From the world champion of flower skating to the inveterate of ice and snow sports
China News Agency, Beijing, October 28th issue: from the world champion of flower skating to the indissoluble bond between Jian jian and ice and snow promoter
China News Agency reporter Zheng Qiao
“every time I set foot on the ice rink, I am very happy, I feel that I am born because of it.” Ji Jian, the world champion of figure skating, recently accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Service in Beijing, describing his indissoluble bond with ice and snow.
Starting figure skating training at the age of 7, Ji Jian has devoted himself to this sport for 37 years and witnessed its development all the way. In recent years, he has completed the identity conversion from athletes to ice and snow sports promoters. In addition to operating an ice art center, he also served as a figure skating team coach of the Winter Sports Management Center of the State General Administration of Sports, and a member of the Central Committee of the National Revolution.
In 1993, Ji Jian and Pang Qing started to practice figure skating double skating. “At that time, domestic related resources were scarce, we often wore second-hand equipment, and the arrangement of music and dance was relatively lagging behind,” Yan Jian said, “when training in Harbin, as soon as the stadium looks up, we can see the eight characters of ‘rushing out of Asia and going to the world’, which has become our initial goal.”
From winning the first championship in his career in the Asian Figure Skating Championships held in South Korea in 1999 to winning the fifth place in the world championships in 2002, Ji Jian and Pang Qing achieved their initial goals, since then, they have frequently collected gold and won silver in international competitions, becoming a “trump card” of the Chinese figure skating team “.
In his career, Luo Jian and Pang Qing participated in the four Winter Olympics. Unfortunately, they missed medals at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002 and the Turin Winter Olympics in 2006. The Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 finally refreshed the free sliding record of the International Skating Federation with a song “chasing dreams without regrets, the Olympic dream has been won for many years with a silver medal. Taking this opportunity, Ji Jian and Pang Qing officially announced to hold hands and share the joy of love with ice fans.
In 2014, Yan Jian served as the flag bearer of the Chinese delegation at the opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics, “This matter can make me honor my whole life.” After the Winter Olympics in Sochi, they decided to retire. When taking part in business performances abroad, Pang Qing came up with the idea of participating in the World Figure Skating Championships which will be held in Shanghai in 2015.
“My first thought at that time was ‘you must be crazy’, which means we have to start training for a long time again, and our body may not be able to eat up”, Ji Jian remembered, “She said a simple reason, that is, I hope that the last game will be in China, which makes me unable to refuse.”
After hard training, Ji Jian and Pang Qing stood on the court again and drew a perfect end to their figure skating career with a song “Waiting for You, left the arena from the podium.
After retirement, Ji Jian and Pang Qing were devoted to the popularization and promotion of ice and snow sports, offering “love skating” public welfare courses, establishing Pang Qing Ji Jian ice Art Center, carry out ice culture performances…… Jian jian sighed, which can make more people understand the flower slide and feel happy. On the day of the interview, Ji Jian and Pang Qing were still guiding the junior students to train in the ice art center named after them.
“In 2015, Beijing won the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, and the dream of several generations of Chinese ice snowmen finally came true, which is inseparable from the development of the country and the promotion of China’s international status. The success of the Beijing Winter Olympics and the confidence shown by young athletes in the face of interviews have given many people a brand-new understanding of sports.” Yan Jian said.
After joining the civil revolution in 2018, Yan Jian had more opportunities to speak out. “As a member of the Democratic Party, I hope to create more opportunities for young people to participate in international exchanges and contribute wisdom to the development of the entire ice and snow industry.” Ji Jian said. (Finished)