At the last moments of the women's 20km race at the Sydney Olympics, most of the spectators at the main stadium and the long guns and short guns of the media were looking at the entrance to the entrance, waiting for the first athlete to rush into the field to greet the cheers.
The anticipation could take three minutes, or it could be five minutes, and then a bright red color appeared in everyone's eyes — Wang Liping, an athlete from China, was the first to rush into the infield.
But Wang Liping's appearance seemed to be an "accident", no one cheered in the audience, no one applauded, and even the long guns and short guns of the media were still facing the entrance of the passage, as if everything was saying a word: Why is it you who comes in? We're not waiting for you.
Such an abnormal scene really happened in the track and field of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, and our protagonist Wang Liping was later called "the loneliest Olympic champion".
So why did the Olympic champions, who were supposed to enjoy cheers, get snubbed? Who are the audience and the media waiting for? Let's find out for that today.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="46" > counterattack from the little people - Wang Liping's championship journey</h1>
In the final of the women's 20km race walk at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, the Chinese team had two athletes, namely Wang Liping and Liu Hongyu.
Liu Hongyu was the top female race walker in China at that time, and had won consecutive World Championships and World Cup championships before the Sydney Olympic Games, which was one of the big hits of the Olympic gold medalists in the event.
Whether it is fame or superficial strength, Wang Liping seems to have a big gap from Liu Hongyu, and even at that time, in order to qualify for the Sydney Olympic Games, Wang Liping participated in several auditions in China, and was stunned that she only determined the qualification for the Olympic Games at the last moment. (Liu Hongyu, as the 1999 double world champion, got the ticket early)
After the race began, more than 30 athletes began to walk towards the finish line, running towards the heavy Olympic gold medal.
Friends who have watched the race walking competition should know that this sport is not simply walking, but has strict action requirements, and the slightest carelessness will foul and even lose the qualification for the game.
During the race walk, athletes need to keep at least one foot in contact with the ground, and the knee joint must remain straight at the moment when the front leg lands, and there can be no bending.
Because the action is too delicate, there will be many on-site referees following the team at the competition site, supervising the athletes' race walking actions in real time and making accurate penalties.
If the athlete moves in violation of the law, the referee will give a yellow card warning on the spot; if the yellow card accumulates three cards, the athlete will be disqualified from the competition.
It is precisely because the requirements are extremely strict and there are many on-site referees, so for a long period of time when the competition starts, the athletes will not take it alone or leave behind alone. Because accelerating away is easy to lead to deformation of the action, and secondly, not walking with the big team, whether it is the front or the back, it is easier for the referee to see whether the action is foul or not.
As a result, the schedule is not yet halfway through, Chinese race walker Liu Hongyu seems to be in a bit of a hurry, eager to get the Olympic gold medal psychology let her start to speed up, want to open up the gap with the big troops, determine enough lead,
But speeding up the lead means that the risk of foul play is huge, and this situation cannot be avoided even if you are a world champion. Sure enough, at 8 kilometers of the track, Liu Hongyu, who was taken away, received the first yellow card warning.
As the schedule continued to extend, Liu Hongyu kept leading, the physical exertion was also getting bigger and bigger, and the technical action began to deform, resulting in three yellow cards accumulated at the 14th kilometer of the track and was directly sent off.
Liu Hongyu, who lost the qualification for the game, looked very lost, leaning over the side of the road and crying, and the coach of the Chinese team next to him also looked helpless and regretful.
As we get closer to the finish line, the athletes who are still on the track are almost at their limits, and more and more athletes are beginning to be sent off for accumulating yellow cards for various foul moves.
From the beginning, Wang Liping maintained a good rate of advancement, and her physical strength was also good, so the back course began to slowly exert force, and the position was getting higher and higher.
When she suddenly rushed to the third place, her good form made the Italian player in second place start to get anxious. As soon as he was in a hurry, he wanted to speed up, and when he accelerated, he faced the risk of fouls, and then he was punished for the deformation of the action. (You can look for the video at that time to see, the referee sent the Italian player off, the result is that she did not admit it, and finally almost was carried out)
At this time, in front of Wang Liping, there was only the host player from Australia.
The host player saw that Wang Liping was chasing so urgently, and also began to sprint madly, even at the expense of "using the host's unspoken rules", and the whole person ran forward completely foul. (The action foul, but the referee chose to turn a blind eye)
However, due to the exaggerated sprint, the Australian athletes' movements are distorted and no longer seen, and even there is no difference between them and trotting. This kind of global live broadcast, such a blatant foul, the referee was finally embarrassed to continue to "blind", and finally sent her off at a distance of tens of meters from the entrance to the stadium.
It is precisely because it is too close to the finish line that the Australian athlete was sent off at this moment to surprise everyone. It should be known that for a long time, her name was the first in the real-time electronic screen of the arena, and even the live broadcast reminded the local audience to prepare for the arrival of the local champion.
And this also explains why when Wang Liping rushed into the field, the scene seemed extremely surprised, extremely quiet, and even everyone's eyes were still looking at the entrance of the passage, waiting for the champion they thought to appear.
None of the cameras that could be seen in the media were facing Wang Liping
Then someone has to ask, the Australian local audience does not give Wang Liping cheers and applause, is there not a Chinese team coaching staff? We can cheer ourselves.
The problem is that even our own coach is not waiting for her at the finish line.
Because the coaching team put all their hopes on Liu Hongyu, who was stronger at that time, they did not think at all that Wang Liping could achieve any results. Therefore, after Liu Hongyu was sent off, he went straight away, and he did not think of waiting for Wang Liping in the main stadium.
And this directly led to Wang Liping not only did not cheer or applause after winning the Olympic gold medal, but even wanted to find a national flag to wear...
From the live video of the competition at that time, we can see:
Wang Liping looked at the audience, then raised her hand to wave in celebration, but quickly and lonely put down her hands. She looked around the stadium, looking very lively, but it seemed as if she had nothing to do with her, no one seemed to be applauding her, not even her own coach.
In the end, Wang Liping could only walk around the football field alone, ending this championship experience that did not seem to belong to her.
Many years later, Wang Liping recalled the incident in an interview, leaving a sentence: I won the gold medal but did not find the national flag, which is the biggest regret in my life.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="41" > conclusion</h1>
After returning to China after the Olympic Games, the coaching team had no remorse for "dereliction of duty", but bluntly said in an interview: Why can Wang Liping win the championship? These are all tactical strategies developed by coaches. If Liu Hongyu is not arranged to accelerate away, will there be so many powerful opponents being dragged out of the field? So they created an opportunity for Wang Liping to win the championship.
But even if the coach replied so, Wang Liping did not stand up to express any dissatisfaction after returning to China, leaving all her grievances to herself.
I think that when Wang Liping looked around at the Sydney arena, the loneliness of being ignored by the world had already made her look down on everything.