QUEEN OF THE ICE
Life is coming full circle for Li Yan, head coach of China’s national speed skating team.
In 1987, Li, then 21, was selected to the national short track speed skating team and trained at Beijing’s Capital Gymnasium. Over the past three and a half decades, she has grown into a world champion and then head coach of the country’s speed skating team and president of the Chinese Skating Association. Though her role has changed, her workplace has not, which today happens to serve as the figure skating and short track speed skating venue during the Beijing 2022 Games.
Despite her professional evolution, Li’s ideal has
