The glory of the 2008 Olympic Games is still in the minds of many people, there were too many Chinese proud moments that year, the Chinese delegation won 51 gold medals, 21 silver medals, 28 bronze medals, ranked first in the gold medal table, second in the medal table, and achieved the best results since participating in the Olympic Games.
That year's table tennis hall women's singles competition three five-star red flags were raised together, that year's five pines Chinese men's basketball team forced Spain into overtime, that year's diving hall "bright crystal" combination almost won the championship in an inexplicable way... Before August 24, 2016, Chen Xiexia, who won the first gold for China, also belonged to these "shining moments".
But that doping report, which was 8 years late, completely ruined her athletic career, and even her life.
A peasant girl born with divine powers
For a long time, almost all children who practice weightlifting come from the countryside, because many people can't actually eat the pain of weightlifting, and they lift thousands of dollars when they train, but the price they pay for this may last a lifetime.
On January 8, 1983, The family of Chen Xiquan, a poor household in Da'ao Village, Panyu Nucleus Town, Guangdong Province, originally Chen Xiquan wanted to name his daughter Chen Xia, but the fortune teller said that her life was short of fire, so he added a word to become Chen Xiexia.
This "xie" word is not easy to write and difficult to read, her parents call her "little sister", which is actually the meaning of little sister.
When Chen Ximei was a child, she was lean but had a strong body, and at the age of 8, she could use the board cart to pull more than 300 pounds of sugarcane, all of which she pulled in front and her brother pushed in the back.
In the fourth grade of primary school, Li Bingming of Panyu Amateur Sports School went to Chen Xiexia School to select good seedlings, and Chen Xiexia, who was full of strength, was recommended to the weightlifting team, "If you don't practice weightlifting, Your Sister may not be able to get out of this village for a lifetime." Her father once said.
At the age of 16, she was not selected by the Guangdong team, which means that her efforts in recent years may be in vain, but at this time she was favored by the Bayi team, she went to Beijing, until the 2008 Olympic Games won the gold medal, she only returned to her hometown three times, adding up to less than 1 month.
In the first four years of the Bayi team, she went out to compete with few victories, and she began to have self-doubts, wondering if she should not have taken the road of weightlifting in the first place, Chen Xiquan said to her: "Doing anything is painful, do you think it is not bitter to go home and be a farmer?" ”
But during that time, she was disciplined for her frequent absences from training, and was almost expelled from the military, and it was her father who advised her: "Sister, why are you so calculating?" I have been a farmer all my life and have not been ashamed to die, you have been practicing for so many years, do you want to give up halfway? You're young now, hold on. He listened to his father.
In the women's weightlifting 48 kg category, 2005 ushered in a surge of talents, first in 1984 Yang Lian won the 10th Consecutive Games, East Asian Games championships, many times broke the world record, and then in 1985 Wang Mingjuan won the 2005 World Championships to win the snatch, deadlift and overall gold medals, at this time Chen Xiexia only has some domestic competition honors, the Olympic Games is a luxury for her.
The turning point came in 2006, when Chen Xiexia, who had been unknown until now, won her first domestic championship at the National Championships. At the 2007 Asian Championships, she won her first Asian title, and at the World Championships in July of that year, 24-year-old Chen Xiexia came to the stage of the World Series for the first time.
This year, she won the women's 48 kg snatch, deadlift and total world championships, and the Olympic Games are approaching, and the competition for seats in Chen Xiexia, Yang Lian and Wang Mingjuan is becoming increasingly fierce.
All three have the strength to win gold at the Olympic Games, but we must choose the one who is the most stable, or the one that has no opinion from many parties.
The internal game of the weightlifting team, to qualify for the Olympic Games
The internal game of the weightlifting team began, Yang Lian was the world record holder, Wang Mingjuan was the two-time World Championship champion, Chen Xiexia was the Xinke world champion, and she also had a dual athlete in Guangdong and the People's Liberation Army.
According to the schedule, the first gold of the Beijing Olympic Games is likely to be produced in shooting and weightlifting, if once the shooting is lost, the women's 48 kg class can not be lost, which is a "dead order" for the weightlifting team at that time.
In July 2008, she strained her thigh, a month later the Olympic Games are about to be held, she can not participate in the test match, and Yang Lian surpassed the world record in the test match, 25-year-old Chen Xiexia can not hold back, the weightlifting career from the age of 9 is likely to be so eclipsed, and it is her father who comforts her: "Sister, how to do it, go home and leave you the sweetest sugar cane." ”
At the end of the month, she recovered from her injuries, but who should Yang Lian and Chen Xiexia choose? At that time, Yang Junli, deputy secretary general of the Chinese delegation, tried to protect Chen Xiexia: "If you let her go, I promise to pocket the gold medal, I will make a military order, she will not take the gold medal, I resign." ”
But that year's Olympic champion was counted as the results of the National Games, and Chen Xiexia's identity meant that she could add a gold medal to the People's Liberation Army and the Guangdong team. Yang Lian and Wang Mingjuan are both from the Hunan team. 8 hours after the registration deadline, the weightlifting team women's 48 kg entry list was announced, Chen Xiexia was shortlisted, and the official reason given by Yang Lian was that he had been banned for doping at the age of 17 and had a "stain".
