From skating 107 times for the first time, to learning all the way south alone; from entering the national team just sparring, to finally winning gold at the Winter Olympics; from falling into a low tide in the preparation cycle to fighting hard at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Standing on the short track speed skating field, Wu Dajing has never been a young and famous genius, what he has is just continuous efforts and hard work.
Tonight, although he failed to successfully defend his title in the men's 500 meters of the Beijing Winter Olympics, for Wu Dajing, he has defeated himself by fighting his full strength and competing in three Winter Olympics.
The first skating fell 107 times
At the age of 10, because he saw the cool and heroic posture of Dayang Yang and others in the short track speed skating arena on TV, Wu Dajing liked skating. At 4 a.m., Jiamusi, the outside temperature was only minus 30 degrees Celsius, he took an ice knife, pushed a small bicycle, and went out by himself.
"The first time I skated I fell on the ice 107 times." To this day, Wu Dajing can still clearly remember the scene of his first time on the ice, Dajing's father sometimes can't help but secretly go to see his son training, "At that time, the outdoor ice rink had a protective baffle, all blocked by the snow pile, slipping and slipping and falling, the whole head was stuck in the snow pile, he did not cry, got up and patted and then slid." ”
Wu Dajing, who trained hard, sweated a lot every day, "The clothes were wet from the inside to the outside, the cold wind was penetrated by a dozen, he was afraid that we were worried, he secretly changed his clothes, and then ate food, and went to school again at 6 o'clock in the morning." Whenever she remembered the suffering that Dajing suffered when she was a child, Wu Dajing's mother would always shed tears of pain.
Wu Dajing, whose family was not rich, was very frugal from an early age and never compared himself with other children. Even the ice knife is what to wear. His first pair of skates were used on the avenue, and he also bought them a little bigger, resulting in frequent grinding of his feet. Later, the family began to buy second-hand skates for Dajing to wear, and he never complained.
For Wu Dajing, the moment he stood on the ice rink, he disappeared.
That journey of suffering alone
However, Lucky seems to have been joking with Wu Dajing, and his short track road seems to have more twists and turns than many young and famous athletes.
In order to improve the training conditions and development, Wu Dajing went from Harbin to Nanjing. A 13-year-old boy, carrying a bag alone, more than 20 hours of train, all the way south.
This is a painful journey of carrying a bag alone since childhood, how bitter is it? Wu Dajing's feet are the answer. During training, his ankle bone is often ground out of the large tendon bag, and when the tendon bag is worn, he can see the flesh, and then he can see the bone when it is worn. Whenever this happened, he would tap this part of his foot before going to ice so that the area became numb and did not feel pain.
After suffering too much, Wu Dajing always gritted his teeth and insisted. In December 2010, he was included in the national team by Li Yanxiang, the coach of the national short track speed skating team at the time. However, at the time, he was only the 11th man of the national team.
When he first joined the team, Wu Dajing was considered to be averagely talented, and in the first two years, he had been a marginal player, often wandering in the second-tier team or as a sparring partner for the main force. It was a gray and dark day that could crush the nerves, every day with the female team members training, but also surpassed by the girls, Wu Dajing's heart was like a knife. "Long distance Zhou Yang has passed me, short distance Fan Ke has new me, and my self-esteem is being hit every day." It was the stimulation of that time that made Wu Dajing train harder and prove himself.
"At that time, my heart was ready to suffer and be tired. If you want to be a workhorse, you have to work twice as hard every day than you normal training. Although his talent and understanding of skating were slightly worse, he later felt that this could be completely compensated for by hard work. Wu Dajing said this to himself at that time.
Every drop of sweat pays off
The suffering he had suffered and the tiredness he had suffered were not only known to Wu Dajing himself. Every drop of sweat he shed eventually turned into every future glory.
At the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Wu Dajing made a comeback, finishing second in the men's 500m final, when The leader at the time was overtaken by Ahn Hyun-so. Yes, it's the one who is now the coach of the Chinese short track speed skating team.
Four years later, at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Wu Dajing, as the most stable athlete in the men's 500 meters in the Olympic cycle at that time, was given high hopes. At that Winter Olympics, the Chinese delegation did not win gold for a long time, and under heavy pressure, Wu Dajing showed absolute dominance from the 500-meter preliminary round, and all four games led the way. The preliminary round broke the Olympic record; the quarter-final broke the world record; the semi-final was not affected by the interruption of the competition due to the broken ice knife of the opponent, and the final once again broke the world record and won the championship, and won the first gold of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics for the Chinese delegation.
He wanted to go home and spend time with his parents
After winning the championship in Pyeongchang, Wu Dajing pointed to his left chest after ascending the podium, where the bright five-star red flag was printed. At that time, Wu Dajing's heart had already sown the next wish, "See you in Beijing in 2022!" ”
However, the road to defending the title is not easy. As he grew older, he participated in fewer international competitions, and Wu Dajing's low tide period ran through almost the entire preparation cycle. But for Wu Dajing, he can't say these pressures, all he can do is to persist.
Finally, on the first day of the Beijing Winter Olympics, he and his teammates won the first gold medal of the Chinese delegation in the short track speed skating mixed relay competition. The moment he won the gold medal, Wu Dajing cried. At that moment, he felt that his four years of persistence were meaningful.
Then came the men's 500m race, and to defend the title, Wu Dajing also tried his best. However, in the semi-finals, he still failed to succeed, and finally missed the final of Group A with the third place in the group.
But Wu Dajing's journey to the Beijing Winter Olympics is not over. Next, he will compete in the men's 5,000m relay, and he also wants to turn the silver medal at the last Pyeongchang Winter Olympics into a gold medal.
And then what? It's time to go home.
"It's not been easy in these four years. The team did not give up on me, I did not give up on myself, and my family has always given me encouragement. Although I could hardly go home, the encouragement they gave me was always in my heart, and after the game was over, I wanted to go home and accompany them well. ”