When it comes to Chinese gymnasts, people's minds will naturally think of a series of characters: Li Ning, the prince of gymnastics, Yang Wei, the champion of all-around, Li Xiaoshuang, Li Dashuang, the legendary Sunlan and so on. As a rising star, Deng Linlin also left a strong mark in the history of gymnastics.
Yin and yang mistakenly stepped into the gymnastics gate
In 1992, Deng Linlin was born in an ordinary peasant family in Lixin County, Bozhou, Anhui Province, and her father Deng Jiegu was a gymnastics fan since childhood, with a persistent pursuit of gymnastics, but due to limited family conditions, gymnastics dreams have always been a regret in his heart. So Deng Jiegu pinned this dream on the child.
The father originally planned to let her brother practice gymnastics and her younger sister Deng Linlin to study, but due to the influence of her brother's training, The young Deng Linlin also gradually became fascinated by gymnastics. After a period of training, her gymnastics level even far exceeded that of her brother. Due to her strong ability to imitate and the ability to endure hardships more than her peers, she soon stood out from the Anhui Fuyang Sports School and joined the Anhui Provincial Gymnastics Team.
Achievements did not happen overnight
Just after the New Year in 2001, 9-year-old Deng Linlin came to Hefei from Anhui Fuyang Sports School and started her provincial team training career. Unexpectedly, perhaps because of the water and soil, or because she was too young to take care of herself, the thin Deng Linlin fell ill as soon as she arrived at the provincial team, and the continuous cough and high fever tormented her, and the coach Xu Heping looked at her with pain, so he and his wife Lu Xinwen took her back to their home to take care of her.
After seeing the doctor, Xiao Linlin lay in bed for many days in a row, confused all day. Lu Xinwen really couldn't see it anymore, so he advised her to go home to recuperate first, and then come back to training when she was cured, how stubborn little Linlin was anxious to hear it, and she was originally confused, and she suddenly opened her eyes and shouted "Don't go home"!
Soon after, Deng Linlin's body gradually improved, and she immediately threw herself into the intense training. In the end, she passed the trial training of the provincial team with her spirit of not accepting defeat and solid training, and gained a firm foothold in the provincial team.
Bing Xin said: "Successful flowers, people only envy her current brilliance." However, at the beginning, her buds were soaked with the fountain of tears of struggle and sprinkled with the blood rain of sacrifice. "We only envy the thunderous applause and flowers on the road to the championship, but we have not seen the hardships of their scales and sweating on the training ground, and it is even more difficult to realize that they have endured pressure that is different from ordinary people."
Compared with other athletes, Deng Linlin is not a talented player, but she has a fierce force for herself. In an interview, she mentioned what coaches had to say about her:
"The biggest advantage is that he is willing to endure hardships and work hard, and another advantage is that he can play."
The seeds of not accepting defeat have been buried in Deng Linlin's heart, in order to prove that she "can", she gave up her rest and entertainment time, and paid several times more effort than others to "die" with herself.
The dark horse of the Olympics turned out to be born, and I believe that I can do it
Due to the hard work and obvious progress, Deng Linlin was selected for the national team in 2003 at a leap forward rate. In the national team, she worked hard, and finally in 2008, the 16-year-old Deng Linlin began to appear in international competitions, and achieved a good result of one gold, one silver and one bronze in the World Cup Gymnastics Qatar Branch Competition; then Deng Linlin won two championships in the Balance Beam and Free Gymnastics in the Competition in Russia.
When the curtain opened on the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Deng Linlin knew that her own highlight moment had finally arrived. She was the lightest and shortest, but she turned the tide at key moments, conquered everyone with three perfect appearances, and became a dark horse in the history of Olympic gymnastics, turning out to make the world remember her.
After the Olympic Games, her life seems to be hanging in the next few years, she not only won the National Games, the World Gymnastics Championships, the Asian Games, but also competed in the Olympic Games again, winning the balance beam championship of the London Olympic Games in one fell swoop, breaking the myth that "female gymnasts may only participate in the Olympic Games once in their lives".
For athletes, competitive sports is not only a competition of skills, but also a psychological game at key moments. Compared with her peers, Deng Linlin not only has strong explosive power, strong legs, stable movements, but also has a very strong psychological quality and super ability to control the field, which makes her a "dinghai god needle" of the women's gymnastics team.
The championship ended, and the dream continued to sail
In 2013, the 21-year-old Deng Linlin chose to retire after careful consideration. Although she is no longer competing in the Olympic Games, how can she easily forget that glorious life experience? For her, retirement is not the end of a dream, but another wonderful beginning.
After experiencing a series of confusion and confusion, she quickly adjusted herself and entered the School of International Relations of Peking University for further study. Although she has left the sports world, the spirit of optimism and courage to fight in the stadium has long been deeply rooted in her life. In Peking University, on the one hand, she diligently studied cultural knowledge, on the other hand, she was more self-disciplined, paid attention to self-management, and her height soared all the way, and she soon became a graceful and gentle academic goddess.
Deng Linlin has reached a height that is difficult for others to reach in her sports career, and in terms of academics, she has also climbed one peak after another: after graduating from Peking University, she went to Beijing Sport University in 2018 to study, becoming a master's student, and later went to the United States for 2 years. After completing her studies, she actively prepared for the exam and became a member of the refereeing team of the national large-scale selection competition, sitting as a referee at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Today, she has long faded the youth and childishness of her youth and has become a goddess of elegance, intellectuality and sweetness. After experiencing the baptism and edification of knowledge, her heart is more peaceful, open-minded, and her goals are more determined. She did not forget the grace of her hometown, and after graduation, she devoted herself to the sports cause of her hometown, helped more teenagers realize their dreams of sports, actively participated in public welfare, and led more people with her influence.
She is a well-deserved sports goddess and the most powerful promoter and practitioner of the Olympic spirit.