It was cancelled eight years after winning the first gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games
On the morning of August 9, 2008, the women's weightlifting 48 kg final in the gymnasium of Beihang University began, Chen Xiexia played for China, the previous day's weight she did not even dare to eat, just to reduce weight, when she lifted the weight of 117 kg in the last lift, the whole field boiled, "This gold medal is stable, Chen Xiexia is the champion!" ”
The 150-centimeter-tall man lifted a cumulative weight of 212 kilograms, and she won the gold medal with a record-breaking record for the deadlift and the total olympic record, "This gold medal really means something different, I didn't think about too much at first, just fought, and the result didn't want too much." ”
In the home of Chen Xiexia in Da'ao Village, someone sent 1888 firecrackers, and the big red lion also danced, and the people of the whole country knew the word "Xie", and at that time, the huge headline of the media was still there - "Chen Xiexia, invincible." ”
Her life has changed, from an obscure no-name to a national hero who won the first gold for China, she enjoys all the applause, honor and wealth, some people have counted that she has received a reward of nearly 7 million yuan for this gold medal, and someone walking on the street will quietly point at her and say: "Isn't this Chen Xiexia?" ”
However, by 2009, a mystery arose - why did the new Olympic champion Chen Xiexia not work?
At the 2009 Asian Weightlifting Championships, she won only a silver medal in the snatch and overall results without a master. In April' National Championships and 11th Games Weightlifting Preliminary Competition, Chen Xiexia only finished ninth with 192 kg, and then withdrew from the National Games due to a worsening waist injury.
From the beginning, Chen Xiexia's task seemed to be to win the Olympic gold medal, and then she disappeared into the weightlifting table.
She entered the Department of Physical Education at Beijing Sport University and rarely appeared in public, with some media describing her rapid silence as "bizarrely disappearing from public view."
It all seems a bit strange.
She once said: "For mom and dad, finding a boyfriend to marry should be a thing they care about." ”
She also talked about her life's events, mate selection criteria, she said that she began to practice weightlifting at the age of 12 to win the Olympic champion at the age of 25, dedicated her youth to barbells, never talked about love before, for the other half of the requirements She said: "It doesn't matter if you are handsome, you should still look at your character." People say that the bank will have a common language for the bank, but I think it is better not to do so. ”
At the end of 2011, she was married in a low-key manner, her husband was an ordinary person with no sports experience, she lived the most ordinary life, weightlifting, championships, and the Olympic Games did not seem to matter to her here at this time.
She lives a low-key life, but seems a little too low-key for many people. Until August 24, 2016, the International Weightlifting Federation, through the International Olympic Committee's re-test of the 2008 Beijing Olympic athletes' test samples, showed that Chen Xiexia tested positive, and that her teammates Liu Chunhong and Cao Lei, who won the 2008 Olympic Games, were also found to have problems.
In the face of the IOC's findings, Liu Chunhong and Cao Lei both chose to appeal, among them, Liu Chunhong also went to the superior leader to negotiate, the leader said: "We believe in you, I believe that it is not your personal problem." ”
Chen Xiexia directly chose to accept this result, from the announcement of the results of the investigation to the time she was withdrawn by the International Olympic Committee on January 13, 2017, she did not appear for a moment, all of which seemed to have nothing to do with her.
The national weightlifting team suffered a heavy blow, and the culprit was Ma Wenhui
Chen Xiexia, Liu Chunhong, Cao Lei In addition to their teammates in the national team, the three of them also have an intersection point, and their supervisor coach is Ma Wenhui.
On the eve of 2012, Ma Wenhui abruptly stepped down as China's weightlifting head coach and later coached the Macau weightlifting team, and has not been heard from since.
The spearhead of everything was pointed at Ma Wenhui, and the four disciples he brought with him won gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games, three of which were canceled, and the only one who was not canceled was Chen Yanqing. At that time, Ma Wenhui was once called the "champion coach", and he also rose to the top of the ladder, and the London Olympic cycle achieved the position of head coach of the weightlifting team.
After the scandal, Zhang Guozheng, then the deputy head coach of men's weightlifting, acquiesced to the matter on Weibo, and the three people did not mistakenly obey, and the culprit was their common coach Ma Wenhui.
In 2019, the China Anti-Doping Center released a "list of prohibited cooperation" including 40 coaches, and Ma Wenhui was impressively listed, and he was banned for life and fined 240,000 yuan. At the same time, Chen Yanqing's husband Cao Xinmin was also included in the list and banned for life.
Chen Xiexia has been low-key since winning the Olympic Games, even if she is at the center of the scandal, when Liu Chunhong and Cao Lei are actively running for their own fame, she has always been silent, she has not admitted or denied, the jianghu has nothing to do with her, some people say that she has immigrated, but the mess still has to be cleaned up by the Chinese weightlifting team.
Because of the scandal of these people, the entire Chinese weightlifting team was banned for a year, for which missed the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games Chinese weightlifting team is still strong, 8 projects 7 gold and 1 silver, after that crisis, The wall of many Chinese weightlifting bases hung a slogan of "take the clean champion", whether there was that storm Or not, the Chinese weightlifting team is still unsolvable, for Chen Xiexia she has become a mystery of Chinese sports, from beginning to end she may be in the center of the game, she does not say a word may be a kind of protection Her family has nothing to do with this line of work, and in her heart she may have always wanted to be an ordinary person Chen Xiexia, far away from the center of the disturbance, even if it is harvesting sugar cane in Da'ao Village.