She was a genius, a madman, and had a suffocating dominance in the short track speed skating arena. She is empty-eyed and unobstructed, and usually does not belong to the traditional Chinese athletes. This is a "top-notch" story, but also the story of a former talented athlete, but it is also a story of how an independent living individual, in addition to the cut and suppression of various rules, how to defend and preserve himself.
Wen | Lu Meihui
Edited | Golden Stone
Photography | JiaYu
Makeup and hair | LULU ONTIME
Styling | THEXIStudio
Happy supply
There is no field where Wang Meng can't get hot.
On the day of the cover shooting of "People", a group of people who were not familiar with it got together to work, and theoretically always needed a little greeting and familiar time.
Wang Meng didn't use it at all.
Everywhere is her home field, and there will be baggage in the opening. The girl in makeup gave her eyeliner a little longer, and she said, "Oh, it's so pretty, it's so charming, it's like a bean." "Love Bean" is the standard Northeastern pronunciation, and the two consecutive re-readings at the end amuse a room full of people.
There are more passages in the interview, she said that when she was an athlete, there was a reporter named Wei (yu, four voices) Chi Xuemin on CCTV who reported short track speed skating for a long time, and once this reporter called an old coach of hers, and the head of the phone said that his name was Wei Chi, a reporter in Beijing, "My coach listened to the fork, what did he say?" Common bathing pool? I haven't done a card in Beijing, but I do have a bathhouse in Harbin."
When it came to the shooting, there were people inside and out, and the photographer tried to mobilize Wang Meng's emotions, but she came to a counter-killing, "I tell you, if you want to adjust the atmosphere, then you can play my song." Soon, the live music changed from lyrical jazz to the newly released "My Eyes Are Rulers", and as soon as her northeast rap came out, everyone was happy again.
On the day of the shooting, the news of the epidemic in Shanghai made people panic, and anxiety spread all the way to the studio in Beijing, and Wang Meng's appearance quickly dispelled the unhappiness in the air - in her dictionary, pessimism, disappointment, depression and other words have no place, or she adheres to the ability of northeastern people to dissolve all sorrows, and the days will go on, and everyone will have to stand up.
Making and supplying happiness is a piece of cake for Wang Meng. During the Beijing Winter Olympics, her good friend and former short track speed skater Chen Shangpeng was in Jilin, was sealed in the unit, and did not go home for a month, in that kind of dilemma, Wang Meng's explanation was a powerful happy potion, "from her own mentality, in fact, there was a distance from the Beijing Winter Olympics at that time", but Wang Meng's roaring explanation with his throat eliminated this distance, "I feel that she is dragging your ears and shouting there, especially kind."
That kindness greatly relieves the bitterness of the isolated life. Throughout the Winter Olympics, Chen Shangpeng's friends were discussing Wang Meng with him, and he felt that Wang Meng had inadvertently provided an emotional outlet for the repressed people, "Everyone thinks that I must wear a suit with edges and angles." Actually, a person in sportswear, very comfortable, very good-looking, will have this feeling."
Another friend, Nie Xin, felt similar to Chen Shangpeng, when he was sealed in Shenyang, he told "People", in life, Wang Meng is such a person, big grin, no worries, walking cross-talk actor, the conversation box opened who can not hold back, "Just listen to her babbling, finished to everyone very happy."
Taking this as a path, we may be able to understand Wang Meng's unexpected and seemingly inevitable "popularity" during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
On February 5, 2022, the first official competition day of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese team won the first gold medal in the short track speed skating mixed team 2000 meters relay final, within 2 minutes 37 seconds 348 minutes of extreme tension, the audience could clearly hear Wang Meng's sound of smashing the table during every handover of the baton and every transcendence of the players, and when Wu Dajing took the lead in sliding across the finish line, Wang Meng simply jumped out of the commentary platform, she waved her arms, shouted and shouted, and did not hide the ecstasy of that moment. He also contributed the golden phrase that was widely circulated during the Winter Olympics: "My eyes are rulers!"
The release of that moment aroused the interest of many people, and the Winter Olympics held in a closed loop under the new crown epidemic made countless people have the possibility of closeness and curiosity because of Wang Meng's homely explanation and oppressive passion.
Throughout the Winter Olympics, Wang Meng redefined the interpretation of the event in a way that did not follow the rules at all - people's impression of celebrities is usually dignified, rigorous, and even rigid, Wang Meng did not care about those, threw the rules and regulations aside, a smoke voice, the door was big, her appearance, as if a tight seam, not tolerate a single mistake of the symphony scene, halfway to kill an unreasonable scream, rampage, a machine gun-like burst, once let the "predecessor" of the passionate commentary World Huang Jianxiang could not interject.
But it is Wang Meng, in addition to various rule restrictions and inevitable grand narratives, who has contributed a wild, joyful and reckless vividness to this Winter Olympics, and has also allowed people to gain a rare breathing gap in 2022, which is not an easy year.
