Message for 2021: In bleak days, there will always be light

There should always be some text left for 2021, even if procrastination delays the writing into 2022. Or, crossing the annual timeline, it is natural to have the meaning of turning around and looking back. The so-called year does not seem to stay in the traces of 2021 years, it can naturally continue 2020, after all, we are all in the river of years all the way down, and with the new crown epidemic has been accompanied by two years.

Looking back at the year, according to the usual news expression, events and people are the most critical elements. But since it is a personal account, I prefer to return to the unique scene, although the epidemic has hindered the trip, but the moments in Tokyo are quite unique.

Olympic summer in Tokyo. At the end of July, one day after two o'clock in the evening, I walked out of the press center, and the lights that created the atmosphere were a little dazzling at this time, and there was a smell of the sea that could not be detected during the day between the sniffles, and it was not far from Tokyo Bay. At midnight, Tokyo was able to relax, and about 5,000 confirmed cases of covid-19 every day still psychologically bound everyone's nerves and hands. Outside the media hotel, foreign counterparts smoked and drank in pairs, the safety distance was imminent, the masks were gone, there were no houses nearby, there were no complaints, and there was no trouble. Convenience stores shine with dazzling white light, people buying suppers line up, and the sound of coin touching when looking for change has long been lost. After buying a delicious chicken roast and meeting a Chinese girl who worked part-time, she said that she had not returned to the northeast for several years, and she wanted to see the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Back at the hotel, I didn't want to sleep, and the column I had just written was still swirling in my head. Byers withdrew from the race, caught off guard, and the indestructible strongest would avoid the battle in this way, care for his heart, and the rest can be put down and "be your own athlete". The amount of information is too big, from the cover of the U.S. Olympic Team to the determined withdrawal to protect themselves, what happened in the process? If we knew the Chinese athletes we knew about this option, would most people accept it with peace? Hiding in a quiet office, I threw myself into the stories, wanting an answer. After writing it, there are also streets in Tokyo at midnight.

At the end of the year, all kinds of best appearances, Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year gave NFL superstar Tom Bradley, there is no Olympic superstar shining in Tokyo, even if Drexel won five swimming gold medals, after all, there is a Phelps monument in front, less glorious, had to share the title of Athlete of the Year with women's gymnastics all-around gold medalist Suni Lee. Suni Lee, 18, was the first to cry after listening to Bales announce her decision to retire, because she knew that the superstar left the field, and the leading responsibility of the U.S. women's gymnastics team would be moved to her shoulder in an instant, and every matchday since then, she has been nervous and difficult to sleep. Byers withdrew from the competition, the U.S. team won the silver medal, and Suni Lee was once very afraid that she would not lose an expected gold medal and make the feelings of disappointment and even resentment uncontrollable. Byers was never completely relieved, and while her expression was shocking—"I am more important than my achievements," her other words, "I want America to continue to love us," were unsettling.

Musk's year-end appearance on the cover of Time, with Byers named "Athlete of the Year" a few pages apart, presenting a new definition of the value of breakthrough competitive sports that the magazine deliberately highlighted. Time portrays the 24-year-old "greatest gymnast of all time" as she meticulously manages all the details of her victory, nutrition, training and sleep. But Byers' control wasn't just about winning, it was about life and death. Is it serious? No, after five years of preparation, after struggling in the closed living environment of the epidemic, a superstar figure who was expected to win finally made the most extreme decision on the field and disclosed his psychological dilemma. A few months after the Olympics, Byers also needed to make a reasonable explanation for his actions – "To prove to the world that we are not only in sports, we also have people with difficult days." In this way, it is compassion for us. ”

In fact, there were early signs, before the Olympic Games, during the epidemic, Byers was upset and constantly asked himself, why the game? For whom is the competition? This is clearly the ultimate question that requires sound answers to support and balance the self. Unfortunately, the sense of environmental isolation caused by the epidemic has increased anxiety, and Byers struggled with everything, but still mentally unbalanced, and staged that amazing scene.

