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Text: Lalala
Editor: Lalala
Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo are undoubtedly the most beautiful star duo in China's figure skating world. The "ice couple" have created countless brilliance in their sports careers and are known as the "golden partners" of China's figure skating industry. But when they transitioned from ice rink heroes to coaches and managers, questions and criticism followed.
The glorious course is a legend
Looking back on the sports careers of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, their lives seem to be destined to accompany the ice rink. The 14-year-old Shen Xue was selected by coach Yao Bin and became Zhao Hongbo's new partner. Although Zhao Hongbo was skeptical of the skinny Shen Xue at first, after 4 months of cooperation, the two quickly established a tacit cooperation.
In the years that followed, they continued to excel in the national arena. At the Nagano Winter Olympics, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo made their debut on the international stage and finished fifth. Four years later, at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, they took the bold attempt to take the world's first quadruple loop and then skated on one foot, and eventually won the bronze medal.
Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo broke through at the World Championships to win the first ever world championship for China's pair event. At the Vancouver Winter Olympics, they won the gold medal in pairs skating in one fell swoop, creating many firsts in Chinese figure skating.
Just after Vancouver won the gold, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo chose to retire and left the scene. No one expected that after this enviable "ice couple" left the arena, people's evaluation of them would be so polarized.
From notorious to household names, from figure skating idols to questioning storms, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo have experienced twists and turns in their lives on the road of development after retirement.
Transformation raises doubts and is questioned in many ways
Zhao Hongbo started his coaching career as the head coach of the pairs event for the national team. Shen Xue previously served as Deputy Director of Figure Skating at the Winter Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China.
After that, Shen Xue returned to the figure skating world in a high-profile manner and was elected as the executive vice chairman of the Chinese Skating Association. The "ice couple" have officially transitioned from athletes to coaches and management.
Just after they turned around, questions and dissatisfaction from the outside world about the couple's new official took office one after another.
During Zhao Hongbo's tenure as the national team's head coach in pairs, the number of individual events in China's figure skating world has shrunk significantly. This is considered by the outside world to be the embodiment of "heavy pair skating, light single skating", ignoring the importance of individual development.
In addition, the Chinese team, under the leadership of Zhao Hongbo, has also been criticized for the backward level of coaching and restrictions on athletes' training freedom.
As for Shen Xue's leadership of the Chinese Skating Association, the outside world has criticized some of its specific operations. For example, the temporary replacement of athletes, the miscalculation of world ranking points for athletes, etc., have caused many dissatisfaction and questions.
Under doubt, there is no successor in the Chinese figure skating world
Most worryingly, under Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, China's talent in figure skating has been hit hard. Judging from the participation data, the world rankings of Chinese men's singles and women's singles players have been declining in recent years, and their successors have become extinct, and there has been an embarrassing situation of lack of success.
Once upon a time, the Chinese figure skating community was led by Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo to strive for the first place and create one brilliant achievement after another. Now, however, they have become coaches and managers, and there has been a lot of criticism about some of their actions and practices.
It is undeniable that Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, as athletes, are indeed legends in the Chinese figure skating world. However, after the transformation, how to grasp their new role and comprehensively improve the overall level of Chinese figure skating mentally and systematically is the biggest challenge facing the "ice couple".
After becoming a coach and manager, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo undoubtedly faced unprecedented challenges. As the "ice legends" of the past, how to continue to lead and lead China's figure skating forward will be a big test to test whether they really "practice makes perfect".
Coaching experience needs to be honed, and coaching ability is questioned
As the former head coach of the national team, Zhao Hongbo has made achievements in coaching, but the outside world has mixed reviews for his ability.
On the one hand, during his tenure as head coach of pairs, Zhao Hongbo led top pairs such as Sui Wenjing/Luo Yu, who broke through the encirclement under his guidance and won the runner-up in the World Championships. In the opinion of experts, this is a recognition of Zhao Hongbo's coaching ability.
But on the other hand, some details have caused Zhao Hongbo to receive a lot of criticism in management. For example, there was a temporary substitution arrangement for Sui Wenjing/Luo Yu suddenly, which caused a heavy psychological blow to the two of them, and their results plummeted. Another example is that before the game, Sui Wenjing/Luo Yu and other players miscalculated the world ranking scores, which had an adverse impact on the athletes' preparation.
"The coaches of the national team are not thinking from the athlete's point of view." Some industry insiders pointed out that Zhao Hongbo, as a head coach, lacked mutual understanding with athletes.
In addition to Zhao Hongbo, Shen Xue also raised a lot of questions about some specific selection arrangements during her tenure as the deputy director of the figure skating department of the Ice and Snow Center. For example, for Jin Boyang's material selection, the outside world believes that Shen Xue blindly reuses old players and ignores the development space of rising stars.
Nepotism has been criticized
Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, the "ice couple", after serving as managers, one of the most criticized problems is "nepotism".
In fact, during Shen Xue's tenure as deputy director of the figure skating department of the Ice and Snow Sports Management Center, a number of cronies were appointed to the Winter Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sports. Some analysts pointed out that the reason why Shen Xue joined the main skating association in a high-profile manner is to stabilize her power in the figure skating world.
"The power of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo in the figure skating world is concentrating, and their circle of friends has also infiltrated the system." Many industry insiders are deeply worried about this.
In addition, as the "power couple" of China's figure skating industry, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo have also been criticized for some of their conduct. For example, it was reported that Zhao Hongbo severely criticized athletes during his coaching, and even had corporal punishment. And Shen Xue's style is strict and ruthless, and she is also known to be harsh to her subordinates.
Experts and scholars pointed out that the power couple seriously lacked empathy, had a serious bureaucratic style, and there were huge obstacles to communication with athletes. To a large extent, this has hindered the healthy development of China's figure skating events.
The most worrying thing is that after many years at the helm of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, the reserve force of China's figure skating scene is not in stock and the talent is withering.
Judging from the available participation data, the highest world ranking of China's men's and women's single skating events is almost outside the 15th, which is far from the ice powerhouse. Even in the pairs event, since Sui Wenjing/Luo Yu retired, there is no successor to the rooster.
"Young Chinese athletes lack sufficient experience in international competitions, and their performance in international competitions is uneven." According to the analysis of industry insiders, this is directly related to the lack of new blood injection into the national team coaching team and the old-fashioned and outdated training model.
In addition, the youth training foundation of the Chinese figure skating industry has also lagged behind. Compared with other strong teams in the world, China is seriously lagging behind in the cultivation, incubation and delivery of reserve talents. Fundamentally speaking, this is inseparable from the lack of forward-looking vision of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, who are at the helm of the figure skating world.
It is precisely because of these reasons that the Chinese figure skating community has become increasingly serious during the tenure of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo. How to comprehensively break this bottleneck in terms of system, mechanism and talent reserve is the biggest challenge facing this pair of "ice couples".
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