After 16 years of waiting and 27 years of persistence, the 32-year-old Xu Mengtao finally ushered in the first golden Olympic gold medal in her life! The unwilling and sad look when he won the silver medal two days ago can finally be left behind, Xu Mengtao, is the champion! She won the fifth gold medal of the Winter Olympics for China, ranking 6th in the medal table.
The rules of freestyle skiing aerial techniques are like this. Each player has two jumps, with the highest jump being the overall score. The top six places in the total score can advance to the super final, which is the real medal battle, and the winner is determined by one jump.
Xu Mengtao jumped 103.89 points in the first round of the final, losing to American Ashley Caldwell and ranking second. She gave up the opportunity to jump in the second round, after all, she has made it to the super final and needs to maintain her physical strength. In the super final, the Belarusian players jumped out of the super high level of 107.95 points in the first appearance, which put a lot of pressure on the players behind.
Under the pressure of the results, the three players who came out later, including another Chinese player, Kong Fanyu, all made mistakes. Xu Mengtao, who was the penultimate appearance, came to the peak of pressure, and her movements were exactly the same as those of her teammate Kong Fanyu, who appeared in front of her, and the latter made a major mistake of falling to the ground.
This action of hers is currently the highest difficulty in women's aerial skills and is unmatched. Under heavy pressure, Xu Mengtao showed the style and ability of the elders of the Four Dynasties and the ability to resist pressure, and landed steadily! The referee gave the highest score of 108.61. The last American player to appear, Caldwell, did the same thing, but he also fell down. As a result, Xu Mengtao won the championship.
From Vancouver to Sochi to Pyeongchang, Xu Mengtao regretted not being able to stand on the podium. Finally in Beijing, on the doorstep, she won the championship! The athletes who have won the world championship 27 times have finally won the Olympic gold medal. It was a bit late but worth it!
After knowing that she had won the championship, Xu Mengtao was very excited, and she continued to roar and vent her emotions, and her screams fluttered in the air above the arena. This excitement, this long-suppressed release, this fulfillment of wishes, let people see tears.
And then the scene that happened was even more touching, the American runner-up ran over, excitedly hugged Xu Mengtao, and kept congratulating in her ear, it could be seen that she was really happy for Xu Mengtao.
This is the light of humanity shining in the arena of competitive sports! This kind of moment always makes people's eyes red. Congratulations to Xu Mengtao, and congratulations to everyone, you are all winners.