Chinese ice dance pair: We always target making breakthroughs

CGTN | 14-Feb-2022

Chinese pair Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu ranked 12th with 73.41 points in the figure skating ice dance rhythm dance performance at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Saturday. Wang and Liu achieved a spike from 22nd at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The No. 12 ranking was good enough for them to advance to the free dance performance on February 14. “I would be lying if I say I don’t care about the ranking,” Wang said. “Every athlete wants to win, but we tried not think too much about ranking. Instead, we tried to enjoy the program.” Wang and Liu performed “Trouble” and “Blue Suede Shoes” by Elvis Presley in the team event on February 4 and received the score of season-high 74. 66 points. That gave Liu confidence and he believed he had a better command of the performance, aiming for over 75 points. Unfortunately, they didn’t reach 75.

“Perhaps some of the details were not good enough,” Liu said. “Or maybe judges were stricter for the pair event.” The best Olympic record for Chinese performers in ice dance was No. 18 in Albertville, France, in 1992. Liu said they want to surpass that record. “It has been our ultimate goal and source of motivation to set a new best record for Chinese performers in ice dance in every major international event we attended,” Liu said.

The Chinese pair recalled that their training experience in Canada was very helpful. “We were so lost and unconfident in the first year in Canada,” they said. “But we had the whole team behind us, giving us support and strength, helping us grow. Then we realized that we could perform well. Maybe we had started late, but we could catch up by working hard.”

Wang and Liu returned to China in 2020 due to COVID-19 and had to train via video-chat since then. Though it’s not an easy process, the two believed they have grown a lot mentally in the past two years.