One more dance (at least)

World champion pairs figure skaters Pang and Tong decide disappointing finish won't end careers - yet

Pang Qing and Tong Jian aren't done yet. The two-time world-champion pairs figure skaters from China failed to make the podium at the season-ending World Championships in Nice, France in March. The fourth-place finish shocked 32-year-old Tong in particular, prompting him to consider retirement.

But Pang's strong desire to give it another go inspired him, and the pair will stick around for at least one more year.

"We are still capable of competing and the judges still approved of our performances," Pang said. "The fact we didn't achieve good results was because of mistakes, not a lack of ability.

"It would be a pity if we retired because of accidents in the competition. We are still at the top level. We don't want to give up like this."

Pang and Tong slipped from second, following the short program, to fourth after Tong fell on the triple toe and Pang singled an axel. The duo, whose twists and throws are considered textbook, made several mistakes with both in their free skating routine, ending up with 186.05 points, almost 30 away from their personal best.

"The fall at the beginning of the routine shocked me and it disturbed my distribution of physical strength over the whole program," Tong said.

"I lost all the rhythm through the whole performance and made mistakes in twists and throws. I couldn't accept my performance during the free skating since we did really well during the training before the competition.

"I knew all the people who care about us have high expectation for us and we also want to put on a strong performance. We worked really hard before the worlds, but the results came out to be so disappointing. I felt really sad and at a loss after the competition, so I thought it might be the time to withdraw.

"But like Pang said, we will be really regretful if we gave it up like this. We still want to try again for one more year."

The pair, who announced their love affair in 2010, has been teamed up for 20 years. This is not the first time they have considered retirement, but they always decided to stick it out.

A team since 1993, they are considered China's second-best all-time behind three-time world champions and Vancouver Winter Olympic gold medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo.

From 1993 to 1998, they trained by themselves in their hometown of Harbin because coach Yao Bin was working with Shen and Zhao in Beijing.

They faced the choice of whether or not to continue skating, but decided to keep going and later moved to Beijing to train with the national team.

Making their World Championships debut in 2000, Pang and Tong made steady progress and clinched the bronze medal in the competition in 2004. At the 2006 Turin Winter Games, they narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth.

They reached the first peak of their career by winning the world title a month later.

At the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, they claimed silver, following Shen and Zhao, and announced their romantic relationship after the free skate. They continued their peak at the world championships one month later, winning their second world title.

Last year, they decided to tone down their tough schedule and only competed in the Nice worlds, skipping the Grand Prix series and Four Continents Championships.

"Due to the long rest last season, we need more time to recover, which affected our systematic training through the whole season," Tong said. "So we won't have that long holiday this year and we won't stop training before next season starts."

To maintain their form, Pang and Tong will lead the squad at Art On Ice, a figure skating gala in Shanghai on May 26 and 27.

It is the second time the pair will perform at the show, which consists of skaters performing to live music. This time, they will perform with one of China's most popular singers, Li Yuchun, also known as Chris Lee.

"The show this year will be more fashionable with the addition of Li," Tong said. "We will put on brand-new routines for the performance this time. We are looking forward to the cooperation with Li."

Pang and Tong said they haven't thought about the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics yet.

"We just want to try one more year first," Tong said. "As for competing at the Olympics, it will depend on our performances next season.

"The next season is very important since it's the qualification for the Sochi Games as well. No matter whether we take part in the Games or not, we will try to earn enough berths for China."

leilei@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/20/2012 page22)