China's Yan Han, 16, is emerging as a world-class competitor in figure skating, Tang Zhe reports.
For his sixth birthday, Yan Han received a special gift from his grandfather - a stint at a skating rink. With some grasp of roller-skating, Yan soon found his legs on the ice and has not looked back.
Two days ahead of Yan's 16th birthday, the promising skater earned, as he wrote on his weibo account, "the best birthday present for myself", claiming a victory at the 2012 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Minsk, Belarus, the first time a Chinese junior skater had won gold at the tournament.
Though China's figure skating pairs frequently win medals at international events, the country has had to wait a long time for individual success after the retirements of renowned female skater Chen Lu and her male counterpart, Li Chengjiang.
Song Nan, a runner-up at the 2010 junior Worlds, has struggled to adapt to senior competition, so the emergence of Yan is regarded as a huge boost for the sport here.
Yan was discovered by coach Huang Bing two months after he started skating.
"The coach said I had the talent and just needed professional training," said Yan, whose grandfather is a skating enthusiast and made his own skates.
After one year at an amateur skating school with Huang, Yan was recruited to a sports school in Heilongjiang province by his current coach, Jia Shuguang.
"Yan is one of the most gifted among all the Chinese male skaters. He can deal with all the jumping skills and that enables him to make few mistakes," Jia said.
"Yan is a quick learner and stood out from his peers in the early years. He has a lot of potential and we will help him to move forward step by step."
After claiming several titles at Junior Grand Prix events over the past two years, Yan earned his ticket to the junior worlds earlier this month. To cap a fine year, he also won gold at the Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, in January.
"This was my second time at the worlds. I finished sixth last time due to lack of difficulties in my routine," said Yan, who enhanced his performance by using a triple axel and a quad toe-loop jump this time.
"I'm very proud to win the first gold medal for China in men's singles, but this is only a start, and I still need to work hard.
"The opponents at the Youth Olympics were easier to deal with. There were no American skaters or first-class Japanese athletes. At the worlds, there was more competition as all the elite juniors were there," said Yan, who was the flag bearer for China at the Youth Olympics.
Coach Jia echoed Yan's sentiments.
"I thought about a medal if he performed well before we went (to Minsk), but after I saw the participant list, I felt it was going to be quite a difficult task as Denis Ten of Kazakhstan was also in the event. He finished eighth at the World Championships and took part in the Vancouver Winter Olympics," said Jia.
"He performed well in training, but made two mistakes in competition; maybe he was too hungry for the gold," she said.
Despite his growing reputation and increasing expectations, Yan said he has a long way to go to catch up with the world's best skaters.
"I feel there is still a considerable gap between myself and the senior masters. I am confident with my jumps and sliding on the international stage, but I need to improve my performing and spins," said Yan, who was not satisfied with his spins during the short program at the worlds.
Yan was dubbed the "king of spin" at the age of seven, but Yan and his coach both concede that is an area that has to be improved now.
"Yan did spin really fast at an early age, but we have neglected the practice recently. Together with the increased difficulties added by new rules and the growth of his body, his advantage in spinning has decreased," said Jia.
"He also needs to improve in performing and expressing himself with the music. Sometimes he tends to overlook the details," she said. "Everyone expects a lot from him, and I believe he will continue to improve."
Yan said his favorite skater is Canadian Patrick Chan and he hopes one day to have the chance to perform programs by Canadian figure skating choreographer Lori Nichol, who works with Chan and several Chinese pairs, including Vancouver Olympic champions Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo.
最近发现其实年华06年的时候就有人上传dd的视频了，0607赛季的青少年系列赛-北京站，但是因为不知道他名字，说他是skating boy，后面回帖里也有人十分看好他呢。
兰比尔青奥期间对dd的评价
消息来源：absoluteskating网站
闫涵给兰比尔留下了非常深的印象：“花滑不只是有跳跃，当你看着他滑的时候，就会明白为什么他会位居首位而后面的选手将只能争夺银牌。他的每一个环节都比别人好：他有更快的速度，他有更好的滑行技术，以及一套好的节目。”
最近兰比尔又在一篇采访中提到dd
Q：你已经退役了，但你仍让很多年轻选手们深受鼓舞。那是什么感觉？
兰：我觉得能鼓舞年轻选手是非常好的事情，我以前深受亚古丁和库里克的启发，直到现在我仍被所有花滑冠军所鼓舞，甚至是年轻的选手，在青奥会上我就被闫涵（2012年世青赛和青冬奥冠军）所启发。年龄不是问题，冠军与否也不是问题，你依然可以从别人身上学到很多。当然年轻选手需要有人启发，需要去学习，看录像。我年轻的时候在家一遍又一遍地看了成百上千的录像。我记得所有的得分，我记得谁滑了什么音乐，关于花滑的一切。
感觉真的好荣幸。。。dd青奥会那么糟糕的一套短节目居然给小兰留下了这么深刻的印象，真希望有机会dd能找小兰做编排啊。。。。可惜这种机会太过渺茫。。。。
昨晚看到这一段差点跳起来XD