Skating bonds me with a Russian friend

The exhilarating short-track speed skating competition held at the National Indoor Stadium on Feb 7 reminds me of my first experience on a skating rink in Moscow.

It was in 2019, when I was accepted in an exchange program in a Russian university. A special mass skating rink is set up every winter on Moscow's Red Square for residents and tourists to skate. It was here that I ventured my first steps on the ice and fell in love with ice sports immediately.

One day in January, my Russian friend Ivan, whom I made acquaintance with at the Pushkin Russian Language Institute, invited me to join him in a skating session on The Red Square.

Clad in a helmet and skates, I lumbered into the rink, feeling the heavy force of gravity on both feet. I stumbled forward one step a time, struggling to keep balance as if I were walking on a tightrope.

While I was wavering on the rim with one-hand on-and-off grip of the railings, young kids flashed by along the sidelines, hands put casually behind their backs. They were like a pod of little dolphins braving the waves in the sea.

I was about to give up when Ivan came up. Holding my hand, he taught me to lower the center of my physical gravity. Standing by my side, he guided me along, warmly encouraging me with "Steady on" until I could let go of him and slide on my own.

Decorated with colorful lanterns and festoons for the New Year season, the Red Square was bursting with joy and laugher. Dusk found a sky teeming with tiny white spirits. Amid the snowflakes, screeches and scratches of skates had woven a scene of vibrancy and crispness.

Soothed by Mozart's Symphony No 40 In G Minor, the background music (coincidentally, the same music accompanied the march-in of Russian Olympic Committee at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics), I came to relax and gradually tried to pedal and power through the rink.

Bit by bit, one small step followed by a bigger one, I intensified my sliding. Finally I came off – I was on the track alone. I was thrilled, feeling warmed all over despite the cold weather of 20 degrees below zero.

Ivan came up to congratulate me. "You've got real talent for skating!" A horde of Russian university students nearby smiled at me, giving me a thumb-up, and said in Russian: "Good job!" It was genuinely heart-stirring and unforgettable.

In celebration of the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games of 2022, a brand-new indoor ice rink was established in the shopping mall near my home shortly before the Chinese New Year. I went skating a week ago and made a short video. I sent it to Ivan through WeChat. He was quite glad at my progress.

As the thematic slogan of Beijing Winter Olympic Games goes, "Together for a shared future", I have asked Ivan to join me in China and share meaningful events together. After the pandemic, we will watch ice sculpture exhibitions in Harbin and visit the Great Wall in Beijing together.

And surely, we will meet at the ice rink again for fun and for our friendship as well.

Zhang Lingwen is a student at the College of Foreign Languages and Literatures of Fudan University. Chen Liang from Fudan University contributed to the article.