Zhao Jiawen became the first athlete to enter the Nordic biathlon field of the Winter Olympics. Photo: Xinhua Sports
On the evening of February 9, the Snow was illuminated by 59 permanent light poles at the National Cross-Country Ski Center, where the Final of the Nordic Biathlon of the Winter Olympics was taking place.
Eight minutes after German Gegel staged a stunning comeback and crossed the finish line first, the live broadcast of the event gave Zhao Jiawen a long shot, and he was the only Chinese athlete in the arena. Previously, in the Nordic biathlon field of the Winter Olympics, no Chinese athletes had ever set foot on it.
In the TV broadcast footage, in the last stage of the 10-kilometer cross-country skiing, Zhao Jiawen was obviously exhausted. By this time, most of the athletes had reached the finish line, and he was sliding alone on the slopes. He kept waving his ski poles with both hands and staring straight ahead.
Although there is no hope of winning the ranking, this journey is his competition with himself.
[1] Depart 4 minutes and 56 seconds later than the first place
Nordic biathlon is "Brave's Game", which consists of ski jumping and cross-country skiing.
In the ski jumping section held that afternoon, Zhao Jiawen did not perform well, jumping 81 meters away, ranking 42nd.
According to the Nordic biathlon "Ganderson's Rule", the score of the ski jumping part will determine the order and interval of departure of the runners in the cross-country skiing competition, and the ski jump is 1 point lower, and the cross-country skiing is delayed by 4 seconds.
That is to say, Zhao Jiawen will start 4 minutes and 56 seconds late behind the first-place Japanese player Ryota Yamamoto, and such a departure interval means that there is basically no hope of winning the ranking in the strong Winter Olympics.
As the finish line approached, the spectators on both sides of the track cheered him one after another, and in the end, Zhao Jiawen finished the race in 33 minutes and 29 seconds 8, ranking 43rd.
After the end, Zhao Jiawen stood near the finish line for a long time, holding his knees with both hands and recovering his strength.
Participating in such a showdown with the world's top players has exhausted his strength. There is no doubt that on the way to the top of the world, he is still a catch-up. But this night, for the Chinese audience, has made history, and this game will be repeatedly mentioned in the future.
Nordic biathlon originated in Scandinavia, Northern Europe, and is called the "all-around" sport. Since the first Winter Olympics in 1924, nordic biathlon has been recognized as one of the most difficult winter events.
Due to the difficulty of the project, the personal physical fitness requirements are high. Even in the Winter Olympics, there are only men's events.
The competition consists of two parts: ski jumping and cross-country skiing. When ski jumping, athletes need to jump from the jump platform with a height difference of 100 meters, and the one who leaps the farthest forward to get the leading position.
Cross-country skiing that follows requires athletes to glide 10 kilometers on mountain trails. Therefore, the project requires athletes to have the ability to ski quickly off-road, but also to have precise body posture control and prominent jumping ability.
For years, few domestic athletes have dabbled in this unpopular sport. In September 2016, after Beijing's successful bid to host the Winter Olympics, the Winter Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of the People's Republic of China and the Heilongjiang Provincial Sports Bureau signed the "Cooperation Agreement on Jointly Building a National Nordic Biathlon Team" to select materials from the Heilongjiang cross-country skiing team to prepare for the future establishment of the Nordic biathlon national team.
[2] Initially, there was not even basic equipment
At that time, 15-year-old Zhao Jiawen became one of the first team members, and he was also one of the first six players when the Chinese Nordic biathlon team was established in 2018.
Born in 2001, he began training cross-country skiing at the age of 12 until he later took on the Nordic Biathlon Winter Olympics. In his own words, "half the time is spent on snow".
Zhao Jiawen's contact with snow sports stemmed from a serendipitous coincidence. In an interview with Heilongjiang Daily, his mother, Yuan Hongxia, said that Zhao Jiawen had a particularly good academic performance when he was a child, and he was always the first in the class until the third grade of primary school.
In the second semester of the third grade, the physical education teacher of Zhao Jiawen's primary school suggested to Yuan Hongxia that Zhao Jiawen practice physical education. At that time, Teacher Zhao Jiawen said that his two big legs were blind without practicing sports. At that time, I didn't understand it, but I still thought it would be better for him to continue to go to school, after all, practicing sports is very hard. ”
After that, Zhao Jiawen participated in a primary school growth run in Mudanjiang City. It was after this competition that Zhao Jiawen was photographed by Coach Yu Qingbao of the Mudanjiang Cross-Country Skiing Team.
