(Beijing Winter Olympics) What did the Chinese women's ice hockey team wait 12 years for?
China News Service, Beijing, February 9th (Wang Hao) On the evening of the 8th, the final whistle sounded from the Wukesong Sports Center, which decided the fate of the three teams.
In the last group match of women's ice hockey group B at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Sweden defeated Denmark 3-1 and advanced to the top 8.
And this also means that the Chinese team has to bid farewell to the Beijing Winter Olympics.
It is a pity that the reunion between the Chinese women's ice and the Winter Olympics after a lapse of 12 years did not have a good result.
At the Vancouver Winter Olympics 12 years ago, the Chinese team set a goal of "playing one or two good goals", which sounds like they placed their position very low.
In the end, they did play a good game or two in Vancouver, finishing seventh of all teams.
Since then, Chinese women's ice has fallen into a trough, missing the Sochi and Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in a row.
"The moment I set foot on the ice rink, I felt like crying." This is the voice of Chinese team captain Yu Baiwei's return to the Winter Olympics. The 12-year wait has come to an end this February.
The first game was lost to the Czech Republic, the second game against Denmark, the third game to defeat Japan, and the last game unexpectedly lost to Sweden.
In the end, the Chinese team failed to enter the top three of the group by 1 point, and the Winter Olympics journey stopped there.
4 games, 2 victories, 7 goals, 5 points, this is the harvest of this 12-year wait.
And besides that, they were probably waiting for something else.
On February 6, the Chinese team players celebrated their victory.
On the same day, the Chinese team defeated the Japanese team 2-1 in the women's ice hockey group match of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics held at the Wukesong Sports Center.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Mao Jianjun
On the night that the Chinese team defeated the Japanese team through a penalty kick, in India, thousands of miles away, in the women's Asian Cup final, the Chinese women's football team scored three goals in a row, defeating the South Korean women's football team and winning the championship.
When competitive sports have progressed to such a degree, it seems that the results and strength are not what people care about most. Those figures who are fighting on the field themselves are the places where the audience's attention converges.
After the game, many people praised the two games together.
The Chinese women's football team, which used to be the world's top team, has not received as much attention as before. The performance of the competition has become the most important channel for the outside world to understand them, and the Chinese women's ice hockey team is even more so.
After the victory over Japan, Yu Baiwei said that he didn't know when he last won against Japan, but now everyone knows that the last time he won against Japan was at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The head coach of the Chinese team, Idarsky, is usually candid in interviews. He said after the Chinese team's group match that no one would have thought before the game that the Chinese team, ranked 20th in the world, would compete with those ranked much higher than him. The team is like this.
The loss of the Chinese team to the Swedish team in the last game is probably something that many people did not expect, especially when they scored a goal first.
After the equalizer, even the players had a brief panic in the game, so that the second goal was quickly conceded.
That's the price of being young, making consecutive mistakes because of a lack of big-game experience.
But the next time these young girls stand on the stage, they will remember this lesson and learn how to do their best to avoid the same mistakes.
On February 7, the Chinese team (red) lost to Sweden (yellow) in the women's ice hockey group match of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics held at the Wukesong Sports Center.
Pictured is the match.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Jun
The match between the Chinese team and the Swedish team was already late at night, but the audience in Wukesong was very enthusiastic. When the Chinese team fell behind, several young men took the lead in cheering for the Chinese team.
Even after the Beijing Winter Olympics, there are still not many people who pay attention to Chinese women's ice hockey, but at least some of the audience at the scene remembered that they had shouted for them, and some people remembered that in this winter in Beijing, there was a group of girls in front of powerful opponents. Did not give up.
(Finish)