At this time, as a former short track speed skater, Wang Meng has been 8 years away from saying goodbye to the ice rink due to injury, and 12 years since her unstoppable peak battle at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. But Wang Meng, who was in early 2022, single-handedly became a solid accident, in her own words, "Who is not yet a top stream?"
Thorn head
Knowing for nearly 20 years, Nie Xin did not have much accident about Wang Meng's sudden popularity, during the Winter Olympics he listened to Wang Meng's explanation the most direct feeling is that it is almost like Wang Meng sitting in his living room, there is a sofa knocking on the sofa, there is a coffee table to shoot the coffee table, "She watched the game with us, watched the World Cup, she was also like that, oh, surging ah."
Nie Xin prefers to see Wang Meng's explanatory style as an extension of her personality, real, unpretentious, and absolute self—Nie Xin's overall impression of Wang Meng over the past twenty years. Huang Jianxiang's nowhere mouth is often their daily life, Wang Meng can open up, but also happy to put friends together lively, everyone gets together, the atmosphere arrives, people around can't interject, "If she starts to say it, then it's okay, no one needs to say." If you want to interrupt her, no, no, no, no, no, no,
In Nie Xin's memory, Wang Meng's nature was also very similar to her skating style. Nie Xin is an athlete trained by the army system, and his education since childhood is to "obey orders and obey commands", but Wang Meng has "thief has personality" since he was a child, and the coach's words are half forgotten and half forgotten, and he always has his own rhythm.
They met around 2003 and were members of the same national team. The most vivid memory of Wang Meng in her mind is that she is "always disobedient", the short track speed skating men's team and the women's team often train together, and the boys will occasionally pass Wang Meng because of the advantages of strength and physical strength, "If our boys give her over, she will not obey, she must come back." 」
Wang Meng's "thorn head" was well-known in Heilongjiang early, and her coach Fan Hongwen during the Heilongjiang Sports School period remembered that the early team picked seedlings, and The local coach meng Qingyu of Qitaihe recommended Wang Meng to him, and the first thing he said was not how the technology was, "Coach Meng said that this child was more naughty, or more naughty."
Until now, Fan Hongwen prefers athletes with strong personalities, "There may be coaches, leaders, who prefer that kind of well-behaved, obedient, I am not, I will say that naughty is still a shortcoming?" 」
Fan Hongwen watched Wang Meng on the ice several times and felt that she was born to practice short track material, but at that time, Wang Meng was in puberty development, one meter and five tall, and the fattest time was more than 130 pounds, which made many coaches close the door to her. Wang Meng remembered that he found Fan Hongwen at that time, "I said Teacher Fei, I want to test your group, can you want me, Teacher Fei said why don't you want it, I just want you."
Later, after more contact with Wang Meng, Fan Hongwen found that she was a typical "smooth donkey". Because of his weight, for a while Wang Meng competed with himself, and people also went down, and even expressed to him that "if you don't eat or drink, you must lose weight." This natural "axis" is also a quality that Fan Hongwen values, but he told Wang Meng that the development of children's puberty is a normal phenomenon, and weight loss should also pay attention to methods, "after that stage she will lose weight, and slowly she will have confidence."
In 2000, in the short track speed skating 1500m final of the National Ninth Games, 16-year-old Wang Meng competed with Da Yang Yang and Xiao Yang Yang in the same group and won the bronze medal, and in the same year, Wang Meng was promoted to the national team.
In 2002, Dayang Yang won the first gold medal of the Chinese Winter Olympics at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics Tuyuan Visual China
Xin Qingshan, a meritorious coach who has trained several generations of world champions for the Chinese short track speed skating team, began to pay attention to Wang Meng at this time, but at that time, it was the Salt Lake City cycle, and the main energy of Xin Qingshan and the coaching team must be focused on a group of main players such as Dayang Yang.
Entering the national team in the name of a young genius, but finding that the coaches did not care much about themselves, which made Wang Meng lose for a while. Like adolescent children always have to drum up some action to attract attention, Wang Meng did not stop in the national team, help others fight, do not train on time, the most popular is once, Xin Qingshan heard the big team members say that Wang Meng borrowed a lot of money to go out to dinner with a bunch of children, which made Xin Qingshan and the team leader at the time Tong Lixin very angry, Tong Lixin pulled Wang Meng aside, "just ask them what they eat, say that they can't remember what to eat, and then Tong Lixin found them a paper, find a pen, eat what to eat, write it down for me."
When Wang Meng finished writing and handing them in, "Tong Lixin took a look, I am quite willing to eat a lot of things, but I have never heard of these things, I have never eaten them, and you have eaten all these small things than I have." More than twenty years later, Xin Qingshan recalled this past with a smile on the phone, and later, in order to show punishment, Tong Lixin found "Sun Tzu's Art of War" and asked them to copy it dozens of times.
