—- Champion

  The 2008 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships opened on February 13 2008 in Goyang, the Republic of Korea. Korea has hosted the Four Continents Championships twice before, in 2002 ans in 2005. This is the first international figure skating competition held by International Skating Union this year. China delegation sent three couples to for the Pairs, three couples for the Ice Dancing and three athletes for the Men and Women competition respectively.

  The result of the first two days’ competition is exciting. Chinese athletes Qing Pang/ Jian Tong gained the gold medal in Pairs with their teammates Dan Zhang/ Hao Zhang following. Dan Zhang/ Hao Zhang got the highest point 70.45 in the Pairs Short Program. Qing Pang/ Jian Tong got 67.70. In the Free Skating on 14th, Qing Pang/ Jian Tong overtook their teammates Dan/Hao to grab their third gold medal at the Four Continents Championships. Dan/ Hao had a little fault in the second jump and fell to the second place in total score. The other couple Jiaqi Li/ Jiankun Xu ranked in the sixthplace. They are the new stars after Xue Shen/ Hongbo Zhao.

  China were weak in the winter events before, but since these skating athletes appeared, China’s competition result began to get better and better. In my opinon, they are the main force to win gold medal in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/transnews/0,10869,4844-128590-19728-18885-282541-3787-4771-layout160-129898-news-item,00.html

 This is not the latest news. In fact the story happened almost a year ago. But it is moving, exciting and great. ShenXu and Zhao Hongbo won the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships in Japan. At the end of the performance, Zhao kneeled on one knee and kissed Shen. After the competition they announced this was their last performance (it is said they will come back and take part in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, although it is not sure) and disclosed their affection.   Zhao said the last movement was the proposal to Shen. How romantic it is!

Shen and Zhao are two famous figure skating athletes in China and the world. They are the first pair from China to become the world Champions. Since 1992, they began to skate as pair. They are known for their huge throw jumps and twists as well as consistency in the technical area. Their achievements are glorious. Although in 2005, they missed the World Championship due to Zhao’s achilles tendon injury, they managed to come back in 2006 Winter Olympic Games and won the bronze.

  Following Shen and Zhao, many new pairs of skaters appeared, and they also gained wonderful result in world competitions. But in my opinion, Shen and Zhao’s importance in Chinese skating history is unsubstitutive. They are the ancestors of Chinese figure skating atheletes.

News comes from    http://www.usfsa.org/event_story.asp?id=38012