ice emperor

After lunch and rest, the athletes at the Red Roof Hotel became more and more excited and tense, and the time passed until twelve o'clock at noon.

Pack up your belongings, prepare before the game, and gather all the staff.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the six athletes who participated in the men's single free skating final boarded the bus to the competition venue under the arrangement of the staff of the competition organizing committee.

At 35:[-], a group of people, led by An Yi, Johnny, and Ilya Ivanov, once again came to the Red Star Ice and Snow Complex in the suburbs of Moscow.After going through various confirmation procedures, fully warming up, changing into performance costumes, putting on skates, and returning to the back court to sit down in the preparation area, half of the ongoing women's singles schedule in the front court is already over.

At this moment, in the picture sent back from the real-time screen in the front field, the third Russian athlete in the women's team is performing an Axel two-step double jump, followed by a back-to-back ice double-jump, and then a back-to-back ring Double jump, finishing off with a 4-minute free skating program.

In the arena, the audience on the four sides of the stands was driven by her performance, applauding, cheering, one after another, waving the Russian flag in their hands, forming a sea of ​​white, blue and red, and working together to push the atmosphere of the arena to a climax .

'Eugenia Papnarova—'

'Ah ah ah ah ah! ! '

'Eugenia!Eugenia! !Eugenia! ! ! '

'...'

Screams, noises, the game is over.

Accompanied by the voice of the on-site announcer, Eugenia Papnarova, the Russian women's single, completed her performance.

After waving and thanking the enthusiastic support of the audience in her country, she exited the stage with a slender figure and elegant temperament. At the same time, An Yi tightened the straps of her skates in the backcourt, and took the national team's jacket from An Zexian and put it on. On his body, he bent down and picked up the mineral water bottle at his feet to take a sip of water, diverted his attention from the real-time screen, and looked at the nearby opponents who had also completed all preparations and patiently waited for the decisive battle to start.

There are many opponents.

American Joel Duroc, German Leo Bodman, Canadian Libenin Carter, Johnny, plus Russian Ilya Ivanov.

If you include himself, the American, Asian, European, and six first-tier players are almost the 'peak' in the men's figure skating field today.

However, taking into account age, competitive status, injuries, difficulty, and various factors, this "peak" will definitely undergo a series of changes after the 2 Turin Winter Olympics.

"Ow! Joyce, please be lighter. I'm a living human being not a machine. No! This hurts more, I feel like my shoulders are crying in your iron-like hands. Yesterday Louis' father helped me During the massage, my body is only comfortable except for a slight soreness, unlike you, ow! nonononono!"

While contemplating and speculating, there was a sudden exclamation. An Yi's palm, which was holding the mineral water bottle, tightened because of the familiar voice.

Looking in the direction of the 'scream', it really was Joyce and Johnny.

In the area on the right side of his seat, the former Canadian legend James Joyce, with a serious expression, stood behind the brown-blond student, helping him stretch the shoulder, neck and arm muscles. It was quite a miserable cry.

Frowning, out of concern for his friend, An Yi couldn't help worrying, wondering where the guy was injured again, Joyce just folded his arms behind his head and pulled, unexpectedly there was such a big bruise reaction?Thinking back to those years, when the right Achilles tendon of this bastard was ruptured, he was not so delicate, why this time——

"An Yi, you are really lucky."

"dad?

With a sigh, a palm fell from his shoulder, interrupting An Yi's thoughts.An Zexian, who had been staying near him, suddenly spoke out, and when An Yi turned his head in doubt to seek an answer, he raised his chin and pointed in the direction of Johnny and Joyce, and said in a sigh.

"Look, that's your friend. People all over the world agree that it's your best friend and your best opponent.

"However, what Dad wants to tell you today is that your existence has given that boy motivation and pressure. It's good to let him develop his full potential, and let him do whatever it takes, even if it hurts his own body." , also want to surpass you."

"I……"

"Do you know? When I helped him with the comprehensive training yesterday, Dad checked his physical condition by the way. Groin injury, lumbar spine injury, if it is not serious, shoulder, hip bone, and instep ligament, these three injuries It's definitely reached the point where the pain and inflammation is with him all the time."

"Dad, I reminded him when I took him to train yesterday. Guess how your good brother answered? He told me that the next Olympic Games will be his last Olympic Games, at most in [-] or [-], he will Choose to retire."

"what?!"

An Zexian patted his shoulders as he talked, and An Yi was really shocked by what he told him.

Retire?

This is normal.

According to his estimation, after the Turin Winter Olympics, Ribenin will retire, Joel Duroc will retire, Leo Bodman will retire, and Ilya Ivanov will probably retire as well.

Can Johnny?Johnny, who has just turned 20 years old and reached his peak competitive state, has retired. Are you sure you are not joking?

Before that!

Before learning the news today, he always thought that Johnny would keep chasing him until he couldn't catch up.

But who knows, this guy has already planned his retirement time.Is it the year [-]? If you count on your fingers, isn't it four years later? !Damn bastard, he never mentioned it to him.

"Yo yo, what's the matter with this expression, are you angry?"

