Bridge over troubled water ends in gold

Olympic champs Sui and Han on why their emotional winning performance was more than just an athletic feat

After having to settle for silver at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong set the goal of changing the color to gold next time. On home ice in Beijing, they did it－and in brilliantly expressive style.

The two sparkled in front of the home crowd at the Capital Indoor Stadium on Saturday night to claim the Olympic pairs title with a stylish free skate routine that scored 155.47 points and set a new world-record total of 239.88.

Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov of the Russian Olympic Committee took silver with 239.25.Their teammates Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov, who owned the previous world record of 239.82, claimed bronze in 237.71.

The victory took Chinese figure skating full circle. The country's only previous Olympic gold in the sport was won by Sui and Han's coach, Zhao Hongbo, and his partner, Shen Xue, at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

"Four years ago we set this grand goal and we are very excited today," said the 26-year-old Sui after Saturday's triumph.

"We put on a satisfactory program and we enjoyed the moment when we finished it. I think everything is meant to be. We have proved ourselves."

Skating to Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water－the same music they performed to when winning the 2017 world championships－Sui and Han said the free routine told the story of how they supported each other through hard times. Throughout their 15-year partnership on the ice, there certainly have been plenty of difficulties and setbacks to overcome.

They were initially not considered suitable for pairs skating because, unlike most of their rivals, their heights were relatively similar.

"When someone tells you cannot walk a certain path, don't be afraid because you can create your own path," Sui said on Saturday about their perseverance. "We should always be ourselves and live our own beautiful life."

Injuries, too, have disrupted and almost ended their careers.

The duo missed most of the 2012/13 season as Sui was recovering from a bone condition called epiphysitis. They also missed the first half of the 2016/17 season as she underwent surgery on both feet in spring 2016.

In an emotionally stirring scene at an exhibition event in July 2016, Han performed on his own before pushing a wheelchair-bound Sui along the ice at the end of his routine.

"Undergoing surgeries on both feet almost cost me my career, but my partner Han, my coach and family helped me out of it," Sui said. "The first version of the routine to the music Bridge Over Troubled Water was telling the story of how Han helped me overcome this."

After being crowned world champion for the first time in 2017, Sui suffered a stress fracture in her foot the following year and missed the 2018 Grand Prix season.

They returned in time for their Olympic debut in Pyeongchang, where they topped the short program but were edged to gold by Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot of Germany by just 0.43 points.

The Chinese pair won their second world title in 2019, but their preparations for the Beijing Games were interrupted when Han underwent hip surgery in April 2020.Their only official competition last season was the 2021 worlds in Sweden, where they were beaten to gold by Mishina and Galliamov.

Before stepping on the ice on Saturday night, Han told Sui to be invincible and rise to the challenge, to which she replied: "No worries, we can do it. We have created many miracles, and today we're going to do the same".

It wasn't just idle rhetoric. They opened with a quadruple twist－an overhead throw which no other competitors attempted－and completed a triple-double-double toeloop, two big triple throws as well as level-four lifts, spin and death spiral. The only glitch came when Sui landed forward on the triple salchow that was downgraded.

The two held each other tightly after their concluding pose.

Sui said the program was even more meaningful than their 2017 gold medal-winning performance.

"The whole world is in a difficult time right now and many people cannot stay with their families because of the pandemic. We wanted our program to be like a bridge to support people, telling them that they can walk away from the dark and become better," she said.

Sui said their sensational quad twist－the highest-scored twist on the night－was executed in pursuit of the Olympic spirit: Faster, Higher, Stronger－Together.

Although they haven't worked out their next move yet, Sui and Han said they are simply happy to have done their best to inspire the next generation.

"This is an unforgettable night. We realized our dreams," said Han, 29. "When we were very young we were the underdogs who nobody believed could do pairs skating because of our body shapes. And now, we are Olympic champions. This is an amazing journey and we want to be an example to promote the sport to more people."