After that, because of other disciplinary problems, Wang Meng was returned to the local team for training. In those three months, a major event occurred, at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, Dayang Yang took the lead in crossing the finish line in the short track speed skating women's 500 meters final, achieving a breakthrough of zero gold medals in the Chinese Winter Olympics, which was a national boil.
In a small episode, Wang Meng, who was less than 18 years old at the time, was once on the candidate list of Salt Lake City, and Xin Qingshan felt that Wang Meng could rush and run, and perhaps be a surprise soldier. However, it was because of the too prickly personality and too many unstable factors that in the end, wang Meng, who was full of youthful vigor, could not get the precious ticket to the Winter Olympics.
Recalling this experience with "People", Wang Meng felt that it was an important lesson in her life, and she clearly remembered that the last costume worn by the athletes who replaced her at that time was written with her name.
When the national team went to Salt Lake City to fight, Wang Meng returned to his hometown of Qitaihe. Before that, she began to practice short track speed skating at the age of 10, just training day after day, sliding round and round, and when she was tired of practicing, she poked a basket to relieve her boredom, and everything else was very ignorant, "At that time, who knew what the Olympic Games were?" What is a world champion?" Until the news of the first gold of the Winter Olympics came, Wang Meng really realized for the first time in his life that the matter of gliding on the ice itself meant so much.
Relay a baton
One of the histories that needs to be explained is that short track speed skating was a young sport. In the 1980s, short track speed skating was introduced into China, after more than ten years of talent training and reserves, throughout the 90s, the Chinese short track speed skating team was determined to win the next Winter Olympic gold medal and achieve a breakthrough of zero.
But it seems that every time it is a little bit of luck, in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, short track speed skating became an official event for the first time, and Li Yan, who later became Wang Meng's coach, won a silver medal. In the following 1994 and 1998, the Chinese short track speed skating team had every opportunity to rush gold, but each time it missed the gold medal.
Especially in the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, six events of short track speed skating, the Chinese team won five silver medals, a bronze medal, Xin Qingshan's depressed memory of that loss of a millimeter, "there are some events and South Korea, and the first of this gap is only a few tenths of a second, very small, a knife tip distance in the end we lost." 」
Xin Qingshan was originally a speed skater, he remembers the 80s when short track speed skating was just introduced into China, a group of old coaches at that time were not optimistic, felt that it was difficult to produce results in a short period of time, whether a project can make achievements, in addition to those grand honors, but also solid and salary, treatment, personal future and destiny, "because it was just introduced to China, how far can it go, what situation can it be, it is difficult to say, wait for two days this project it is yellow, my position is not gone, right?" 」
At that time, Xin Qingshan was in his 20s, there was no baggage, the leader frowned and came to him, saying that the project should form a team, no coach was willing to pick up, and asked him if he would like to. On the one hand, the leader continues to grind hard bubbles, on the other hand, with full of youth, Xin Qingshan also wants to try this project that is all unknown in front of him, compared to speed skating, short track speed skating is more exciting and more ornamental, "Later I said (to the leader) that I can do it."
What followed was a period of burning passion but also difficult days, in addition to some of the learning materials when Japan first went to China to promote short-track speed skating, Xin Qingshan was in front of a fog, "We are all avenue team athletes, there is no more to learn from in terms of training, some things we are purely feeling the stones to cross the river, a little bit of groping, thinking, doing." 」
At that time, there was no special short track speed skating equipment in China, and Xin Qingshan could only rely on intuition to transform it little by little on the basis of speed skating. Short tracks need to cross curves, athletes must strengthen the control of ice knives, Xin Qingshan contacted the Qiqihar Ice Knife Factory at that time, "People will make you shorter on ice knives, and make you a little harder in all aspects of shoes, and that's it."
Xin Qingshan remembers that athletes in the 80s went to ice training, and everyone's shoes were strangely worn, "paste glue, whole kinds of glue, whole bandages and so on wrapped in, hoops on the shoes, in order to make the shoes harder, bend it has a small radius, so that it is easy to stand, can stand ah."
The training conditions were also tough. At that time, there was no indoor ice rink, after the winter in the northeast, minus twenty or thirty degrees of weather, when they also had to share a field with ice hockey, because at that time short track speed skating was not an official Olympic competition, the food was also very poor, cardboard beds, hundreds of training fees, under this condition, Xin Qingshan and the team members bet on a tomorrow that could not see the shape.
Everyone felt that it was time to make achievements, but they were greeted by the continuous millisecond difference of 1992, 1994 and 1998 - in the era when Olympic gold medals were closely bound to national honors and national self-esteem, championships meant attention, policies, and even the fate of a project.
Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, with the disciples to celebrate the first gold of Xin Qingshan Tuyuan Visual China
Looking at it with today's more mature eyes, Wang Meng also understood the choice of the coaching team at that time, and after several consecutive Winter Olympic Games, the Chinese team could not bear even the slightest mistake. "Because people think of a breakthrough of zero, this child may have too many problems and messes, resulting in a lot of pressure on everyone, so in the end they chose to give up on me." 」
After three months, Wang Meng returned to the national team, and to Xin Qingshan's surprise, after returning to the team, Wang Meng did not say that he was reborn, but also changed a lot, "After coming back, all aspects are like a changed person." I am also very serious about training, and I am very strict with myself in all aspects of life, so I feel that I understand things a lot."
That "decentralization" objectively became an immediate and exciting method. After 2002, Wang Meng ushered in his own explosive period, which was a period of time when the memories are very sweet, Wang Meng described that period of flying time to "People", "When I participated in the adult competition, one stop was better than one stop, one stop was better than another, (other team members) were older than me, I was a child, and I came out at once." It's just that it's good, and nothing else, it's just good at it."
In 2002, Wang Meng won the women's 500 meters championship in her first world youth championship, becoming The first World Youth Championship champion in China. That was the first time that Wang Meng clearly felt what a world champion was. "My salary became the world champion's salary, and it was different."
In 2003, he participated in the World Championships for the first time, and Wang Meng cooperated with His teammates such as Dayang Yang to win the 3000-meter relay championship. In 2004, Wang Meng won the 500m world cup in the Netherlands, Italy, South Korea and Hangzhou. At the 10th Games, she won the gold medal in the 500m short track speed skating and the women's all-around first place.
This sweep continued until the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. At that time, in the Olympic Village, the rest of the countries had gold medals in the Olympic Village, and everywhere they were celebrating victory, only the Chinese team was delayed. Wang Meng remembers that there was a real-time medal table posted in the athletes' canteen at that time, and the gold medal of the Chinese team was always zero, and everyone was a little embarrassed to look up to see it when they went to dinner.
In the end, Wang Meng became the first person to open the record, and on the night of Turin, the 22-year-old Wang Meng won the gold medal in the women's 500 meters of short track speed skating with a time of 44.345 seconds, sweeping away the previous decline of the Chinese delegation and announcing that short track speed skating had entered its own era.
In the 2006 Short Track Speed Skating Women's 500m Final of the 20th Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, Wang Meng won the championship Image Source Visual China
At that time, Wang Meng still carried a lot of childish youthfulness, and his unobstructed personality was also vividly displayed in the subsequent awards ceremony. When the award was presented, because he was too happy, Wang Meng did not even wait for his name to be read, and he jumped onto the podium with a big stride.
For Wang Meng, who has longed for attention since childhood and "wants to be a big star", it is a moment of spring breeze and horseshoe disease. Four years ago, on the TV of Qitaihe, I watched my sister Yang Yang make history, and now the time is hers.
In the four years from Turin to Vancouver, Wang Gradually became the absolute king of the women's short track speed skating, showing suffocating dominance on the ice – there was a time when she could break the world record as long as she competed in the women's 500 meters, and in the end, she pushed the world record in this event to the historic 43-second mark.
In 4 years, 17 world championships, Wang Meng created 16 miracles to win the championship, the only time the gold medal fell, was the 2009 World Cup Bulgaria stood on the start of the unexpected fall.
At the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Wang Meng achieved the great feat of short track speed skating in the women's 500 meters twice, and then in the case of a severe cold, he won the women's 1000 meters and 3000 meters relay championships, becoming the first triple crown in the history of Chinese short track, and also becoming a Chinese athlete who won three gold medals in the same Olympic Games after Li Ning (1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games) and Zou Kai (2008 Beijing Olympic Games).
In the best days of his life, Wang Meng was galloping on the ice. Retired for many years, every time there is a competition in these years, there are always ice fans who constantly recall Wang Meng's former gallop. Wang Meng told "People" that as an audience, everyone may be more concerned about those records and achievements, but looking back on the past, what makes her miss more is the happiness on the ice.
In an interview many years ago, Wang Meng had a romantic description of the world on the ice, "In fact, the ice rink is very white, and the ice knife cut through, it is a mark." It's very fair on the field, the rules are clear, and everyone is in full view, just yourself. How much ability is how much ability to make. So I like to be on the top, I like to slide."
Wang Meng on the ice rink Image source Visual China
crevice
But symbiotic with the white ice rink is a more complex chaotic world. Wang Meng on the ice rink can "make as much ability as he wants", but in the world outside the ice rink, as an athlete under the national system and as an independent, simple, and even wayward natural person, a rift inevitably gradually arises - the rampage part of the personality, many times brings Wang Mao, is to hit the wall and twists and turns.
Short track speed skating is a very hard sport, and many athletes are from a cold family, with day after day of hard practice, fighting for an opportunity to rewrite their own and their family's destiny. In contrast, Wang Meng's family was slightly better, and he did not have such a heavy burden on his body.
