Wang Zhen: Ten years of grinding a sword to achieve the dream of gold medals

Xinhua News Agency, Nanjing, September 28 Title: Wang Zhen: Ten Years of Grinding a Sword to Realize the Dream of a Gold Medal

Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Hengzhi

Ten years ago, at the Daqing Sports School in Heilongjiang, there was a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old teenager who was fantasizing: "When will I also participate in the Olympic Games and come back with an Olympic champion." ”

Ten years of grinding a sword, the dream of that year has become a reality. At this year's Rio Olympics, the teenager became the Olympic men's 20 km race walk champion, and he is Wang Zhen, who claims to love "blind imagination".

Wang Zhen, who only began practicing race walking at the age of 14, was selected by Italian foreign coach Damilano to enter the national team in only 5 years, and it took another year to start making a name for himself in international competitions. But when it comes to the first contact with race walking, Wang Zhen shows the frank side of the "post-90s": "When I first started to contact this sport, I really didn't like it, I felt that I was too tired to walk too hard, and the key was that I couldn't keep up. ”

Although he could not keep up with the other team members, Wang Zhen had a stubborn spirit, and after spending more than half a year, the little boy who always cried his nose disappeared, and he was gradually able to keep up with the team. "At that time, I was barely able to keep up, and as soon as they accelerated, I couldn't keep up, and I wanted to stand up." Wang Zhen said, "At that time, my enlightenment coach Liu Yunfeng once played the Athens Olympic Games, and I fantasized all day long, when I would get an Olympic champion. ”

In 2012, Wang Zhen was given the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Games. But in London, due to uneven physical distribution, Wang Zhen, who was not yet 21 years old at the time, won only one bronze medal.

A year later, at the Moscow Athletics World Championships, Wang Zhen, who felt very good about himself, suffered the biggest blow. With about four kilometres to go before the finish line, he was sent off when he was already in the lead position. "At that time, the first thought was that I was not practicing," Wang Zhen said, "I had never been punished before that, and at that time I thought that my technical movements were no problem. ”

Feeling that he had been treated unfairly, he came stubbornly, after the World Championships, he left the national team and stayed in his hometown for 7 months, during which he also completed the marriage event, and really planned not to practice.

In the end, it was a phone call from Du Zhaocai, director of the Field Management Center, that made Wang Zhen change his mind. Wang Zhen did not disclose the specific content of the phone, he just said: "In our northeastern dialect, Director Du is 'very exquisite', he is particularly kind to me, I have special respect for him, and I am also a little afraid of him." To be honest, I was actually a little reluctant to race away, but without Director Du, I would definitely not practice. ”

After a 7-month break, Wang Zhen grew 14 kilograms!

Hu Xinmin, leader of the foreign education group of the national race walking team, told reporters that the biggest feature of Wang Zhen is that it can stand up at a critical time. "He himself knew exactly what to do, so he said that he had grown 14 kilograms, and for two months, he only ate one lunch a day, and he had to lose 14 kilograms."

It's been two years since the Olympics. At this time, Wang Zhen has experienced many "failures", in his own words, he has become "calm", in the Rio Olympic Games, he and his teammate Cai Zelin won the top two places in the men's 20-kilometer race walk for the Chinese team, and the scene of the two fighting side by side tacitly cooperated has become a classic picture of the Chinese team in the Rio Olympic Games.

Speaking of the future, Wang Zhen's short-term goals are next year's Tianjin National Games and london athletics world championships, "Tokyo Olympics? I hope to keep going and get another gold medal. ”

Wang Zhen, who loves "blind thinking", actually has a bigger dream: "I want to open a race walking club so that more people can understand race walking." Whether you walk fast or slow, it is a healthy exercise. (End)