Wen | Adi
Editor| Captain Zhang
In the women's weightlifting final at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, the tense atmosphere filled the arena, and the outstanding performance of the Korean athletes doubled the pressure on the Chinese team that came next.
At 172.5 kilograms, the seemingly impossible weight made the Korean team ecstatic, and they hugged and cheered each other, believing that victory was within reach.
But the arena is like a battlefield, everything changes rapidly, everything is possible, and the performance of the Chinese players who came later made the joy of the Korean team collapse in an instant.
This Chinese player is Tang Gonghong.
Tang Gonghong
Only to see her take a steady step to the field, adjust her breathing, ignore the pressure from the world's top arena, for the gold medal, but also for the glory of the motherland, but also for her own dreams.
She gritted her teeth and lifted an impossible weight - 182.5 kilograms, breaking the world record in one fell swoop, and stood at the highest point in the world.
The South Korean player was stunned on the spot, and his expression was sluggish for a while.
What the public does not know is that this move was lifted up desperately by Tang Gonghong, and the excessive weight pressure made her blood pressure rise sharply after breaking through the limit, which was seriously life-threatening, and the team doctors present immediately implemented treatment to prevent Tang Gonghong from having an accident.
Why did Tang Gonghong have to work so hard?
Has she been able to fight for her due rewards?
01 "Poor" family origin
Tang Gonghong was born in 1979 in Yantai, Shandong Province, when her family conditions were poor, her parents were ordinary workers, using meager wages to make ends meet, and the family had an older sister.
Although her parents failed to create good living conditions for Tang Gonghong, they gave her a precious wealth that was hard to find - a healthy and strong physique.
Tang Gonghong has shown a talent for weightlifting since she was a child, in order to reduce the burden of her mother, she followed her mother to the field to do farm work at a young age, and the grain she carried was much heavier than that of children of the same age.
Even the mother was amazed at the energy contained in her small body, who had obviously grown up eating only sorghum rice, but was stronger than the children fed by refined grains, and it seemed that everything she ate could be absorbed.
By the age of 11, she weighed 114 pounds that only an adult woman would have, and she was also a well-known strong woman in school, with greater strength than many boys.
Also because of her outstanding talent, she was favored by the sports school teacher who came to the school to select athletes, and recommended her to go to Yantai Fushan Sports School for formal training, which is a provincial sports school, and there is no strong physical foundation that cannot be entered.
But the poor family conditions hindered Tang Gonghong's training road, for the sake of their daughter's future, the Tang family's parents went all over all their relatives, but also found all the friends who could open their mouths, 10 yuan here, 20 yuan there, and cobbled together the 500 yuan tuition fee of the sports school.
Among them, Tang Gonghong's sister resolutely chose to give up her sports school enrollment opportunities for her sister's study trip, and sold her beloved leather shoes to pay tuition for her sister, at this time, her sister did not know that it was precisely because of her own concession that China's weightlifting industry had a legendary figure in the future.
In this way, Tang Gonghong entered the sports school for further study, although Tang Gonghong's physical fitness is good, but compared with those athletes who received professional training at the beginning, her conditions are not the best, so she did not pass when applying for the Shandong Sports School, which undoubtedly poured cold water on her full of enthusiasm.
Tang Gonghong, who has experienced hardships since childhood, knows that she can have the opportunity to exercise all rely on the full support of her family, so she trains hard for her family, she can bear hardships, will suffer hardships, and dare to suffer hardships.
Compared with others, she has achieved outstanding results with her hard work, successfully selected by the provincial team, and officially entered the national team training in 1998 after four years of intensive training in the provincial team.
Three years later, Tang Gonghong ushered in the first important competition in his life, winning the women's 75 kg overall championship at the 9th National Games in 2001, from scratch, from loss to erection, the hardships and efforts along the way were rewarded at the moment of winning the trophy.
Tang Gonghong knows that her current achievements are inseparable from the support of her relatives, she is also a good child with filial piety, the first thing she did after getting the bonus of the National Games was to subsidize the family and buy a TV set for the family.