At that time, the veteran team members usually wore old-fashioned white pullback shoes for training, and Wang Meng originally also wore the pullback, but when he crossed the corner, he was very grinding his feet, so he bought more expensive and more comfortable shoes at his own expense. Some of the veteran players would look at it and say to her, "Those world champions, people don't have as much luxury as you do every day." Wang Meng didn't care, he didn't understand, "I don't think I'm extravagant, I just think I'm uncomfortable with that thing, I haven't spent your money, so how old are my feet uncomfortable, I know, why should I be like you?" 」
An even more inexplicable experience is that Wang Meng has been an equipment fan since she was a child, and there is a perfectly fitting tipping point between the athlete's body and the ice knife, and she is fascinated by this point, "but no one thinks about this at that time." I think about this every day, thinking about the unity of man and knife, and the combination of ice rink." Measuring ice knives requires a high-precision thousand-degree watch, Wang Meng took the ice knife sharpener every day, and later learned that there was such a watch, and bought it with a fierce heart, "That watch is precious, two thousand dollars a piece, do you know, the hair can be put up, there can be a big change." But in a collective life based on unity, obedience, and obedience, it is unacceptable for many people to spend so much money on a watch, "Just say that I, in that era, said that I was extravagant, many people didn't look at it, but thought you were wasteful, because I was still criticized for this, and Wrote a review." 」
Writing a review is a troublesome thing, the attitude should be sincere, to make a painful change of the appearance of the past wrong, Wang Meng smiled and described his split adolescence with "People", "It is that I am wrong, I am wrong, I should not buy this thing, nor should I buy that, and then I should not spend a lot of money, all should not, I will never do it again, then what can I do?" 」 Wang Meng said, "But in fact, I don't even know where I'm wrong, then it's hard to be wrong, you know?"
Looking back at Wang Meng when he was a child, Xin Qingshan also realized that it was already the third generation and fourth generation of athletes he brought, and the younger generation chased personality, and it was difficult for them to consciously volunteer to become a screw like when they were young, completely and completely turning themselves into parts of a grand cause, after all, the times were different.
Xin Qingshan feels that Wang Meng's strong sense of self complements her achievements on the ice rink. "She understands all aspects of some issues, and she really has her own uniqueness than the average child, and she thinks differently." At that time, Xin Qingshan was also aware of the characteristics of a smooth donkey on Wang Meng's body, and after taking over her training, Xin Qingshan found that There were some problems with Wang Meng's swinging arm movements and gliding methods, and at that time he did some targeted training for her, "She improved very quickly, and quickly changed that thing."
Wang Meng's obsession with equipment also impressed Xin Qingshan. At that time, when it was ice, Wang Meng found a place to sharpen the ice knife when he had nothing to do, in the eyes of this old coach, this kind of pondering momentum is not something that can be cultivated by external training, this is something that Wang Meng consciously and autonomously, "Without that momentum, without this thing, it is difficult for her to play out her own (ability) on the playing field, and it is difficult to become a smart, excellent athlete in all aspects."
Wang Meng in daily training Image source Visual China
Compared with the previous generations of athletes of the national short track speed skating team, Wang Meng is like a "stranger" who suddenly broke in, using a "big fuss" to break the stereotype of short track speed skaters and even the entire group of athletes in the past.
Obviously, short-track speed skating is a millimeter-between sports, and referees play an important role in judging penalties, but in the early years, the Chinese team had little say in the world and was not very familiar with the rules, Xin Qingshan said, "How the referee judges, we recognize, we have suffered a lot of this loss."
Wang Meng is different, unfair is definitely not an tolerable thing, in the 10th National Games in 2005 short track speed skating 500 meters final, Wang Meng suffered a penalty. Dissatisfied with the result, she immediately chased after the technical representative theory and asked to re-watch the game video, and after being rejected, Wang Meng went mad on the spot, smashed the ice knife, smashed the helmet, and cursed and grinned to express her dissatisfaction.
International competitions are also, in the early years, Wang Meng's English was not so good, but when it came to controversial penalties, dumb losses and other things she could not bear - on the field, concessions will not bring respect, "At least I theorize with the referee, when you judge me Wang Meng in the future, you have to look at the point, not everything can be judged." When the sentence is not, you are not saying that you can easily judge me."
Entanglements with generations of Korean athletes are also a topic of interest among ice fans. Throughout the athlete era, Wang Meng was very rebellious against the tradition of "friendship first, competition second", athletes came to the field of course to compete first, "my goal is to kill Korea", if you dare to scold me, I will definitely go back to the past, with whom.
In the uncertainty caused by the opponent and the penalty, the only thing Wang Meng can rely on is faster and stronger, as long as the opponent is thrown far enough, the trouble will not catch up with her, "I only hope that my opponent is far away from me, so that you can't see me, can't touch me, and the referee can't find fault." 」
At that time, Wang Meng did not restrain his sharp edge, "Didn't you judge me?" Okay, I'm going to make you unable to keep up with me on any national team, so that you can't even see the shadow of my ass. I'll see how you judge me."
