From Pyeongchang to Beijing, there were 1444 days and nights between Wu Dajing's two Winter Olympic gold medals. Again and again injuries and illnesses, state ups and downs, no one knows how Wu Dajing survived, people only know that four years later, Wu Dajing is still the absolute top pillar of China's short track speed skating, as long as he is still on the ice, the flag is still flying.
Wu Dajing's exclusive skate shoes
Beijing, consummation
Due to the needs of epidemic prevention, the Beijing Winter Olympics have carried out closed-loop management, and athletes must complete 14 days of medical isolation after the game before leaving the closed-loop area. All the expectations, glory, accidents and regrets of the Beijing Winter Olympics have settled, there is no need to get up early to meet the training, no need to rush to the work schedule, these 14 days have become Wu Dajing's longest holiday in recent years, every day can sleep extravagantly until the natural awakening.
However, in addition to the relaxation of the body and mind, what hovered in Wu Dajing's mind was still the bits and pieces of the Winter Olympics. "With plenty of time, I used these 14 days to reminisce and summarize the four years of preparation for this Winter Olympics."
On the evening of February 4, 2022, the Olympic flame was lit again at the Bird's Nest at the National Stadium after a gap of 14 years, and Beijing became the world's first "Double Olympic City". Fighting at the "doorstep", as the captain of the Chinese short track speed skating team, and as the seeded player who competed for gold in this Winter Olympics, Wu Dajing felt unprecedented attention and pressure before the game. "First of all, because we are the home of this Olympic Games, and the Winter Olympics are held during the Chinese New Year, the attention is particularly high, and I know that everyone is looking forward to us to come up with the best results and win gold medals for the motherland."
Pressure surged to its peak on Feb. 5. This was the first competition day after the opening ceremony, and the short track speed skating mixed 2000m relay held at 9:26 p.m. was the first gold medal won by the Chinese delegation in this Winter Olympics. "This is the Olympic Games held by our own country, everyone hopes to be victorious, and since it has fallen on our shoulders, we must assume the responsibility of being the vanguard." There is really no way to get rid of such pre-match pressure, that is, to go up. ”
Participating in the mixed relay is Fan Kexin, a "veteran" who has participated in three Olympic Games like Wu Dajing, Ren Ziwei and Qu Chunyu, who have participated in two Olympic Games, and Zhang Yuting, who has made her debut in the Olympic Games but has experienced many competition tests.
"Before the mixed relay race, everyone was under a lot of psychological pressure, and to be honest, a few of us actually didn't want to see anyone at that time, because if we saw it, we had to talk about this game." At that time, if we can not meet, it may be the best relaxation for us. ”
Mixed relay is a new event only included in the Winter Olympics in 2018, two male athletes and two female athletes in a country skated through the 18 laps of the schedule, fast speed, tight handover, coupled with the speed difference between male and female athletes, adding more uncertainty to the short track speed skating relay race that is full of surprises, coupled with strong enemies, it is quite difficult to win gold.
On the morning of February 5, Wu Dajing and his teammates who participated in the mixed relay still bumped into each other, doing the final training and debugging for the evening game, so that the training schedule next to the schedule was not routine. "Usually training is separate for male and female athletes, this project is also very new, that morning is also a front-line grinding gun, I think we still have to touch the tactics together, practice cooperation, express their respective views, and analyze the opponent thoroughly."
The ice rink that day did not disappoint them. After defeating the physical exertion of the consecutive rounds of competitions, defeating the strong enemies on the side of the chase, and overcoming all the thrills and accidents on the ice, at 21:37 on February 5, Wu Dajing and his teammates won the first gold medal for The Beijing Winter Olympics for China. In the post-match interview, Wu Dajing choked up and said, "Today is the first day of [the game], and the dream has come true", so he covered his face and cried, unable to continue. That night, Wu Dajing was so excited that he did not sleep all night. Until the end of all the schedules, Wu Dajing thought: "The team event won the gold medal, I think it is the most worthy thing for me to show off." ”
Despite regretting not winning the medal in the single-player event, Wu Dajing still used "success" to describe his Winter Olympics. In the rapidly changing ice rink, regret is the norm, and it is rare to meet the satisfaction with teammates after doing their best.
1444 days and nights
The most recent on Wu Dajing's desk is Deng Yaping's new book, Heart Power, which was only published in September 2021. "The real winner is to grit your teeth and get things done." This is a sentence in the preface to "Heart Power", which can describe Wu Dajing's difficult past four years.