Once she won an award with a 200 yuan prize back home, found that her sister's shoes were missing, at this time she learned that her sister sold leather shoes for her to go to sports school, she took 200 yuan to buy two pairs of leather shoes for her sister, this matter after many years she recalled, and often tears.
As a professional athlete, Tang Gonghong naturally will not stop here, at this time, she has a firm determination in her heart that all athletes will be firm, that is, to sprint to the highest podium, the champion of the world Olympic sports event!
In the time that followed, Tang Gonghong constantly impacted his record, defeating opponents of the same level as himself and constantly refreshing the record.
Finally, in 2004, she broke the standing record again at the Asian Championships and successfully qualified for the Olympic Games, and this battle will be the most brilliant moment in Tang Gonghong's entire life!
02 Risking death
In order to make up for the regret of not being able to participate in the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, and in order to support his family coaches all the time, and in order to live up to the country's cultivation of himself, Tang Gonghong decided to play indulgently in the 2004 Olympic Games without regrets.
The Olympic Games are all the world's top women's weightlifting players, and those who can match Tang Gonghong's level alone are Robert from Poland and Zhang Meilan, a rising star from South Korea.
Zhang Meilan
Perhaps it was too much pressure, Tang Gonghong's early grasp did not play at her due level, and the players before her had excellent performance, and after the end of the snatching competition, Tang Gonghong only ranked fifth, which also made her feel baggage.
She knew what her gold medal meant, meaning it would be the 100th gold medal our country had won! The degree of preciousness can be imagined. Knowing that the gap between his results and other contestants was too large, Tang Gonghong knew that he would have to go all out to compete for the championship next.
After South Korea's Zhang Meilan successfully lifted 172.5 kg, the South Korean team began cheering early, they knew that if Tang Gonghong wanted to win the championship, he had to increase the weight of the grablift to 182.5 kg, and they thought that Tang Gonghong could not do it.
Success or failure is here!
But what they did not expect was that Tang Gonghong had lifted 185 kilograms of weight as early as daily training, and successfully lifted the seemingly impossible figure of 182.5 kilograms with his daily accumulation and inner breath! The champion belongs to China!
Tang Gonghong's move not only won the gold medal, but also broke the world record for the deadlift and the total result at that time, and for a time the whole world applauded the female force that finally turned the tide, and the countries around the world also had a high evaluation of her, and the official website of the Olympic Games said that she was a miracle in herself.
Tang Gonghong, who did all this, did not have too complicated feelings at the time, and in the post-match interview, she said that her mind was blank at that time, and she herself said this:
"I didn't have a chance to think about what would happen if I couldn't lift it. I thought of one, that is, I must lift it. ”
At the moment, she was gathered in glory, but she did not have time to enjoy her own glory, her blood pressure soared after the game, her body was difficult to load, and the team doctors present immediately came forward to rescue her.
When the director sent the picture back to China, Chinese people were worried about the heroine who won glory for the country, but the fake news confused everyone, and everyone thought that Tang Gonghong was crushed to the point of vomiting blood after lifting such a heavy weight, to the point of bleeding.
Although Tang Gonghong's body was indeed damaged, but far less serious than the rumors from the outside world, after actively cooperating with rehabilitation treatment, Although Tang Gonghong's body still had minor injuries, it quickly returned to its original level, and also stood up to clarify the rumors, saying that he was not seriously injured and difficult to treat as the news said.
After the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Tang Gonghong can be described as a household name, no one knows her amazing move, at this time she became famous, but still did not change her original intention, after the reigning country won the gold medal, she still wants to play her own value in the field to continue to fight.
She knows that everything she has is because of the support of her family, the cultivation of coaches, the cultivation of the country, and in order to repay them, Tang Gonghong said that she can continue to fight.
03. Treatment after winning gold
Tang Gonghong, who won the gold medal for the country, received a reward from the state after returning to China.
After the Chinese delegation returned to China, the Olympic athletes' heavy prize plan began to be steadily implemented.
Among them, Tang Gonghong won the national 4 bedrooms and 2 halls of commendation, this house was a very valuable reward at that time, Tang Gonghong is worth it.