But things in the world, many times, can not be solved by faster and stronger.
In Nie Xin's view, Wang Meng has always been a very simple person, sometimes even a little "stunned". Turin returned to the team after taking the gold medal, and external forces urged Wang Meng to make a world champion look, but Wang Meng himself was aware of it, still by his own nature, and loved it. Some people say that she walks in a "shaking head and tail", and she wonders if she has been walking like this for 20 years, "Why can't I do it now?"
Within the national team system, even Olympic champions need to obey the arrangement more often. Before the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Wang Meng's head coach changed and took her mentor Yimin, who had been her mentor for four years, out of the national team, but Wang Meng did not approve of this decision, "In fact, if you don't change coaches (Turin), your results may be better." After returning from Turin, the coach was changed again, and Li Yan, who returned from the United States, was appointed as the head coach of the short track speed skating team, and this feeling of passive obedience made Wang Meng very uncomfortable.
Because of the subjective non-acceptance, Li Yan's training methods, tactical arrangements, and even the occasional jumping out of one or two English words in speech made Wang Meng feel uncomfortable. Her earth-shattering personality finally broke out at the 2007 Changchun Asian Winter Games. In Changchun, Wang Meng failed to hit the 1500m gold medal, and in a post-match interview, she said that head coach Li Yan did not make any plans for herself at all, and said in front of the media, "I want to go back to the local team to train, because the national team training is not suitable for me."
The clash brought a three-month ban. During Wang Meng's suspension, the short track speed skating team participated in the World Championships, but their morale was low, and they only won two silver and two bronze.
Later, Wang Meng, who calmed down, took the initiative to apologize to Li Yan, and after the training, Li Yan also found out the character of Wang Mengshun's donkey, gave her more attention and guidance, and after a period of running-in, the mustard was lifted. Later, in an interview to mention this past, Li Yan, known as the "Iron Lady on Ice," said, "Wang Meng is a child."
More than two years later, at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Wang Meng won three consecutive gold medals, and after the successful defense of the women's 500 meters, Wang Meng rushed to Li Yan, staged a stunning kneeling on the ice rink, and then jumped up and pounced on the buffer belt, and the two people hugged and cried. After the game, in front of a group of ignorant foreign media, Wang Meng said that it was the Chinese New Year, and she wanted to use that way to "thank the person who wants to thank the most."
Love and hate are written on the face, acting all by intuition, Wang Meng used the absolute Wang Mao way to create a lasting ending for people to give himself a rebellious story of Sun Wukong.
After the women's short track speed skating 500m competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, Wang Meng and his mentor Li Yan celebrated winning the gold Tuyuan Visual China
Blocked dreams
The three gold medals of the Vancouver Winter Olympics made Wang Meng leap to the top of his life, and until then, Wang Meng's life was a loud and exciting music. After Vancouver, Wang Meng tattooed his right arm with a photo of him kissing the gold medal, and wrote a line of small print at the bottom, to be continued, and the slide was not over, and Sochi, and even Pyeongchang.
But what she did not expect was that in addition to the aura and glory of Sochi and Pingchang in four Olympic gold medals, there was also the weight of life that she had to bear.
In June 2011, a Chinese short-track speed skating team clashed with local joint defense personnel in Lijiang. In later media reports, the incident evolved into a "Fight Between Wang Meng", whether then or now, this is a wound in Wang Meng's heart, because when the Lijiang conflict occurred, Wang Meng was not at the scene, "I arrived and finished fighting." But at that time, the team's decision was not to speak out, "silence at this stage is the best answer."
In the next period of time, the depressed Wang Meng reflected with the team from time to time that he was scolded on the Internet every day, could he at least tell the outside world that it was not her who fought, but the team still decided to deal with it coldly, and waited for the situation to calm down. This poked at Wang Meng's reverse scales, her personality is that she has done what she has done, she has not done it, and she cannot be wronged in vain, "I will really fight, the security guard may not be able to kill me." But I didn't fight!"
At that time, Wang Meng was wronged, wronged, and angry every day, and every day was very difficult, unable to train normally, until a month later, during the Training Camp in Qingdao, because of the late return from drinking, the backlog of contradictions in the team finally broke out, Wang Meng and 6 other team members had conflicts with the team leader Wang Chunlu, during the conflict, Wang Meng's arm was injured, and Wang Chunlu also left the short track speed skating team after the conflict.
Wang Meng did not wait for the innocence of his heart and mind, but fell into a greater public condemnation. In the end, the Chinese Winter Sports Management Center issued a fine, and Wang Meng was removed from his position as captain, expelled from the national team, and disqualified from participating in international and domestic competitions.
