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Coach Yao has the last laugh as pairs net double
Source: Agencies |
February 18, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
YAO Bin will never forget the day he heard the crowd laughing at him and pairs partner Luan Bo as they struggled to keep their balance during an unconvincing performance at the 1980 world championships.
Fast forward 30 years, and the man considered the godfather of Chinese figure skating was having the last laugh as his charges Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo gave the Asian nation its first Olympic figure skating gold medal.
China's night of glory in the pairs did not stop there as Pang Qing and Tong Jian grabbed silver. Zhang Hao and Zhang Dan ended fifth.
Yao has been the force behind all three couples.
Despite Russian great Irina Rodnina, a triple Olympic champion, labeling Yao and Luan's skating as "very funny", Yao's vision allowed China to end the European powerhouse's 46-year domination of the pairs event.
The road to success was a painstaking one. When Yao was a skater himself in Harbin, northeast Heilongjiang Province, he had no access to any video footage.
Yao and Luan's unique training methods failed to pay off in the international arena and the only accolade they earned - apart from the laughter - were three last-place finishes at the world championships and 15th in the 1984 Sarajevo Games. Instilled with the Chinese work ethic of never giving up, Yao felt he did not deserve to be branded a failure and instead switched his focus to crafting the next generation of champions. It took three decades of blood, sweat and tears to achieve Yao's dream.
Fast forward 30 years, and the man considered the godfather of Chinese figure skating was having the last laugh as his charges Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo gave the Asian nation its first Olympic figure skating gold medal.
China's night of glory in the pairs did not stop there as Pang Qing and Tong Jian grabbed silver. Zhang Hao and Zhang Dan ended fifth.
Yao has been the force behind all three couples.
Despite Russian great Irina Rodnina, a triple Olympic champion, labeling Yao and Luan's skating as "very funny", Yao's vision allowed China to end the European powerhouse's 46-year domination of the pairs event.
The road to success was a painstaking one. When Yao was a skater himself in Harbin, northeast Heilongjiang Province, he had no access to any video footage.
Yao and Luan's unique training methods failed to pay off in the international arena and the only accolade they earned - apart from the laughter - were three last-place finishes at the world championships and 15th in the 1984 Sarajevo Games. Instilled with the Chinese work ethic of never giving up, Yao felt he did not deserve to be branded a failure and instead switched his focus to crafting the next generation of champions. It took three decades of blood, sweat and tears to achieve Yao's dream.
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