"Tsk! I said, what's so angry about this? Do you think there are a few people in this world who have inherited methods to keep fit like ours? It's good news that Johnny doesn't show his strength. You should be angry if you don't care about your own physical condition. The place."

Knowing son is like father, An Zexian, who knows An Yi very well, within 20 seconds of the previous words, he was keenly aware of An Yi's sudden aura and shook his head and laughed. Rubbing the top of his head, his voice slowed down.

"Dad, I shouldn't have told you this before the start of the game, but considering your petty temper, I had to save it just in case, and you would go crazy again when that kid was injured one day."

"By the way, don't be soft-hearted, don't be sorry, and don't release water. That's not good intentions, it's an insult. You know what kind of temper that little golden retriever has. If you dare to do that, he and you won't be in a 'cold war' cooperating with each other like now. , but a breakup in the true sense."

"..."

After finishing speaking, he raised his foot, An Zexian left An Yi, responded to the call in Johnny's heart, strode up to Joyce with a provocative smile, and took over after Joyce gave him a sideways look to help Johnny adjust his physical condition work.

10 minutes, 15 minutes, An Yi was silent, the women's singles free skating competition ended, and the award ceremony began.

The medals were awarded, the ice was poured, and at 35:6 in the afternoon, the six athletes participating in the men's singles competition began to warm up. An Yi was affected by the inexplicable emotions in his heart, and stood on the ice rink in a state that he could not explain clearly, and began to compete. A final round of [-]-minute warm-up exercises.

According to the usual practice, the athletes played one by one, the announcer announced the name of the nationality, and the audience gave applause and encouragement. When it was finally An Yi's turn, although he could see the audience moving and shouting, he could only hear his own voice. The blood is rushing, and I can feel the rhythm of the heart.

In addition, he also felt that the surface of his skin was icy and numb, and his mind and thoughts were extremely calm and focused, as if he could only see the stadium and skates under his feet.

Ilya Ivanov, the legendary battle, and Johnny Wasenberg, who retired quietly without telling him, were all placed in the corner of his consciousness by him.

'...Gentlemen, the 6-minute practice is over, please exit the ice rink in order.Please prepare for the first Canadian player to play, Ribein Carter. '

Sliding around the field, checking the ice conditions, and adjusting his breathing, 6 minutes passed quickly, and An Yi felt that he had only skated twice on the ice before returning to the back seat.

At 45:[-], Libenin Carter from Canada skated to the center of the ice rink, and the most eye-catching men's singles competition in the finals of this year's ISU Grand Prix officially began. The background music was played by the Czech composer, Anton Symphony No. [-] in E minor by Leopold Dvořák.

During the magnificent and enthusiastic instrumental ensemble, An Yi watched the Canadian veteran jump up and down on the real-time screen in 30 seconds and 1 minute, and kicked off the performance with an excellent back and outside ice quadruple jump.

At 2 minutes, 20 minutes and [-] seconds, halfway through the show, a sound in the backcourt not far from his position attracted him to look over, allowing him to witness Ilya Ivanov, the second player on the field, with a calm expression. Walking into the athlete's tunnel, Johnny, who is the third player to compete, is quickly catching up with Joyce.

How to say the specific feeling is good.

Some are curious about what happened between the two, and some feel that the good brother Johnny has been chasing someone in his career so far.

In the past, they only chased him, but now there is one more Ilya Ivanov.Although it makes people feel distressed, but inexplicably, it still makes him feel a little uncomfortable...

"what!"

"son?"

The seemingly absent sneer stunned An Zexian, who was always paying attention to An Yi's status in the backcourt preparation area.

He lowered his head in surprise, observed his son's expression, then raised his eyes to see the two figures who disappeared at the entrance of the athlete's passage. An Zexian, who had quite a lot of experience in life, was thoughtful.

Is this jealous?

No, no, no, stop joking, how is it possible, the expression on his brat's face is clearly written 'wait and see! '.

That is angry?

Uh, it doesn't seem to be the case. Looking closely at his eyes, you can still find some memories and tenderness that have not had time to completely dissipate.

In a word, he, oh, is completely unable to figure out the thoughts of the future pillar of his family, and he can't figure out how to position himself in the relationship with that little friend.

Good impression, there is no doubt that both of them have.More, I'm sorry, it was the one next to him who used to be too rational and restrained to give him a chance to develop.

Now, it's the other way around.It was the one who just left on the front foot, calmed down after being stimulated, brought back the overly optimistic thoughts about the future to reality, and learned to control his desires in order to realize the ideals in his heart.

"...Dad, sometimes, the time is too short. There are only a few years, it's really...too short."

"Ah? Why is the time too short, what are you talking about without thinking? Hey, hey, don't close your eyes and pretend you didn't hear it. What's wrong with you can't speak clearly. I said you boy——OK, okay I'm going to eat you, I'm reluctant to deal with you, right? You're asleep, and I'll stand here to keep watch for you! But adjust your state so hard, don't capsize in the gutter later. People all over the world We are all looking forward to your wonderful performance!"

……