How long does it take to get your name remembered by the world? The answer given by Gao Tingyu was 34 seconds 32.
The record-ridden National Speed Skating Hall ushered in a real "high" tide on the 12th, and China's Gao Tingyu defeated a number of strong players with the result of breaking the Olympic record and was crowned king in the "ice ribbon".
In fact, gao Tingyu, who is only 24 years old, has made too many people remember his name: at the opening ceremony eight days ago, he held aloft the national flag to enter, which is the second time that a speed skater has become the flag bearer of the Chinese delegation after a gap of 28 years; 1454 days ago, he crossed the 500m finish line of the men's speed skating at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics with a time of 34.65 seconds. For this heavy Winter Olympic medal, Gao Tingyu and his predecessors have been waiting for 38 years.
Gao Tingyu, who made history, is not the "chosen son" that people imagine. Four years ago in Pyeongchang, he fell out of the track during the warm-up training an hour before the start of the race, which once made Gao Tingyu fall out of the psychological shadow and did not dare to strengthen the curve; the first shot started with the Japanese players in the same group, which also indirectly affected the rhythm of Gao Tingyu's second shot at the start of the second shot - his Winter Olympic script, always ups and downs, thrilling.
Entering the Beijing Winter Olympic cycle, the young Gao Tingyu is still constantly accepting the test of fate. High-intensity training brings a sharp increase in the risk of injury, and in 2020, the recurrence of the waist injury once allowed Gao Tingyu to leave the national team. For 8 months, the daily routine belonging to Gao Tingyu was to resume adjustment in the provincial team, going back and forth between the training ground and the infirmary.
Unlike his peers, Gao Tingyu does not like to be lively, has no sense of star chasing, and even has no interest in games, but has a special love for skating. In the eyes of his teammates, Gao Tingyu is a slow speed skater, an out-and-out "Buddhist teenager". When things are not rushed, not impatient, not scrambled, understated, and even give people a sense of carelessness. In fact, under the appearance of "everything goes with the flow", there is a strong self-control of Gao Tingyu. The maturity of the mind will allow him to set goals in a planned way and then focus on completing them. Speed skating winter Olympic champion Zhang Hong once said of Gao Tingyu: "It will not be like some athletes who are greedy, he will watch the game videos every day, study the technology, study the ice blade, and his self-discipline ability is beyond everyone in the team." ”
Speed skating is a lonely sport with only one chance to glide on the field. The opponents around you will hardly affect the trend of the game, and in most cases, the players are comparing themselves to themselves. But over the past few years, Gao has focused on studying opponents' game footage. What accompanies him to sleep every day is not games or music, but the almost boring gliding screens over and over again. Gao Tingyu said: "I think only by comparing with others can we find our own shortcomings, especially those videos that break world records and Olympic records. I basically watch it every day before I go to bed, and I watch it when I wake up, and for about three or four years I was like a demon, dreaming that I was skating. ”
The accumulated meticulous carving has allowed Gao Tingyu to harvest more and more victory fruits and recognition on the ice. Entering the Winter Olympic season, Gao Tingyu's personal PB has reached 33.83 seconds, ranking fourth among all the registered players, and everyone's expectations for him are much higher than four years ago. When asked about the pressure of rushing gold, Gao Tingyu returned to his calm nature, "After experiencing a Winter Olympics, this time I want to be better and go all out, I don't want anything else." ”
"Because good grades don't depend on thinking, if you rely on thinking, you will lie down every day, or you have to rely on strength to speak."
Four years ago, Gao Tingyu wrote about the history of China's men's speed skating team in Pyeongchang, when he was not yet 21 years old, he instantly became the darling of the crowd. When some media hoped that he would look forward to the Beijing Winter Olympics four years later, Xiao Gao said shyly that if he could have a time machine, he would most like to think of the "ice ribbon" four years later to see what his medals looked like.
"See if I can change the color of it."
(Text/Yan Haiying)