Last night I was watching the Olympic Games on tv. The only reason I was watching was because there was a figure skating even scheduled to be on that night, the pairs freeskate ( final). To my relief, the two american teams that entered performed well, with only one fall occuring between the two teams. In the short program one of the teams ( Rena Inoue and John Baldwin ) attempted to make history by landing the first throw triple axel in Olympic history. They succeeded and the triple axel was perfectly clean, very well done. They tried it again in the freeskate and unfortunately failed in their attempt and they ended up in 7th place in the final standings.


Sometime later, there was only one team left to skate, Dan and Hao Zhang ( no, they are not related nor married.) They had decided to attempt a throw quadruple salchow, had they landed it it would have been the first successfully landed quadruple throw ever landed in competition. Sadly, their attempt failed badly, she fell very hard onto her knees. (And keep in mind, this girl is like a toothpick, so very skinny)

Dan Zhang got up and tried to keep skating but it was too painful, her partner had to skate over to her and hold her by the waist. They tried to keep going but she was in too much pain. They skated over to the boards where their coaches were. It appeared she was hurt too badly to continue the program.


Then something happened that amazed me. After a couple of minutes, she wiped her tears and skated back to center ice with her partner. They were allowed to continue from the point where they she had fallen, which was only a few seconds into the program.

Dan and Hao Zhang both landed their side by side double axel - triple toe loop combination, all I could do was clap and stare at the tv in amazement. That girl was so incredibly brave, despite the great pain she was in, she pushed through and she completed the program. Their performance was quite good, especially considering the pain she was in.

They ended up winning the silver medal, behind the Russian team of Tatiana Tomiana and Maxim Marinen ( hehe, I'm pretty sure I spelled that wrong) and they finished ahead of the other two chinese pairs ( one of which won the bronze).

Never say that figure skating is not a tough sport, that girl was in a great deal of pain yet she fought through and completed the program, landing some jumps and doing many difficult maneuvers. She showed some real Olympic spirit, I have to admire her for that. She went out in front of the world and performed two difficult programs with her partner and did well, despite becoming injured in the freeskate.

Dan Zhang proved her quality, not only as a athlete but as a person. I congratulate her and Hao Zhang for their Olympic silver medal, they truly earned it.

Here is a excellent article about what happened

Thank you for reading this blog and comments are appreciated.


May the Force be with us all

Shatterpoint


P.S. Yes, I do realize this entry has nothing to do with SW but it is my blog, to do with what I wish ( besides, the majority of my entries are SW related).

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