In the days after returning to China, Tang Gonghong did not relax his training, but worked harder, actively trained to participate in the competition, and qualified for the 10th National Games with the seventh place in the 2005 National Women's Weightlifting Championships and the Women's Weightlifting Preliminary Competition of the Tenth National Games.
However, due to the pain caused by daily training and the sequelae left after the outbreak on the field, Tang Gonghong failed to play his best level in the field of the National Games and did not win the championship of the National Games.
Considering Tang Gonghong's physical condition, after many considerations, Tang Gonghong decided not to carry out training that required huge physical exertion to avoid further wear and tear of the body.
The state also took into account Tang Gonghong's need for living income, in addition to the large room that rewarded her before, it also hired her as the director of the weightlifting project of the Weihai Sports Bureau and became a women's weightlifting coach.
In the following two years, Tang Gonghong devoted herself to the training of new and outstanding athletes, but also did not relax in her own training, because she had higher goals and made sufficient preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
In 2007, Tang Gonghong participated in the National Women's Lifting Championship and Olympic Trials, and she won two bronze medals with her hard training and undoubted strength, officially announcing her comeback.
On June 15 of the same year, Tang Gonghong entered the national team to start summer training, but the day did not go according to people's wishes, Tang Gonghong's blood pressure problems have been like a haze that plagued her daily training, and even threatened her life safety several times.
Although Tang Gonghong has always said that she can still fight and is extremely eager to stand on the podium of the Beijing Olympic Games, for the sake of her life and safety, she still has no chance to enter the Beijing Olympic Games, retreats to the second line, and continues to work as a coach in the Weihai Sports Bureau.
Although he can no longer show himself on the field, he can still shine on the stage of life, which is his own, and in 2012, under the matchmaking of Tang Gonghong's aunt, Tang Gonghong met his future husband Sun Aimin.
Sun Aimin (right)
As a weightlifter, Tang Gonghong's figure is naturally not as slender and slender as a normal woman, but the most important thing for a person is not the external image, but the precious quality and noble personality, after ordinary people can not stand the training of Tang Gonghong's inner tenacity, and has a grateful heart, Sun Aimin soon fell in love with her
Half a year later, the two entered the palace of marriage.
After marriage, Tang Gonghong is obviously happy, the days are plain but also happy, although because of physical reasons did not have children, but this does not prevent Tang Gonghong to pursue their own happiness, presumably through their own efforts, Tang Gonghong will usher in a better life.
As a legend who won the 100th gold medal for China, Tang Gonghong often receives invitations to various programs, and everyone wants to hear about her journey since then and the real situation at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
More than ten years have passed since 2004, and in these more than ten years, Tang Gonghong still remembers that she fought for this gold medal for 13 years, just as the coach of the national team told her, she would die on the stage, so she did not hesitate to fight with her life to complete the final move towards the goal of the 100th gold medal.
As for the rumors spread on the Internet, Tang Gonghong just smiled and said that he was indeed suffering from illness, but it was far less serious than in his population, and he did not spit blood or bleed, and the increase in blood pressure was real.
Time passes, the sun and the moon are like shuttles. In the weightlifting arena of the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, the Olympic athletes on the mainland have achieved quite good results and handed over satisfactory answers to the country.
Hou Zhihui won the gold medal in the women's weightlifting competition in the 49 kg category and broke the Olympic record.
Hou Zhihui
Like Hou Zhihui, Li Fabin also won the gold medal and broke the Olympic record in the men's weightlifting competition in the 61 kg category.
In this Olympic Games, Chinese athletes have achieved extremely high achievements in weightlifting, winning a total of 8 gold medals and one silver medal, breaking 3 Olympic records.
Li Fabin
This gratifying result is inseparable from the hard training of the athletes themselves, and it is also the inheritance of the Chinese weightlifting spirit.
It is precisely because of the existence of such desperate predecessors as Tang Gonghong that the juniors of weightlifting know better how proud it is to achieve glory for the country.
China's weightlifting dream team
The sense of national honor has always been the pursuit of Chinese athletes.
I hope that future athletes can uphold the same spirit as Tang Gonghong that "dying on the weightlifting platform is worth it", for the honor of the country, for their own achievements, in order to spread the sportsmanship of mankind, and continue to shine on the road of weightlifting.
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