????CHINESE veterans Pang Qing and Tong Jian, silver medallists at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, turned their focus to their impending wedding after finishing just fourth at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. ????They missed out on a medal at the Sochi Olympics on Wednesday but China’s figure skating lovebirds will soon be getting some other precious metal. ????In their final performance before retiring, Pang and Tong, both 34, finished fourth overall in the pairs event at the Iceberg Skating Palace. ????But now the couple have something else to prepare for — their marriage. ????They have been engaged for two-and-a-half years but have delayed their trip to the chapel until they finished competing. ????“We haven’t planned our ceremony yet as we’ve been focused on our training,” said Tong. “Now it’s time for us to think about it.” ????The pair have been skating together for over 20 years and have formed a formidable partnership on the ice, winning the world championship in 2006 and 2010. ????They also won a silver medal at the last Olympics in Vancouver, where they publicly revealed they were romantically as well as professionally linked. ????The following year they became engaged after a highly — publicized wedding proposal that went viral on the Internet. ????Tong popped the question to Pang during a skating tournament in Shanghai in 2011 in front of a crowd of around 20,000 people and millions more watching live on television. ????After they finished their routine, he skated back on to the ice with a bunch of red roses in one hand and a ring in the other. ????He knelt down and asked for her hand in marriage, which Pang accepted. The pair decided not to walk down the aisle immediately because they wanted to remain focused on their skating careers. ????When they didn’t skate at the 2011-12 Grand Prix meets, speculation began to mount that they were getting ready to tie the knot, before they announced they would keep going. ????But the two said they were definitely finishing their skating careers after Sochi, so the wedding bells could soon be heard. ????“We’re happy to have had the chance to skate our last performance at the Olympic Winter Games,” said Tong. “It’s an honor.” ????Days before the big game, Tong was reported to receive a big pat on the back as he was announced as the flag bearer for the Chinese delegation at the Sochi Games on Feb 5. ????“It’s a great honor to be the flag bearer of the Chinese delegation,” said Tong. “It will be a good memory for my whole life.” ????“Tong has excellent achievements in competition and also possesses good morality,” said Xiao Tian, China’s deputy chef de mission. ????“He is the most experienced athlete in the delegation and has a good physique,” Xiao added. ????Pang was born in Harbin, the home of Chinese skating. She began skating at age 6. She originally competed as a single skater. ????Tong was born into a Manchurian family in the city of Harbin. He also began skating at age 6. He originally competed as a single skater. He then competed as an ice dancer for two years because of his weak jumps. After his short ice dancing career, Tong switched to pairs. He previously competed with Zhang Yue. In 1993, coach Yao Bin teamed him up with Qing and they have been skating together ever since. ????When Yao moved to Beijing, Pang and Tong trained without a coach until 1997, when they began training under Yao again. ????Pang and Tong did not have a strong junior career, perhaps due to the fact that the Junior Grand Prix did not exist when they were skating at the junior level. They placed 14th, 9th, and 8th at the World Junior Championships between 1997 and 1999. After that, they went senior. ????Pang and Tong won the silver medal at the 1997 Chinese national championships, but did not represent China at the World Championships until 1999. They are the 2000 Chinese national champions. At their first major senior international, the 1999 Four Continents Championships (the first Four Continents ever held), they placed 5th. They then went to their first Worlds, where they placed 14th. ????In the 1999-2000 season, Pang and Tong made their Grand Prix debut. They placed 4th at Skate Canada and 5th at Cup of Russia. They slowly moved up the ranks over the years. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, coming in as the Four Continents Champions, they placed 9th. ????Following the 2001-2002 season, Pang and Tong began to be contenders. They consistently placed on the podium at their Grand Prix events. They won their first World medal (a bronze) at the 2004 World Championships. ????After their first world medal, they had a rough 2004-2005 season and a shaky start at the beginning of the 2005-2006 season. They recovered with consistency by the 2006 Olympics, where they placed a controversial 4th behind teammates Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo and Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao. They went to the 2006 Worlds and won. ????In the 2006-2007 season, Pang and Tong were unable to defend their World title. They were forced to withdraw from Skate America due to injury. They won the silver medal at the Cup of China, the Asian Winter Games, and the Four Continents Championships. At Worlds, they placed second. ????During the 2007-2008 season, Pang and Tong had a rough start, losing two out of their three Grand Prix events. They came back strong midseason by winning the bronze at the Grand Prix Final and their third Four Continents title. They ended their season with a disappointing 5th at the World Championships. ????During the 2008-2009 season, Pang and Tong had another rough outing at their first event, the Cup of China. Many commentators had written them off, such as Paul Wylie and Tracey Wilson. Despite this, they went on to win their next Grand Prix events and the final. During that season, they made history, when they went on to win a record setting fourth Four Continents title and have now won more Four Continent titles than any other team. Despite the momentum they had built, they had another disappointing World Championships, where they were once again off the podium. ????During the 2009-2010 season, Pang and Tong won both of their Grand Prix events and a silver at the Grand Prix Final, defeating all the world medalists at the previous world championship. ????In the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Pang and Tong set a new World Record for the free skate with a score of 141.81 points. They placed second place behind Xue and Zhao thanks to their teammates’ world record-setting short program. China broke Russia’s 46-year 12 Olympic gold medal streak in pairs skating, sweeping gold and silver places. ????They became the 2010 World Champions in Turin, Italy. ????For the 2010-2011 ISU Grand Prix season, Pang and Tong were assigned the 2010 NHK Trophy and the 2010 Cup of China. They won both of their Grand Prix assignments to qualify for the Grand Prix Final where they won silver. They won the bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships. ????Pang and Tong withdrew from their assigned 2011-12 Grand Prix events. ????The pair returned to competition in January 2012, when they won gold at the Chinese National Winter Games. ????Although they had not spoken about their personal lives, Pang and Tong revealed publicly in an issue of Vanity Fair during the 2010 Winter Olympics that they were romantically involved.(SD-Agencies) | 