China News Service Tokyo, August 4 Title: Xin Xin lost gold, behind several hardships
China News Service reporter Zhang Su
After more than two hours of fighting in the sea and surviving a doping testing procedure of almost the same length, Xin Xin, a 24-year-old Chinese swimmer, finally came to reporters.
Her frustration and self-blame were beyond words.
In the women's 10 km marathon swimming competition of the Tokyo Olympic Games held on the same day, as the champion of the 2019 Gwangju World Championships and the fourth place of the Rio Olympic Games, Xin Xin, who was optimistic before the race, finally swam 2 hours 0 minutes and 10 seconds 01 seconds, ranking eighth among the 25 players. Three players from Brazil, the Netherlands and Australia won gold, silver and bronze medals.
According to the coach's analysis, Xin Xin once rushed to the third place in the game, and one of the reasons for the loss was that she accidentally got a yellow card in the sprint stage, which made her tied her hands and feet. Xin Xin herself did not understand why she received a yellow card until the interview, but obviously, this affected her swimming speed and psychological state, falling out of the "first echelon".
Objectively speaking, the difficulties and obstacles faced by Xin Xin are not only a yellow card.
Previously, the Japan Meteorological Agency estimated that Tokyo will usher in the first "fierce summer day" of the year on the 4th, that is, the maximum temperature exceeds 35 degrees Celsius. At about 6 o'clock on the 4th, the official said that the water temperature reached 29.3 degrees Celsius, which was close to the upper limit of the water temperature allowed to run the competition.
The sweltering heat greatly depletes the physical strength of athletes, and the water quality of the competition venue also "drags its legs". Although Japanese media reported that the sampling test water pollution status was up to standard, many contestants have bluntly denounced the unpleasant smell. When Xin Xin was training in the area, he also found that there were many black insects adsorbed on his body.
In addition, the timing of the event is difficult to compliment. Xin Xin introduced the itinerary of the day: get up at 3:00 a.m., eat a simple meal, take the shuttle bus to the arena at 4:00 a.m., check the first check-in at 4:30 a.m., complete a series of operations such as posting numbers, checking swimsuits, etc., carry out about half an hour of warm-up preparation activities, check the second check-in at 6:10 a.m., and start the game at 6:30 a.m.
But Xin Xin was reluctant to make excuses for the defeat. She repeatedly stressed that these external situations were the same for all.
The opponent who competed with Xin Xin was no small feat. Brazil's famous Cunha, who stood out and won the gold medal on the day, has absolute strength in the open water swimming event. At the Gwangju World Championships, she won both the 5 km and 25 km. Silver medalist Andros Loevandal of the Netherlands is the defending Olympic champion.
Xin Xin said after reviewing the whole game that she was still inexperienced and had too much physical contact with her opponents, consuming physical strength and causing her to not be able to swim at the last minute. She was disappointed with the ranking.
The girl with such a "lot of gold" in her name failed to pick up the gold as she wished, and she apologized in a post on her personal social media: "Let everyone be disappointed in this project..."
However, the message was full of words of encouragement, and many people expressed that they were touched by Xin Xin's efforts.
In fact, this is Xin Xin's third "Olympic journey". She debuted at the Olympics in London and competed in the women's 800m freestyle. The coach saw that she was "more able to endure hardships" and mobilized her to transfer to the women's 10 km marathon swimming. Xin Xin knew that his talent was not particularly good, and since then he has taken root in the project that "many people are unwilling to practice".
The hardships are difficult to describe, and the comparison of daily training data is very intuitive: short-distance athletes are about 3,000 meters to 4,000 meters, long-distance athletes are about 8,000 meters, and Xin Xin's is 15,000 meters. Open water hazards are also not comparable indoors. Xin Xin still remembers the jellyfish attack she encountered, "she couldn't sleep at two or three o'clock at night, because her body was bitten very itchy and painful", but the next day, she still swam 5,000 meters on time...
For this reason, Xin Xin is often referred to as the "Iron Maiden".
The Iron Maiden also has a soft heart. Knowing that her parents had not been in touch for a long time in order to prepare for her peace of mind, Xin Xin could finally "lie" today. She said that she would adjust her mood next, and most of all she wanted to eat a bite of "my father's vinegar slippery cabbage." (End)