The Capital Gymnasium, the most familiar place for Wu Dajing. Here he left his memories from a cardamom teenager to a prosperous man, and here he recorded his struggle from the women's team sparring to the Olympic champion.
After the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, when it comes to Wu Dajing, everyone's first reaction is the Winter Olympic champion. In the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics short track speed skating men's 500m final, Wu Dajing broke the world record with a time of 39.584 seconds to win the championship, which was also the first gold medal in China's short track speed skating men's event. However, 8 years ago, Wu Dajing was actually a sparring partner, a sparring partner for the short track speed skating women's team.
At the end of 2010, Wu Dajing was selected by Li Yanxiang for his good performance in the national competition and entered the national team as a sparring partner for the women's team. Although he entered the dream national team, that time was the most painful period for Wu Dajing, and his self-esteem was greatly hit. During long-distance training, he was easily defeated by Zhou Yang every time. During short-distance training, he was left behind by Fan Kexin again and again. "I have a boy who lets a girl pass every day..." What was even more irritating to Wu Dajing was that every time Zhou Yang surpassed him, he had to look at him, and that look was like a knife, stabbing at Wu Dajing's body.
In order to improve his ability, Wu Dajing paid more than twice as much time and training as others. "I feel like people are 24 hours a day, and I'm 48 hours." In 2012, the main players of the Chinese short track speed skating team competed abroad continuously. In the days when he did not have to be a sparring partner, Wu Dajing stayed in Beijing and polished his skills with assistant coaches, which made his performance improve by leaps and bounds, and gradually changed from a women's team sparring partner to a national team athlete. In the men's 500m final of the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in March 2014, Wu Dajing won the championship with a time of 40.526 seconds, followed by the second place in the men's 500m short track speed skating at the Sochi Winter Olympics and the third place in the men's 5000m relay.
After winning the world record at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Wu Dajing did not go well in the Olympic cycle of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Affected by his condition and injuries, Wu Dajing's dominance on the 500-meter track has declined. In the World Cup sub-race held from October to November last year, Wu Dajing rushed out of the final of the Beijing leg, failed to qualify for the semi-finals in Japan, and was knocked down in the final of the Hungarian leg and only finished fourth, until the Dutch finale to win the first personal championship of the season. Wu Dajing said, "It is normal for competitive sports to have ups and downs, and I will adjust my state, strengthen my training, and adjust my best state to the Beijing Winter Olympics." ”
Wu Dajing did it, and the Chinese team led by him won the gold medal in the short track speed skating mixed relay, which was also the first gold medal of the Chinese delegation at the Winter Olympics. At the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics 20 years ago, Yang Yang won the women's 500-meter short track speed skating event, achieving a breakthrough of zero gold medals in the Chinese Winter Olympics. Wu Dajing, who was 10 years old at the time, witnessed Yang Yang's victory through television broadcasting, and his dream was ignited. "After watching the race where Sister Dayang won the championship, I decided to enroll in class to learn short track speed skating. She was my leader and if I hadn't seen that game, I probably wouldn't have told my family about the idea of training. Wu Dajing also hopes that their victory will allow more Chinese children to take to the ice rink and ignite the Olympic dream.