Less than a year after studying cross-country skiing, he was recruited into the Heilongjiang provincial team. Until 2016, the State General Administration of Sport selected materials from the Heilongjiang cross-country skiing team, and Zhao Jiawen once again retrained to nordic biathlon.
Despite his cross-country skiing training, he is very new to ski jumping in the Nordic biathlon.
In fact, not only him, but when the national team was first established, very few people knew about the project. Previously, the project was basically in a blank state in China and has not been carried out.
At that time, the Nordic biathlon team from scratch could not even be equipped with basic equipment, zhao Jiawen's coach Ge Da once recalled, "We went to Japan to train, just people went, Nordic biathlon did not have any equipment, we only had alpine skiing shoes and skis." ”
[3] Overcome the fear of jumping off the stage, and be evaluated by the coach as a "cruel person"
For Zhao Jiawen and other team members who are new to the sport, the more fatal obstacle comes from fear.
The vertical drop of the standard ski jump is as high as 85 to 109 meters, and the vertical drop of the big jump is as high as 110 meters to 145 meters, which is equivalent to the height of more than 30 floors. This means that any single mistake can result in a serious fall.
"Several talented athletes did not dare to jump after falling during ski jumping training, how do you encourage him, or guide him, he still can't pass that level, some team members have changed careers early." Coach GeDa recalled in a CCTV documentary.
In 2019, during a platform jumping training, Zhao Jiawen fell heavily on the snow track when he landed, and his knee was injured, "At that time, his heart was particularly lost." In the ensuing time, he withdrew from the national team due to injury.
During that time, Zhao Jiawen has achieved good results, won the national championship, and even entered the top 10 in the Intercontinental Cup. But this fall made his mentality plummet, "feeling like falling back to the trough." ”
Eight months later, he chose to return to the national team, but the fear of jumping on the stage still haunted him from time to time, "I was always in a particularly melancholy mood. Every time I reach the starting point, I may hesitate, and after the eyes are received, the body cannot move. ”
In order to make up for the shortcomings of ski jumping, as long as it does not rain, Zhao Jiawen will go to the venue or wind tunnel for special ski jumping training. "Practice hard, practice harder, practice more than everyone else, and only by doing your best will you not regret it." Zhao Jiawen later recalled.
In the 6 years he practiced Nordic biptathlon, he never returned home. The coach feels that Zhao Jiawen is also a complete "fierce person", "others skate 20 kilometers, he slides 40 kilometers, others practice for 2 hours, he practices for 3 hours, and at night he trains alone." Sometimes we watch him fight like this, and we are a little worried. ”
In order to overcome the psychological obstacles, Coach Geda worked out a detailed training plan with him and kept encouraging him, "I wonder if my heart is not particularly comfortable, I don't feel particularly good, I will go to the coach to nag." He would also follow me to study the things I wanted to practice. ”
After returning to the team, with a momentum of fighting with himself, as well as careful training and psychological counseling, Zhao Jiawen gradually found his previous state.
In November 2021, in the Nordic Biathlon Intercontinental Cup competition held in Russia, Zhao Jiawen won the 22nd place in the men's individual standard platform + 10 km cross-country skiing, successfully qualified for the Beijing Winter Olympics, and became the only Nordic biathlon Chinese athlete to stand on the Winter Olympic field so far.
On December 5, 2021, Zhao Jiawen was in the Nordic Biathlon Intercontinental Cup cross-country skiing 10 km race. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
[4] Serve as the main torchbearer of the Winter Olympics
On the evening of February 4, the Beijing Winter Olympic torch was lit in an "unprecedented" way. Zhao Jiawen became one of the two main torchbearers who lit the sacred flame.
The first on the right is Zhao Jiawen. Photo/ Source Zhao Jiawen social media
Today, people are still talking about the night on social media.
Illuminated by a huge spotlight, Zhao Jiawen and Chinese women's cross-country skier Diniger Yilamujiang took the last torch.
Holding torches in their hands, they walked slowly for half a lap along the opening ceremony of the Bird's Nest, then past the peace doves held aloft by the volunteers and toward the center of the stage, a main torch stand made up of huge snowflakes.
They waved and stood on the lifting platform. To the sound of soothing music, people and torches rise to the center of the "snowflakes".
The surrounding "Snowflakes" guide board is filled with the names of participating countries or regions. The two men inserted the last torch into a special shelf and let the Olympic flame rise above the nest.
"I'm very proud and excited, and I still have a drive in my heart." After the opening ceremony, in an interview with the media, Zhao Jiawen said that lighting the flame was another highlight moment on his life path.
Five days later, in the Nordic biathlon, he slid to the track with the signal flag, making history again.
Nine Factions News Reporter Chen Wei