Translated material
Painful hold
The Chinese couple was given silver for their will to win
Russian sports couple Tatyana Totmyanina and Maxim Marinin brought the Russian team the first “gold” in figure skating competitions. Silver and bronze medalists were two Chinese duets Dan Jang - Hao Jang and Xu Shen - Hongbo Zhao.The competition between sports pairs, in which, frankly speaking, no sensations were expected - the advantage of the Russians was too great - became one of the most dramatic in the history of the last Olympics. The first surprise came from the Chinese Xu Shen and Hongbo Zhao, who missed the entire season due to an injury to their partner. After the free skate, set to the music of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly", the bronze medalists of the previous Games unexpectedly topped the intermediate protocol, managing to beat not only compatriots Quinn Pang - Jan Tong, who were fourth after the short program, but also Russians Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov, occupying the third line at that time. To move up from fifth position after the short program to at least two places higher, Xu Shen and Hongbo Zhao were forced to take risks. And they took a risk - they complicated their free program to the maximum and skated it almost perfectly.
However, Petrova and Tikhonov themselves gave the “bronze” into the hands of the Chinese. First, the partner made a mistake on the jump, and then the partner also under-rotated. There were other blemishes in the program, made to music for Fellini's films. The scenario that was repeated throughout the entire season, when Maria and Alexey performed brilliantly in the short program and made a lot of mistakes in the free program, did not change this time either. As a result, Lyudmila Velikova’s students were left without any awards at all, letting three Chinese pairs pass ahead.
Tatyana Totmyanina and Maxim Marinin, who were penultimate on the ice, probably knew this whole scenario. Of course, athletes always say that at any competition they fight with themselves, but it is likely that the two-time world champions felt psychologically uncomfortable in the current situation. Although, at the very beginning of the season, their new free program, set to Nino Rotta’s music for the film “Romeo and Juliet,” was called a champion by many. The skaters made every effort to stand out from their competitors. First, we drew up a diagram of the program, arranged the elements and connections, and then handed over the calculations to the Hungarian musician Edvin Marton. He refined Rott's music and placed the accents precisely. And so that no one would be tempted to borrow this work, the coach and athletes took an unprecedented step: they “bought” the music from the Hungarian. Moreover, during the season, the athletes complicated 11 elements out of 14, and it was for this that they received the highest points for free skate - 135.84 and broke their own total record - 204.48. It was an unconditional victory.
However, in order to fully feel like champions, the Russians had to wait for the last pair. And here the unexpected happened. At the beginning of the program, Dan Jang fell from a quadruple throw. It was precisely due to this most complex element that the Chinese tried to come forward. But the athlete did not group herself, landed on the ice in a half-split and, continuing her rotations on the ice, crashed into the side. The fall was so terrible that in the first minutes it seemed that the Olympics were over for the Dzhangs. But a few minutes later, when the doctors arrived in time and were already unwrapping the stretcher, she suddenly refused medical help and decided to continue. And although they made a lot of mistakes at the box office, the judges nevertheless brought the Chinese to second place. For the will to win.