The 24th Winter Olympic Games will kick off in Beijing on February 4, 2022.
The Sports Department of Chinanews.com launched a series of columns "Hundred Questions about Winter Olympics", aimed at popularizing Winter Olympic knowledge, answering hot questions, sharing interesting stories about ice and snow, and helping everyone have a better watching experience during the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The 29th Winter Olympics Questions | Why is the hockey puck flat and not round?
When it comes to ice hockey, many people will think of the suffocating fierce confrontation on the arena, and the bloody blocking and fighting.
It is said that ice hockey is a "game of the brave." In the arena, athletes of both sides must do their best to send a "ball" with a diameter of only 7.62 cm into the opponent's goal.
However, fans who are familiar with the sport know that ice hockey is not actually a ball.
Generally speaking, in order to quickly lock the position of the puck, the puck is usually black.
This thing that looks like chess and looks like briquettes in color is called "ice puck".
This is completely different from the ball games that people imagine. If you want to know why ice hockey is flat instead of round, you have to start with the origin of the sport.
Data map: A regular season of the Continental Ice Hockey League (KHL League for short).
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Shuo
Ice hockey, also known as "ice hockey", originated in Canada.
In the mid-19th century, in the Kingston area of Ontario, Canada, a game of chasing, transporting, and hitting balls on the ice with skates and hockey sticks was popular.
It is reported that the hockey puck was a kind of oblate wooden ball at first. Later, as the sport gradually developed and matured, a disc-shaped ice hockey made of rubber began to be used.
In other words, the use of oblate pie is one of the inherent characteristics of this sport.
Data map: On November 9th, the "Meet in Beijing" ice hockey domestic test event continued in Beijing Wukesong Sports Center. A total of four men's ice hockey teams from Beijing participated in this event.
The picture shows the Beijing Polar Fox team (white) in a match with the China Ice Sports Academy team.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Tomita
In addition, ice hockey is translated from English ice hockey, and hockey is translated into hockey. Therefore, the Chinese name of ice hockey becomes ice hockey.
From a scientific point of view, the upper and lower two flat surfaces of the ice hockey puck can be completely in contact with the ice surface, increasing the friction when sliding, which is conducive to its more stable "walking" on the ice surface, and athletes can also control it well. it.
(Xing Rui)