Exclusive: Short track stars, Shaolin and Shaoang Liu, talk about growth, brotherhood and Olympic dreams

The start of the international short track speed skating season is just around the corner. With strong teams from Asia absent from the World Championships in March due to the global pandemic, the upcoming ISU World Cup in Beijing, which starts on Thursday (21 October), will be the first international competition with all the big names in more than a year.

The event, which also doubles as a test run for the Beijing 2022 short track competition to be hosted at the Capital Indoor Stadium in February, will include half of the men’s Hungary team that made history by winning Olympic 5,000m relay gold at PyeongChang 2018, brothers Shaolin and Shaoang Liu.

The pair showed their continued form most recently at the World Championships in the Netherlands in March in which they won gold and silver in the 1,000m – with older brother Shaolin coming out on top in the longer distance – while Shaoang gained his first world title, in the 500m, the previous day.

The test event will reveal if the brothers' form has continued into this new season, ahead of an important Winter Olympic year.

Olympics.com talked to the siblings just a few days before their departure to Beijing.

People's Republic of China, a second home

Born in Budapest to a Hungarian mother and Chinese father, Shaolin and Shaoang Liu grew up in a multicultural household.

During a World Cup event in 2007, the brothers’ father approached a coach from the Chinese National Team. After a short introduction, the coach invited the siblings to go to the People's Republic of China to train with the team, and so, at 10 and 12 years old, the boys embarked on the journey that was to change their lives.

An 18-month boot camp with the Chinese team had an incredible effect on their growth as athletes and as people, says Shaolin.

“It was tough. Physically and mentally. In Hungary, we had one or two ice sessions per week, and in China we had two ice sessions a day! It was a whole different experience.”

The separation from their parents was even tougher for Shaoang, the younger Liu brother.

“For six months our parents stayed with us but then they left for Hungary to work. There was a woman looking after us but it was not the same.”

Having an older brother by his side made all the difference to Shaoang, however.

“He is always going to be my older brother who can really help me in my life. We had the responsibility to grow up so fast and think as adults. We had to keep our work serious because our parents sacrificed a lot for us and took us to China to train. It was a life-changing moment and we knew we had to take it seriously.”

Being apart from their parents and spending most of their time on ice, they certainly had a unique childhood but, as Shaolin puts it, “normal is boring, right?”

'We are the Champions'

The sacrifices were rewarded when the two brothers, alongside team-mates Viktor Knoch and Csaba Burján, won an historic, first-ever Winter Olympic gold medal for Hungary in PyeongChang.

Initially though, it seemed like the two brothers’ dreams to win an Olympic medal would not come to life.

“All of our individual races were super bad," says Shaoang. "Shaolin made it to finals but he didn’t win an individual medal. I got three penalties for all of my distances.”

However, it was the last competition day for short track that will go down in Winter Olympic history, not just for the Liu brothers, but for Hungary.

“The pressure on us was big," says Shaolin. "People were expecting a medal for Hungary, so it was a really tough time for us.”

All the more so as the home crowd anticipated a Republic of Korea win. But, as often happens in short track, events took an unexpected turn.

It is unclear whether it was Shaolin’s rousing speech before the relay that raised the team spirit or the song 'We are the Champions' blasting from a Hungarian locker room that did the trick, but that day, a miracle happened. Hungary's men’s team took the gold on Republic of Korean soil, leaving the home crowd speechless.

Shaoang recalls: “It was like a movie scene. We listened to the song, we opened the dressing room, it’s like the smoke was coming out behind us, we could picture it from outside, it was like a slo-mo, was really special."

Not surprisingly, the Queen track will also be on the playlist for Beijing.

Room for improvement

As the Hungarian stars get closer to the Winter Olympics in Beijing, they talk about a different mindset coming into their second Games: it is now all about defending their title.

“We might have new faces in the team and it’s going to be very exciting," says Shaolin.

For Shaoang, an Olympic journey is all about growth and taking it one step at a time.

“It seems that Beijing is pretty far but we are going to blink twice and it will be here. We still have to work a lot; we have four qualification World Cups before the Games. Since PyeongChang we changed a lot and we are going to grow even more after Beijing.”

The brothers hope they will receive a home-crowd vibe at the upcoming Olympics as they see People's Republic of China as their second home.

“Hopefully, even if there are Chinese skaters, they will cheer for us the same way they’d be cheering for Chinese skaters. We love our Chinese fans.”

Both Shaolin and Shaoang are extremely popular in People's Republic of China, with fans particularly adoring of Shaolin’s signature entrance to the ice. When his name is announced before the race, Shaolin touches his eyebrows and winks to the camera. It was his coach that suggested it once and Shaolin has been doing it ever since.

“I just did a little wink in the camera and everybody loved it! It gives me good luck. I win a lot of races with my luck.”

Brotherhood bond

The brothers also opened up on how special it is to have a sibling by your side on such a challenging journey.

“We started skating together, we did everything together, at World Cups and Olympics we share the same room. We do everything together," says Shaolin. "It was special to win our first gold Olympic medal at the same time. Our parents and our family are really proud and blessed.”

Shaoang agrees.

“We’ve stayed in sports because we inspire each other. We both do what we like in life. Before the race we don’t really have any tactics. When we skate together, everything comes naturally."

It's something they hope will continue to serve them well as they aim for individual titles as well as defending team gold.