Liu Bofei and others did their best to minimize the damage of the overwhelming negative public opinion to Han Lu. The head coach, who once had a tendency to make his conflict with Han Lu public, stood firmly behind her at this time. There is a part of the news that turns to thinking about "what exactly can we ask of athletes", but even that can't stop people from being attracted to concepts like "heroes falling" and "the dirt behind stars".

This incident also caused some controversy in the United States, and rose to the serious consequences of the trend of focusing on technology over art in the newly opened Chinese figure skating industry.

Figure skating is a very expensive event, and the number of medals is not much, so it is likely that the country will invest a lot of money and not even see a splash. As a result, funding is bound to be cut. Once funding is not secured, the conditions for practice become more stringent.

In order to produce results as soon as possible, the figure skating center can only choose this way. As for artistic sensibility, it can only rely on the talent of athletes.

It's a vicious circle.

"The most unfortunate of all," said the American hostess sadly, "is the result for the athlete alone." ”

Every day now, every day—Han Lu had no way of convincing herself to ignore this terrible feeling, which she had never experienced before.

Every day, the same topic seemed to ring in her ears all the time, that all athletes' competitive careers ended after they had problems with their Achilles tendons, and that those who wrote news articles spent a lot of time, used a lot of detail, and took the trouble to analyze how harsh the situation was for her.

She's finished, they know, and she knows. But that wasn't enough, they had to tell her how she was done.

What was the result of a ruptured Achilles tendon? Of course she knew, how could she not know.

But there was still a blind and even childish fluke in her heart — as if she could convince herself that she was the luckiest person in the world as long as she hadn't really felt the effects — that all the NBA players weren't what they used to be, so what? That's not me, I'm not going to be like that. I'll stand up.

"Do you want to consider retiring at this time?" - Liu Bofei wanted to say this sentence to her several times, but he never had the opportunity to say it.

He could imagine that she would not easily accept the matter of "giving up" before things had completely turned around.

However, when Han Lu had successfully operated on the operation and really started training to help the injured tissue recover, the impact of this real pain was already hitting her heart wrapped in blind superstitious optimism bit by bit. Ankle dorsiflexion, plantar flexion, varus and valgus, cycling and step exercises...... Without exception, these painful mechanical exercises were literally wearing down her beliefs.

Everything was pressed on her.

She suddenly felt like she was on an island, farther and farther away from the world around her, and no one around her would tell her the truth.

No one could share her panic, and neither could the medical staff who gently encouraged her, not the American expert, nor Zhao Zhixin.

This made her suddenly miss Han Shuhua a little, in those days when she was a child, she could put all the responsibility for this pain on Han Shuhua: it's you. She screamed in her heart, it's you! I hate these things! Why should I do things for you when you can't do them? Why should I become a world champion? What does it matter to me?

Yes, why should I become a World Champion?

Retirement – a word she'd seen countless times these days, and it forced her to think about the possibility.

Yes, maybe retiring at this time is a good choice, at least it should be much better than being watched by the whole world and having to retire in embarrassment.

Moreover, if you retire, you don't have to practice every day, you don't have to control your diet to keep in shape, you can fall in love with anyone, you can get married, just like an ordinary person.

Like a normal person.

Suddenly, the corners of Han Lu's mouth curled mockingly.

But—

Over the years, she has grown from seven to twenty-eight years old, and has spent every crucial and important phase of her life on the rink, which is the foundation of her worldview. She simply, fundamentally, simply did not have any opportunity to learn how to be an ordinary person.

It was as if someone had suddenly dropped her from a plane, with nothing on her body, and she didn't know how to stabilize herself.

At the end of the day's rehabilitation, she slowly knelt on the soft carpeted floor under the pent-up pain coming from her entire calf, and then slowly lowered her head and pressed her forehead against the ground. Her body was supported by her knees and elbows, and the heavy, dull pain was nothing compared to the injuries she had suffered while practicing, but it was tearing at her entire willpower.

The air, the sound, the light, all went out.

As her consciousness slowly rose from the darkness, she heard a howl coming from her own throat, or from within—not a cry, not a simple scream, but a mixture of despair, confusion, mockery, and helplessness...... The sound of pouring out after a long period of fermentation that has been closed internally.

