These words really stung. Chris Bolton looked at this baby-faced guy just over 1.7 meters tall and grumbled, “Just wait, when I grow up, I’ll definitely be 1.8 meters!”

Jack Bolton didn’t take Chris Bolton’s words seriously at all. A twelve-year-old who’s just over 1.5 meters tall—even if he hits a growth spurt, could Chris Bolton really shoot up nearly 30 centimeters all at once?

There are people like that, but Chris Bolton’s mom is only 1.55 meters tall. The genes are right there. Jack Bolton figured his nephew’s height would probably max out around there.

He said nice things to coax his nephew, while Chris Bolton rolled his eyes and changed clothes—a bright red little vest, a small round cap—listening to the staff and the ice kids explain the rules.

“Kids, remember, after the skaters finish their routines, just pick up the bouquets and things the audience throws onto the ice. Don’t worry, there won’t be too many. If there’s nothing, you don’t need to go on the ice. Now let’s rehearse the award ceremony process. You’ll go on the ice with the girls carrying the medals, smile at the audience and the cameras…”

“Follow the rules, don’t whisper, no fighting, and don’t cry, okay?”

The kids around all obediently said, “Got it.” Chris Bolton put his hands in his pockets and followed them onto the ice, only to discover another harsh truth.

He wasn’t even the tallest among these ice kids.

Chapter 5: The Top Skater

The figure skating season is generally divided into two phases. The first half runs from September to December, with the most important event being the Grand Prix.

In the second half, from January to March, the European Figure Skating Championships and the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships are held at the end of January, and the World Championships at the end of March.

The European Championships are only open to European figure skaters.

The Four Continents are only for skaters from North America, South America, Asia, and Australia.

No one can compete in both the European Championships and the Four Continents.

This year is 2010. In February, Vancouver will host the Winter Olympics, held every four years—the biggest and most prestigious stage for figure skating.

Whether it’s the European Championships, Four Continents, Olympics, or World Championships, the number of spots is limited. Each country’s skating federation only selects the top performers from their national competitions to participate.

At this Winter Olympics, China has three pairs skating spots, but only one spot each for ladies’ singles, men’s singles, and ice dance. So only the national champion this year gets the chance to go to Vancouver.

“Figure skating is a young person’s sport. Once you’re over 23, you can call yourself a veteran and retire at any time. For many athletes, if they can’t make it to this Olympics, they won’t last until the next one. Take Liam Sullivan, for example.”

Jack Bolton leaned on the railing, explaining to Chris Bolton: “Liam Sullivan is 22. Four years ago, he wasn’t strong enough to compete for an Olympic spot. Now his skills are up to par, but he happened to fall last September and lost half a season. He started training again before he was even fully healed. Shows how much he wants to go to Vancouver.”

Chris Bolton scratched his head. “Uncle, I remember Liam Sullivan is currently the only male singles skater in China who can do a quad jump, right?”

There are only about a dozen people worldwide who can land a quad. In China, where men’s singles is a barren field, having a quad makes you the undisputed top skater in the discipline.

Jack Bolton nodded. “Exactly. Xiao Shen is the top guy on the national team right now.”

Uncle gave a thumbs up.

“But there’s only one spot. If he messes up at Nationals and loses that spot, he’ll just have to accept it. And we can’t expect much from men’s singles at the Olympics then.”

Right now, men’s singles doesn’t get much attention in China anyway. Pairs skating does well, so everyone focuses on that.

Jack Bolton sighed, “But the Olympic spots are based on World Championships rankings. Last season, the leaders really wanted Liam Sullivan to finish in the top ten at Worlds to earn another spot for Chinese men’s singles. It’s tough being the only hope. In the end, he finished twelfth. Look at him now, even during warm-ups he’s got a tense face. If we had a deeper talent pool and more strong young men’s singles skaters, Liam Sullivan wouldn’t be under so much pressure.”

Figure skating judges are all about looks, and coaches also consider appearance when picking athletes. For example, Jack Bolton is quite good-looking, and none of the skaters warming up on the ice are ugly.

As he spoke, Jack Bolton glanced at Chris Bolton. After training, the kid had already recovered his 3S and could even do a 3S+2T combination. That’s impressive progress.

Chris Bolton was still muttering things like “If the heavens have feelings, they too will grow old; life is really beautiful,” carrying his skates and turning away, refusing to meet his uncle’s hopeful gaze.

It’s not that Chris Bolton didn’t understand his uncle’s high hopes, but he preferred a stage where he could get lots of attention. His dream was still to become an idol.

Being an athlete is too hard and exhausting. No one at the top level is without injuries. The cost-benefit ratio is too low, and there’s not much money in it. It was never in his career plans from the start.

But Chris Bolton also knew that, aside from himself, his uncle probably wouldn’t come across another talent of this caliber for decades. Otherwise, his uncle wouldn’t have ended up so worried that he developed a drinking problem and got liver cancer.