It was the darkest moment of Wang Meng's career. She was still at the peak of her competitive career, but she was tortured by punishment without a deadline. In an interview with Bai Yansong, she admitted her mistake and accepted the punishment, but also expressed her own unbearable, "I am 27 years old, I am back, I came back to win glory for the country, I still have dreams, but you have stopped all my matches now, what is your reason for letting me train?" And you don't have a deadline, that is, your punishment is to make me have no light in front of me, to turn me back to the wall, to make me unable to do what I can want to do."
Many years later, in the self-made program "The Master of Mao", the most legendary figure in the ice rink was talked about, and the answer given by Wang Mao was Ahn Hyun-so, who debuted with himself, to this unborn genius, in the program, Wang Mo told an Hyun-soo's dazzling and tortuous career with admiration and regret -
In 2006, Ahn Hyun-so won three Olympic gold medals for the Korean team, but then because of the serious factional struggle within the Korean team, Ahn Hyun-so became an outcast, Andong described Ahn Hyun-soo's state at that time, "He was still at his peak, still doing this (effort), but maybe the state did not give him a good opportunity... In fact, he needs an opportunity, he needs a support, he only needs a training ice rink."
Looking back at Wang Meng's own career, the result of the fight storm is that in the third Olympic cycle of his life, Wang Meng lost a precious 13 months. Since practicing skating at the age of 10, Wang Meng has never been separated from the ice for as long.
After 13 months, Wang Meng returned to the field and easily won the gold medal in the 500 meters of the Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Calgary, Canada, after which Wang Meng won nine consecutive World Cup sub-stations and won the gold medal again at the World Championships the following year, becoming the player with the most gold medals in the history of the World Championships.
Wang Meng is still the king of ice. In the 2013 World Championships qualifiers in Austria, Wang Meng started with a follow-up tactic. The opponents whizzed forward one by one, and Wang Meng slid with his back hand, posing as a walking uncle, until the last lap, she suddenly began to exert her strength, surpassing all opponents from the outer circle. Later, in a variety show, Wang Meng explained the movement of his back hand, "Even if you can't slide, this hand can't be taken down, you have to put it on it!" 」
Graph source network
That year, she was 29 years old, and she continued to rule the ice surface in her leisurely stroll, and everyone was full of expectations, waiting for Sochi a year later, Wang Meng to write a new history.
But no one expected that fate would finally force the stop button on Wang Meng's sports career with an involuntary coldness.
On January 16, 2014, only 22 days before the opening of the Sochi Winter Olympics, Wang Meng accidentally collided with his teammates during training, resulting in a double fracture of the ankle bone in his right foot, and the dream he had worked hard for a long time became a bubble at the moment of injury.
Fan Kexin, the gold medalist in the mixed 2000m relay at the Winter Olympics, was still a member of the team at the time, and she remembers that after Wang Meng was injured, "the team felt as if the sky had fallen". Fan Kexin remembered that after Wang Meng's surgery, the team members went to see her together, and several girls watched her lying on the hospital bed in a plaster cast, and before they could speak, everyone began to shed tears. On the contrary, Wang Meng was like no one else, repeatedly telling them not to be affected, but also to prepare for the next game. Fan Kexin told "People" that this is an important lesson that Wang Meng has taught himself — about how calm an athlete can be when he encounters setbacks.
Now that she had almost reached Wang Meng's age at that time, Fan Kexin felt that he now understood Wang Meng's calmness at that time, "I feel that she is enduring, and she must be enduring."
Fan Hongwen, Wang Meng's coach in Heilongjiang Sports School, remembers that after that operation, Wang Meng once returned to Harbin, at that time, the two masters and apprentices were already friends who could drink wine and dig their hearts out, Wang Meng described the moment when he was injured, "At that time, she said that I felt like it was a moment, oh yes, it must be over, she said that my feelings were no longer conscious, she said that I must be finished." 」
But Fan Hongwen felt that Wang Meng's good point was that no matter how painful her heart was, she could quickly accept the reality, and Fan Hongwen had originally prepared some comforting words, but Wang Meng himself explained it well, "Since this is already the case, why should I go to this fire, what is the use?" Isn't it?"
Wang Meng does not like to use her own injury experience to render a sad atmosphere, in her cognition, athlete injuries are really too common things, when she was a child training, every Friday, someone had to be pulled to the hospital, because after a week of practice, Friday was too tired, mistakes increased, ice knives bumped who touched who was too normal, Wang Meng did not feel that there was anything, "We are doing this."
But the sports career that ended because of the injury is an eternal regret in her heart.