The BBC also gave the title of World's Best Athlete of the Year to Biles, who took only one silver and one bronze from Tokyo, and although the results are far from expectations, people can still learn what courage is from a 24-year-old American girl. What courage it takes to break down cognitive barriers and speak out about the uneasiness and fear in your heart, especially after being seen as an indestructible embodiment. Naomi Osaka, the last torchbearer of the Tokyo Olympic Games, also struggled in those bleak days this year, with no choice but to show the psychological pain, without the slightest sense of shame, while being expected to continue to win, you can show weakness, you can avoid, shape yourself at the right time, and effectively control yourself.

How important are the Tokyo Olympics? Let me give you an answer, just like the 1948 London Olympics. At that time, the world was restarted from the ruins of war, and the contestants could not yet be dressed neatly at the opening ceremony, and the skillful athletes sewed their own decent coats one stitch at a time. Worried about the shortage of supplies in London, some European athletes carry dry food bags than the Olympics, full of devastation, the Olympic Games is hope, is the light. More than seventy years later, decency and food and clothing are no longer a problem, but the epidemic has made everyone, especially every Olympic participant, find the foundation under their feet in the huge uncertainty, and the determination in their hearts, the fate channel that is delayed for a year to reach the end, once bleak, once suffocating, but can be quiet, see the light in the distance, and move forward tenaciously. Almost arbitrarily concluded, the Tokyo Olympics carried the greatest psychological challenge of athletes in the history of the modern Olympic Games, and it is conceivable that at the beginning of the epidemic, a large number of athletes could not get a safe training ground.

In the studio in Tokyo, I waited for Wang Shun, and I also waited for an opening statement that I did not expect - "I dare not fall asleep, I am afraid of waking up, and the gold medal will be gone." "At first, I thought it was just a joke, to enliven the atmosphere, a few question-and-answer rounds, I believed, it was a non-realistic psychological activity after the realization of the huge goal of life, only those who experienced it knew the taste, I just waited with a sigh. Why win? Wang Shun tried to answer, saying that the outbreak of the epidemic had suddenly emerged, and he had to avoid Qiandao Lake, and the eight months of hardship were suffocating. If you don't have a strong sense of purpose, how to live! Wang Shun told me that it was these eight months that gave him an unprecedented opportunity to examine himself in depth, without any interference, and to concentrate on shaping a stronger version of himself. In dark days, there will always be light, and Wang Shun made me believe.

I waited for Shi Tingmao, and the sense of maturity she expressed has repeatedly shocked me since 2019, when the Chongqing girl who followed her big sisters on the springboard has seen the rhythm of movement and even life from her ups and downs. Reaching the peak, there will be a slow fall to the bottom, from Rio to Tokyo, with this trajectory, Shi Tingmao struggled all the way in the darkness, and the well-designed incentive mechanism made the true breath in his heart always be there. Just returned to the peak, the epidemic surged forward, according to Shi Tingmao's words, the whole year only left the isolation area of the training bureau once, that is still rushing to Shijiazhuang to compete, the goal seems to be out of focus, but in fact, the pressure to win has never left half a step, dare not have the slightest flexibility, that artificially created a unique security environment, is also a tight package to the heart. Over time, some people are numb, some people are uneasy, the young people use tears to discharge, everyone has finally come over, and then talk about this experience will be gently brought over, who is not so survived? Those who encountered obstacles and could not move on were blurred beyond the light of Tokyo's victory.

I did not wait for the Chinese women's volleyball team, and I still can't clearly understand the root cause of Tokyo's setbacks, and when I talk about it on weekdays, I will talk with everyone about the mysteries behind the luck. Lang Dao said that he tried his best and exhausted all the ways he could think of, but he could not bring the girl out of the shackles of a certain state and psychology, and the adjustment was ineffective and helpless. While regaining some face in the last two games, watching the South Korean team go all the way to the final four, the girls should be unwilling and remorseful, but it is too late. Maybe in the future, we can easily explore the inside and outside of Tokyo's setbacks, the super team does not have to be deliberately mythological, the ups and downs are natural, and there must be the answers we expect in the process of trekking in the bleak days.