At the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the Chinese short track speed skating team suffered an unprecedented ordeal, and in the situation at that time, Coach Li Yan changed the team's WeChat group name to "Tiger's Mouth Pulling Teeth". Wu Dajing broke the world record with a time of 39.584 seconds in the men's 500 meters of short track speed skating, winning the only gold medal of the Chinese delegation at that Winter Olympics with an absolute advantage, becoming the only warrior who successfully pulled out his teeth in the tiger's mouth. In 2018, Wu Dajing was in excellent form, and on November 12, he won the men's 500m final of the Salt Lake City Short Track Speed Skating World Cup with a time of 39.505 seconds, breaking the world record he set at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
"I also drifted through in 2018, also because the competitive state during that time was so good, I stood on the field and thought I was the boss, but soon the injury came." Wu Dajing's knees, waist and other parts of the body have old injuries of varying degrees, if you follow the doctor's advice, Wu Dajing has long had a reason to end his sports career.
In the past four years, Wu Dajing has pulled himself back to the right track from the physiological limit again and again, and then climbed from the right track to the peak. "When I am in a bad physical condition, I will also have the emotion of 'fear of fighting', I don't want to lose, and I don't want the people who support me to see me lose, and I don't want my opponents to see me lose." As the body gets better, as the competitive state returns, the emotion disappears again. In the four years after Pyeongchang, Wu Dajing's state was constantly repeated at both ends of the scale, torturing this ice general with high expectations and responsibilities.
In May 2021, during the short track speed skating team's training camp on the dam, Wu Dajing injured his knee. "At that time, the team was in Hebei, and only me and the rehabilitation coach did rehabilitation treatment in Beijing." After a month of rehabilitation, Wu Dajing, whose body had just adapted to training, immediately followed the team and began to resume training. "At that time, I felt that I still had hope for the Beijing Olympics, but I was not so confident anymore." In August, during a training camp in Xinjiang, Wu Dajing's back injury recurred. "At that time, I couldn't stand up so much that I could not stand up, so I had to lie on my stomach in bed, let alone train."
With only half a year to go until the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Wu Dajing, who was lying on his bed, thought that he might not really be able to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics again. "At that time, I hoped that the medical miracle would appear on me, and I didn't dare to think about whether to win the gold medal or not, so I thought that if I stood on the field of the Beijing Winter Olympics, I would be very lucky."
In mid-September, Wu Dajing, who had just recovered from a serious injury, began preparing for the 2021/2022 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Beijing, and three weeks later he was on the ice rink, and his match status was beyond the expectations of everyone, including himself. "After the four World Cups, I found that I was still the fastest skater in the world, and then I felt that I still had a chance at the Beijing Winter Olympics."
"No one knows how Dajing has lived in these four years." Wang Meng, who has always been quick and fast-talking, could not hide his heartache for Wu Dajing along the way in the explanation. When Wu Dajing was in a slump, the coaches could not bear to blame him, and his teammates did not dare to directly inquire about his injury. "Everyone says I'm fine, they don't want me to carry too much, afraid that I'll give up." In fact, I know how I am in this state, but I am still unwilling to give up. ”
Wu Dajing, standing at the Beijing Winter Olympics, has a Sun Wukong painted on his helmet. This is Wu Dajing's favorite animated character, not only because Sun Dasheng means "invincible", but also because he dares to fight with his opponent for his life.
People with baggage
In Wu Dajing's dictionary, the terms "country" and "team" are always before "self." From February 5 to 16, 27-year-old Wu Dajing skated 4 small events for a total of 13 matches, of which 3 projects advanced to the final of Group A and 1 project to the final of Group B, leading the team to win 1 gold medal. He willingly shouldered the responsibility of leading this team through thorns, taking the lead, challenging the limits of his physical fitness and condition in every game, and really fighting from the first second of the battle to the last moment.
In the men's 1000m final of short track speed skating at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Wu Dajing had the absolute strength to compete for the gold medal, and the Chinese team had three athletes on the field for the first time in history, which seemed to be in advance insurance for the triumph of this race. After the first shot was fired, Wu Dajing slid hard, and halfway down the road, he had firmly occupied the leading position, but at this moment, due to the appearance of broken ice knives on the ice, the referee blew the whistle of the suspension of the game, and by the time the ice obstacle was cleared and set off again, Wu Dajing had no physical strength to rush gold.
When the gun sounded again, Wu Dajing patted Ren Ziwei's hand and signaled him to "go" first, while he used his last physical strength to suppress the Hungarian opponent and create opportunities for his teammates to strive for the leading position. At the end of the competition, Ren Ziwei won his first individual Olympic gold medal, Li Wenlong won his first single Olympic medal, and Wu Dajing ranked fourth. In the post-match interview, Wu Dajing, who had exhausted all his physical strength, looked pale and vomited involuntarily, sincerely congratulating his teammates on their victory.