In the domestic training center, the coaching staff also took Han Lu's retirement into consideration when officially coordinating the handling of Jiang Xin and Xu Haoyang's team dismantling incident. In Wang Ximing's view, an athlete who will never win another medal in the future is tantamount to losing the qualification to continue to engage in competitive sports. Rather than causing more trouble later after her form declines, let her withdraw from the public eye now.

"She's done a lot over the years, and it's not a shame to retire. "Her name will be written in the history of women's singles." ”

Liu Bofei was silent, he couldn't refute Wang Ximing, he was right, it was better to say that over the years, no one had ever been able to question his correctness.

It's just that he didn't, and he didn't want to understand something deeper, more complex.

In other words, he knows that once people understand and care about too many things, it is easy to find it difficult to move an inch.

For example, Liu Bofei.

"You can arrange a position for Han Lu in the team. Wang Ximing didn't care about Liu Bofei's silence, but continued to speak. "For example, as a coach of the junior team, her ability is fine. And retiring doesn't mean her figure skating career is over, we still have a lot of performances. ”

The meeting was very peaceful, Liu Bofei did not question Wang Ximing's ideas, nor did he say his own thoughts, but a brand-new, or very bold idea suddenly appeared, and the initial prototype was produced in his heart.

Han Lu's lost Winter Olympics gold medal may still have a chance to come into her hands.

But not as a women's singles player, but as a pair skater.

In figure skating, there are not a few female skating players who switch from single skating to pair skating due to physical reasons, because compared with single skating, many high-technical and difficult movements in pair skating, such as throwing jumps, twists, etc., are completed by male skaters, which will have relatively low physical requirements for female players, and the age requirements are not as demanding as single skating.

This is the path chosen by many female athletes who have to admit that they cannot return to the golden age of singles skating, but are not willing to retire from now on.

However, this is definitely not an easy path. Of these athletes, there are only a handful of people who are truly successful.

There are several very serious problems in this, first of all, the players who have switched from women's singles to doubles are different from those who have grown up training in pairs. For example, Jiang Xin, she has adapted to the technical characteristics of the doubles event very early, which is the kind of thing that Han Lu said "being hugged and thrown around by male players". This will be a huge psychological test for solo players who do not have such experience.

Especially Han Lu, he thought, Han Lu is definitely not a person who is good at dealing with this kind of thing.

And, assuming that the initial psychological barrier is overcome, the subsequent tacit understanding between the two will also be a problem.

Two players spin together, and a slight lack of speed is a mistake. And that's not even counting the more difficult spirals, lifts, and tosses. The tacit run-in is an extremely long process, two or three years can be done quickly, in the years of their continuous run-in and continuous failure, and regardless of the Canadian golden pair, they cannot guarantee that there will not be a new person to compete for this medal.

Even, when Han Lu went through a lot of tossing and turning, and finally mastered the double skills such as twisting and lifting spirals, she was not sure if there would be a younger and more stable girl in the junior team to take her place.

Age, this is a disadvantage that cannot be ignored in front of Han Lu.

Moreover, there will be a lot of skaters in the pairs skating who have been eliminated from the single skating - Han Lu knows it, can she accept this kind of gap, can she accept that she is also like this - losers?

Will she be able to give herself completely over to a strange partner?

Liu Bofei pondered.

If so, who is that person?

Inexperienced players are not good, those children need a female partner who is not yet developed, so that they can adapt to their weight little by little.

If they are experienced, they are in their playing years, and they need a partner who is also experienced and can be used after a period of running-in.

There is no such person in the team.

However, a name suddenly appeared in his heart: Xu Haoyang.

The idea was somewhat impulsive, even somewhat absurd, and he himself thought so. He is reluctant to give up Han Lu - but what about Xu Haoyang? Even if he and Jiang Xin are separated, he can find a new partner for him from the ready-made players, and the big deal is to find a new partner for him from the junior team, he is young, experienced, and powerful, even if he is not as outstanding as himself in all aspects, but in the general category of pairs skaters, he is also a talent who can do it.

Let Han Lu, who has no experience in double combinations, partner with him, and it is likely that he will be directly reimbursed for two or three seasons. Han Lu's experience and advantages in single skating are put into pairs skating, whether it is also an advantage or will become an obstacle, Liu Bofei has no way to draw conclusions at this stage.

However, once the idea came to him, he could no longer ignore the possibility of this danger.