Xinhua News Agency, Changchun, December 30 (Reporter Wang Fan) If the platform jumping is the starting point for the dream of freestyle skiing aerials athletes to fly, then the person who built the platform is the “caster” of the dream. Accompanied by the diving platform for 20 years, Bai Yong is known as a master “casting master” in China-from artificial snow platform to steel frame mold, he has built many world champions on the platform. Less than 40 days before the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Bai Yong has already rushed to the Genting Ski Park ahead of schedule. He will witness the birth of the 2022 Winter Olympics champion with his new works.
Bai Yong, 48 years old this year, is the director of the training base of the Changchun Winter Sports Management Center. He provides daily logistics support for the athletes’ diet, daily life and training competitions. The training base is divided into summer and winter. Because he used to be a water lifeguard, at the age of 28, he became involved in the freestyle skiing aerials project in the summer training pool, and then participated in the construction of the Changchun Lianhua Mountain Winter Training Base.
In 2002, under the guidance of the platform “casting master” Shan Ge, Bai Yong, from the formation of the site to the fixed-point positioning, learned while doing, and built the first platform platform in his life. “It’s the most tiring when the site is formed and the platform is built.” Bai Yong said. The highest three-week platform requires 20 to 30 yuan for a wooden board with a height of 2 meters and a width of 1.2 meters. Begin to lead the workers to build wooden plank models. After filling the snow, the embryonic form of the platform jumping became apparent after the snow was frozen overnight.
The athletes conduct daily training at the Changchun Freestyle Skiing Aerials Training Base. (Photo of drone)
Bai Yong carried the angle ruler and snow removal tools with him, first repaired the platform height and take-off arc in advance, and then asked the coach to make the final details according to the actual situation, so that the athletes can get on the stage for training as soon as possible. “In order to meet the training and competition requirements, repairing the diving platform can be much more delicate than repairing the snow sculpture.” He said.
“The landing slope is also very important.” Bai Yong said, every morning before the athletes train, he will lead the workers to crush the snow on the landing slope area with a spade. The work area is nearly 400 square meters, and 10 people go up and down 3 times. Flip in 60 centimeters to ensure that it is soft enough to prevent athletes from landing injury after tossing in the air.
As one of the first cities in China to develop freestyle skiing aerials, Changchun has trained more than 80 professional athletes in the past 20 years, of which more than 60 have been selected for the national team. Nie Yujiang, deputy director of the Changchun Winter Sports Management Center, believes that freestyle skiing aerials is the only snow project in Changchun that has its own training ground, and hardware guarantees have added wings to the sustainable development of the project.
Bai Yong builds an artificial ski platform at the training base. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)In the winter of 2020, Changchun Lianhua Mountain, as the national team training base, ushered in the country’s first batch of imported platform steel frame molds, and Bai Yong participated in the assembly of the molds throughout the process. “The steel frame mold saves time and effort. The key is to reduce the time to build a platform a week, and athletes can train in advance.” Bai Yong said.
With his first experience, Bai Yong has led the construction of the freestyle skiing aerials competition site in Yunding Ski Park, the venue of the Beijing Winter Olympics in September this year. “The platform mold used in this competition venue is made in China!” Bai Yong said.
Ingenuity and more “intelligent manufacturing”. In order to allow the scoring referee to get a better observation angle during the game, Bai Yong communicated with the manufacturer and installed “legs” for the Olympic platform under the premise of satisfying stability, so that the platform has an adjustable lifting function. This invention was praised by the foreign technical representatives present.
The hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics enabled this “snow Luban” to perform his skills in the Winter Olympics for the first time. As a technical official of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Bai Yong will be responsible for venue protection during the competition. The reputation accumulated over 20 years of ingenuity and technology has made many athletes of the national team cordially call him “Uncle Bai”.
“I will shed tears when I can see the children get cards in the game.” Bai Yong said, looking forward to the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics.
Editor: Shuwen, Yu Sihui, Wang Haoyu