"

The Canadian boy was so angry that the top of his head was smoking, and even swearing came out.

Lin Jiaxi didn't even bother to talk to him, and walked straight forward: "I'm too lazy to tell you."

His teammates were still cursing from behind: "Don't you fucking foul, you..."

Because Lin Jiaxi didn't want to get entangled with him, he had already walked in front, while cursing, he reached out and grabbed Lin Jiaxi.

This kick was quite powerful. The competition had just ended and everyone had not had time to change their shoes. Lin Jiaxi was stepping on the skates, and her sense of balance was not that good. She was pulled by him and almost fell down.

It doesn't matter if you fall, this can easily cause an ankle sprain.Gu Ran had already changed her shoes after the game, so she was much more comfortable in her movements than the two of them.

With sharp eyes and quick hands, he hurried up to support Lin Jiaxi, pushed the Canadian team member away with the other hand, and glared at him sharply: "You cook yourself, and blame others?"

The man was taken aback for a moment, and looked at him blankly: "Who are you, and what does it have to do with you?"

Gu Ran supported Lin Jiaxi to stand firm before letting go: "It has nothing to do with me, but I like to meddle in other people's business."

The Canadian team looked him up and down, and suddenly realized: "Chinese, he is also Chinese, you should stand up for him. Let me tell you, he is a Canadian player. This is a matter of our team, and you have nothing to do with it."

Gu Ran shrugged: "You're right, naturally there are people who can take care of it."

Having said that, he glanced at the Canadian coach's bench.The two people next to him followed his line of sight, and their head coach looked here with a gloomy face.

Just now when Lin Jiaxi almost fell down, there was a lot of movement. Many people nearby were attracted to watch the excitement, except for the audience, other team members, as well as on-site staff and referees.

Gu Ran can't really meddle in the affairs of other teams, it really doesn't matter to him when things get to this point.He nodded to Lin Jiaxi and walked straight away.

After returning to the team, Chi Lang leaned over and asked gossipingly, "What's going on, Canada is also starting to fight like Koreans?"

Gu Ran said: "This is not internal fighting, this is racial discrimination."

Meng Yuqiao, who was sitting in the back, frowned: "Racism is a very serious matter here. But..."

Gu Ran took over his words: "Discrimination against black people is a serious matter, but discrimination against Asians is not a serious matter."

Gu Ran remembered that in Montreal a week ago, he had a small chat with Lin Jiaxi, but the other party was quickly dragged away by his teammates.

At that time, Meng Yuqiao said that it was Canadians who were afraid of being poached.

Gu Ran turned her head and asked Meng Yuqiao: "You said, can he leave Canada and join the Chinese team?"

When this question was asked, Gu Ran realized by herself: "Why not, any sport can be a naturalized athlete, so you have to change your nationality first."

Chi Lang interjected: "Don't you know that Chinese nationality is the most difficult to have in the world?"

Meng Yuqiao said, "That depends on whether he is willing or not."

Gu Ran nodded: "That's true."

Before the start of the Salt Lake City race, Gu Ran expected that this race would not be easy, but it was not until the second race day that he realized that the race was far more difficult than he had imagined.

One day he still had the energy to manage Lin Jiaxi's reality, but the next day, he had no time to take care of things that had nothing to do with the competition.

In the 500m semi-final, he was in the same group as the two South Korean players and the Italian player just now.

This was not a difficult match for Gu Ran. Among the three, except for Li Renhe who was stronger, the others were far behind Gu Ran.

Even Li Renhyuk is not a threat to Gu Ran.

However, things are far from that simple.

Most of the internal fighting among the Koreans exists only among top athletes such as Yin Chanyu and Huang Zaixian. They fight on their own and viciously compete on the field.Behind them, there may be different coaches and Korean Skating Association officials supporting them.

However, for young players like Li Renhe and Guo Chengjun, their goals are quite clear.

As soon as the match started, the two cooperated, one rushed forward desperately, and the other interfered with Gu Ran.If there is a seemingly nonexistent touch, forcing him to choose to slow down when cornering.

Even so, when going out of the corner, Gu Ran still overtook him from outside.It was so clean, neat and silky smooth that it attracted a lot of applause and screams from the stands.

At this time, he has come to the second place.In front was Li Renhe, a strong and rough guy, fierce and reckless. In order to avoid accidents, Gu Ran didn't intend to surpass him, but just followed behind him, thinking about finishing the game smoothly.

However, the Koreans did not intend to let him go.That Guo Chengjun was chasing after him. At the critical moment, Li Renhe in front actually slowed down. Gu Ran was sandwiched between the two of them, so he managed to avoid hitting him directly.

In this way, Guo Chengjun who was behind seized the opportunity and immediately overtook from Gu Ran's left side.

Of course, Gu Ran wouldn't let him succeed, and firmly stuck in his position. At the same time, Li Renhe in front was also blocking his route, and Gu Ran was forced by two people to squeeze out.

But after all, his strength is here, his speed is fast, and his skills are solid. The two South Korean players worked together and failed to rush him down. On the contrary, Li Renhe in front of him was careless, and Gu Ran seized the opportunity to overtake him from outsiders.

In the coaching bench of the South Korean team, their coach was still yelling loudly at the field, but seeing this scene, the sound stopped abruptly, probably because he also felt that his players were a bit ashamed.

They were about the same age, and even Li Renhyuk was slightly older than Gu Ran by a year or two. In a two-on-one situation, he was surpassed by the other party.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, I was ashamed and thrown to my grandma's house.

Anyone with a discerning eye can't see that this is the South Korean team's cooperation, trying to force Gu Ran to make mistakes, but Gu Ran's personal ability is there. The two Koreans have worked hard for a long time, but they can't steal the rice , The second position was not grabbed, but the first place in the group was also lost.

When Cheng Sen and Xu Qing saw Gu Ran being double-teamed by those two Koreans just now, they were very nervous, for fear that their children would suffer.Seeing that Gu Ran not only didn't suffer a loss, but also found an opportunity to surpass him, he couldn't hide his proud expression. Hearing the applause and applause from the audience, he wanted to announce loudly: "This kid is amazing, my family!"

However, before the two of them were happy for three seconds, another accident happened on the court!

In the 500-meter race, there were only four and a half laps, and it lasted for 42 seconds. However, in this race, because of the two Koreans, the situation was frequent.

In the end, the Italian player almost died of laughter, watching the three of them fight to the death in the front, while he quietly waited for the opportunity in the back, maybe he could get a chance to advance.

Seeing that there was only one lap left in the race, Gu Ran originally wanted to continue to speed up and end it quickly.

Unexpectedly, someone squeezed up next to him, and the distance was so close that Gu Ran could collide with him even without swinging his arms.

He could see that these two Koreans didn't have the strength to attack him, so they started to disgust him.

Guo Chengjun squeezed him from the left, and Lee In-hyuk approached him from the right. The moment he entered the curve, he was hit by the opponent's elbow, and the skates slipped under his feet and he couldn't control it. He flew out due to inertia.