Team China’s skaters failed to get a place in the podium in the men’s 5,000 meters relay of short track speed skating on Wednesday.
The group, composed by Wu Dajing, Ren Ziwei, Li Wenlong and Sun Long, has been recognized as the ace of China’s short track speed skating team. They finished the semifinals on Friday and advanced to the final A for a chance of a medal against other four delegations.
The Chinese team did not start well in the final and kept at the back of the pack in the beginning. However, they did not give up.
When exchanging the baton, Wu surpassed the Italian and put his team in the fourth place. Then, Wu found a chance to pass the team of the Russian Olympic Committee, taking over the third spot and driving spectators crazy.
But an accident happened again. Sun made a mistake exchanging the baton with Ren and tripped. Chinese team fell to the last place.
The skaters did not abandon the competition. Li held on to finish the final lap, leaving China fifth and out of the podium.
Canada won the gold, while South Korea claimed the silver medal, followed by the Italian team.
“I think we did well in the latter half of the competition,” Wu said in an interview after the match. “Although the accident happened, we played well overall tonight,” he added.
Many Chinese netizens comforted the skaters on social media and told them not to be frustrated.
“I saw their spirit to tirelessly fight at the arena. I think this is more important than a medal,” Feng Chang, a spectator in Zhengzhou, Central China’s Henan Province, told the Global Times on Wednesday after watching the competition, noting that she was very nervous as the situations changed so quickly in the race.
Some netizens felt sorry for Wu, 28 years old, who said he did not know if he will have another chance to compete on the international stage again.
“I hope tonight’s competition is not Dajing’s last show on the Olympic Games. I am longing to seeing him standing on the ice and fighting for our country in four years,” a netizen posted on Sina Weibo .
Team China’s first gold medal at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics came at the short-track relay.
Chinese skaters, Wu Dajing, Ren Ziwei, Qu Chunyu and Fan Kexin, finished the 2,000m race with a time of 2.37.348 as Wu crossed the finish line driving Chinese social media crazy on February 6.
Li Wenlong (left) and Wu Dajing of China react during the men’s 5,000m relay final of short track speed skating at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, capital of China, February 16, 2022. Photo: Xinhua/Li Yibo
