This boy can jump.

This boy can also skate. There is a difference.

This boy has both.

I am officially setting up the Society for the Protection of Kids who can Jump.

Just because his footwork wasn't real fast -- that stuff takes time to develop.

See the line?

See the speed?

See the stretch?

Hush. Just hush your mouth. This boy can skate.

No, he doesn't look like Ilia. My feelings on Ilia are well known.

Let him skate. Just let him skate.

Footwork class is in session. Go observe this boy on the ice. Notice how gracefully, carefully and big he steps from one element to another. He never lets it turn into a clunky transition. He is smooth, graceful, and elegant. Yes, I had the nerve to call someone who can snap out a quad elegant.

Kiss my grits, as they used to say we said on TV.

Each step, and realistically each section of each step, in those transitions is thought out. Someone has been coaching him well. Nice to know skating history is appreciated in China.

But then where wouldn't history and tradition be, as long as they were purely functional?

Thank you, China. If this is the preview, what's the movie going to be like?

Watch him (and I love this) make a turn into a step that prepares him for a jump. Watch him pick up that foot, turn half his body, and step. That's old-time skating style. That's technique. That's where the impetus for those huge quads comes from.

That blade is carefully considered before it goes down on the ice. So is the knee. So, I'm willing to bet (although you can't see it clearly) is the thigh.

And he slaps that hip down on top of it, takes the moment, and skates off. No hesitation, no readjusting of the spinal line to the blade -- he just goes.

Those Chinese coaches (and who else? Caughtcha!) have been teaching him to go with what he's got. Make your preparations, settle yourself (notice, it's always from the spine and not from the leg or anywhere else -- um hum, you know who you are....), and move. US and other Western skaters (many times) have this bad habit of assuming their position is wrong, so they take a couple of seconds to readjust even when it doesn't need it. This boy looks at the ice and says he's fine. And you really can deduce a lot from the way your blade looks on the ice, as well as from how your hand looks stretched in the air. Remember you're looking down along your spine and up along your spine.

They're going to kill me...but that's how it was done.

Not even you guys invented that one, but it's done by the best. (That'll tell you who to keep an eye out for in the men's competition, won't it? Gorgeous, guys, gorgeous!)

If y'all hate the way Tara presents herself, y'all are going to go ballistic on Zhengsin. I don't think this boy has ever heard a "no, you can't" in his life. Until he got to the top ten rankings.

Says a lot about skating. Says a lot about his home environment.

And says a lot about this kid that he hasn't taken it to heart. He's still nice.

As much boosting as he's gotten...not to have slapped some people around the back of the rink for telling him he can't, he's going to have to wait his turn...

Only turn this boy's ever waited is in line to use the equipment. And, as I recall, they invested in new equipment real quick.

For him and others.

This is not an ego problem, guys. This is a problem with letting others be.

If every skater were as strong in himself as Zhengsin is, we'd have a lot fewer technical problems on the ice.

A lot more beautiful performances.

And a lot less mistreatment of people behind the scenes. This kid's stood up for some people who really deserved it. Who weren't going to get any other help. And whom he really, really could have angered some people for helping.

How do they treat skater #25? That's my test.

A lot of the people who are dissing Zhengsin (don't you love the juxtaposition of languages in that phrase, "dissing Zhengsin?") are not nearly as considerate of others as he is.

They just try to act like it.

He won't annoy others. Unless it's necessary.

And then he mostly does it on the ice. And yes, dear, that step-turn was deliberately aimed at you.

The federation couldn't dis him for it because, quite frankly, it couldn't spot it. I'd say 2 out of the judges on the panel that night caught it.

He knows how to aim. Without hurting others. And it helped his skating.

Love it, love it, love it.