This game has become one of the most memorable and paying attention to the entire Beijing Winter Olympics schedule. Everyone felt sorry for Wu Dajing, and they were even more touched by his support for his teammates. Recalling his performance in that game, Wu Dajing was very calm. "In fact, this is nothing, if the first shot went well at that time, I should have been the first or second place, which is a bit of a pity." But I was actually tasked with assisting the team before I went on the pitch, and I think my approach was normal, and I didn't expect to get so much attention. I am also the one who watched Ren Ziwei and Li Wenlong work hard all the way, and I was very happy to see them win medals for the Chinese team. We all want to win medals for China, whoever has the opportunity will catch and move forward, and whoever is close to the championship will rush forward. ”
In preparation for the Beijing Winter Olympics, Wu Dajing became the captain of the Chinese short track speed skating team. From its first participation in 1980 to its host in 2022, the Chinese delegation participated in 12 Winter Olympics and won a total of 22 gold medals, of which 12 gold medals were contributed by the Chinese short track speed skating team. The short track speed skating team carries the glory and dream of Chinese in winter sports, and Wu Dajing is the biggest load-bearing beam in this dream team today. In the team, wu Dajing was originally a person who liked to take care of the emotions and states of the people around him, and mingled with everyone, often the "atmosphere responsibility" in the team. After becoming captain, his style of behavior was not much different from before. "After being the captain, I should still fight with everyone, and my mentality, everyone's mentality, is no different from before."
Captain Wu Dajing silently focused more attention on the young players who had just entered the national team. "After all, the last two years are in the Beijing Olympic cycle, sometimes the teacher will put more energy on the main athletes, the young athletes who have just entered the team may encounter problems and difficulties themselves and dare not say, I will observe more in the middle, see who has emotions, see who needs more care, and do some communication work." Some of our veteran players would joke that after I became the captain, I always dealt with the coach and couldn't tell me anything later. But in fact, everyone has ideas and emotions, and they still communicate with me. ”
Tao Li did not say that Wu Dajing carried the biggest performance pressure of almost the whole team, carried the heaviest injury pressure of almost the whole team, and took the initiative to take the responsibility of taking care of his teammates. Looking back on these four years, in the face of the two identities of "Captain Wu Dajing" and "Athlete Wu Dajing", Wu Dajing has scored himself a full score.
Next stop, Milan
In the last race of short track speed skating at the Olympic Games, the Chinese short track speed skating team missed the medal due to mistakes. When the accident happened, Wu Dajing on the field had only one thought in his mind: "Let's finish it." In the distance from the arena back to the lounge, the scenes of these four years came to Wu Dajing's mind.
For the past four years, Mr. Wu has thought it would be his last Winter Olympics. Especially when he was most tormented by injuries, the "last Olympic Games" was the biggest driving force for Wu Dajing to break through the cauldron. But this decision, which had been made long ago, was completely shaken after the Beijing Winter Olympics, and Wu Dajing decided to start again for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
"By participating in this Olympics, I have seen that I still have a certain competitive ability in the short track speed skating field, and I am still the one who skates the fastest. In addition, my own expectations for the original Olympic Games were quite high, but my main results still did not meet expectations, which is still a pity. Because of these two factors, I felt that if I put myself into another four years well and wholeheartedly, I still had a chance for the next Olympic Games. ”
Colleagues, friends, and family members who have experienced the past four years with Wu Dajing have more or less "dissuaded" Wu Dajing's decision. "They watched me all the way over and tugged at my heart all the way. So when I decided to come back, they said to me, 'You pull it down,'" Wu Dajing said with a smile, "they persuaded me that it is quite satisfactory now, that all the awards I should have won have been won, and the physical load is also very large." I know they don't really support me, they just hurt me. ”
In the face of a new Olympic cycle, Wu Dajing can almost foresee the biggest difficulty is himself, and the physical and psychological load may be far greater than in the previous four years. "My body hasn't recovered much since 2018, I've been finishing races and training with injuries, and after this process, you find that it's not good to train and play like this. Next, I first need to take good care of my body. ”
Before entering a state of preparation, Wu Dajing also decided to give himself a vacation to spend time with his family. "I haven't thought about where to take my parents, but they think they can just be with me, and it doesn't matter where they go." I also feel that no matter where you are, it is precious for your family to be together. ”
"I once considered whether to retire after the Beijing Winter Olympics, but when I really stood on the field, I found that I was reluctant to say goodbye, reluctant to leave this project that I loved deeply, as long as the country needed, as long as my body allowed, I would always stand on the ice rink." Never admit it. ”
Late on the night of February 16, Wu Dajing officially announced that he would begin preparations for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Dampezzo Winter Olympics. After an exhausting battle, he took the initiative to return to the familiar point of origin. The starting gunshots sounded again, and the ice blade of less than 1.5 mm cut a moving line, the ice surface was hot, and the blood was not cold.
The full text was published in the summer issue of ELLEMEN New Youth
Photography by Liu Wen
Styling Greenie
Edit Routes
Makeup and hair xiao qi
Art & Set Wen Hui (Parallel Space Studio)
Producer Touch rice
Written by Chen Lu
Styling assistant Tikki, Moon Moon