During the Beijing Winter Olympics, Wang Meng explained the short track speed skating women's 500m final, watching the former opponent, the Italian star who participated in the Winter Olympics for the fifth time, FangTana, fight with a group of young people, and finally won the gold medal, becoming the second defender of the project after herself, ice fans still captured a hint of sadness from her words, "5 Winter Olympics, I only participated in two, see her I also want to prepare for the next Olympic Games." 」
Talking with "People" about Fontana, Wang Meng put away the joy of not leaving the baggage, very seriously told her heart, she mentioned the injury before Sochi again, she has always believed that if she went to Sochi at that time, she would definitely go to Pyeongchang, this year's Beijing Winter Olympics, she should appear on the ice rink, not the commentary seat, "Everyone says regrets, I also feel regrets, who can not have regrets?" 」
The next episode of the story
That's how it all ended.
Geniuses, thorn heads, master-apprentice disputes, fights, altar falls, the return of the king, unfinished dreams, all of this becomes yesterday's cloud with that severe fracture.
For Wang Meng, his life will continue to move forward. Sports life is short, but life is long.
Since she was a teenager on the ice rink, Wang Meng has always presented and practiced her worldview as an athlete: she is a person, an imperfect, impulsive, victory-hungry, not ordinary "person", not a obedient, obedient, watertight, self-formatted "machine". This is also the strength for her to become a spoiler in a huge system, so that Wang Meng will eventually become Wang Mao — this is true in the athlete period, and it is also true in the post-athlete period.
Under the national system, in a sense, athletes are the children of the country, Wang Meng's teammate and friend Zhou Yang described the life of the athletes in this way, "Eating, drinking, sleeping, going out or something, all of which are arranged for you." You probably don't have to think about anything every day, you just want to train." The advantages of this training system are self-evident, but they will also make athletes form a self-contained and closed personality, "the vision is usually very narrow", and then when the time comes, Cinderella loses her crystal shoes, and the next life will inevitably face a lot of confusion.
Zhou Yang said of his feelings when he first retired from the army, "You find that when you face the society, there are so many things that will happen, and you don't know what you are suitable for, this choice is actually very difficult." 」 After retiring from the army, I suddenly had a lot of time, so much time that Zhou Yang panicked, "Every morning I get up without anything, lying on the sofa, I said how do I seem to live a 60-year-old life?" 」
Taking himself as a reference, Zhou Yang's impression of Wang Meng was not like this, on the one hand, Wang Meng seemed to have endless energy, on the other hand, Zhou Yang felt that the outside world was more accustomed to relying on those labels in the past to recognize Wang Meng, "When she was an athlete, I felt that she was showing all her edges and corners, and her personality was expressed in short track speed skating, so her domineering, that feeling for her opponents, maybe everyone would be suppressed by her domineering spirit regardless of whether she could slide over Wang Mao or not."
Even Zhou Yang himself, who reported to the national team on the first day, greeted everyone in the team except Wang Meng, "Just look at her appearance, I feel more fierce, I feel very scared, and I dare not speak."
But after real contact, Zhou Yang found that Wang Meng was not at all the way in the news reports and her own prejudices, she was very enthusiastic, she would come over to tell her the gliding characteristics of everyone in the team, and told her to prepare for the activity before training, when Zhou Yang was only 15 years old, between the games, Wang Meng would also take her to buy chocolates.
Because of his fascination with equipment since he was a teenager, Wang Meng's control of the precision of the ice blade in the athlete's later stage can perfectly fit the athlete's foot shape. At the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Zhou Yangbi's ice knife was folded at 1500 meters, and Wang Meng, who had been in charge of her equipment, sharpened the spare ice knife exactly like the pair that went wrong, and Zhou Yang won the gold medal with the pair of ice knives.
At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, women's short track speed skating 1000 meters, Wang Meng and Zhou Yang celebrated winning the gold Tuyuan Visual China
Zhang Hui, another teammate of the Vancouver Winter Olympics women's 3000m relay, also mentioned Wang Meng's carefulness, when Wang Meng and Zhou Yang were the absolute main force in the team, Zhang Hui admitted that as an individual athlete, it was "a helplessness" to be in the same era as Wang Meng and Zhou Yang, because the absolute strength was there, and the slippery was just slippery. This has also caused the team to have a distinction between the main and non-main forces, "the 10 athletes of our entire team may be relatively compared, and there will be some feeling of being snubbed."
But in Vancouver, Wang Meng would drag Zhang Hui a few times when she had anything, "like going downstairs to eat during the day, and some massages and meetings, she would take the initiative to bring me into that environment and make you feel that you were valued."
Both Zhou Yang and Zhang Hui mentioned Wang Meng's trait of "not only being good for herself, but also for everyone to follow up with them together", which Zhou Yang described as "the will of the master", "She will really take your own business as her own."
After retiring from the army and jumping into the real world, wang Meng's will to be the master did not dissipate, "She is a person who thinks about everyone." She felt like she had an obligation." Zhou Yang feels that as far as athletes are concerned, this is a big difference between Wang Meng and other athletes.
After leaving the national team, Wang Meng tossed the company, opened a factory, and built a brand, and one of the big motivations was that she always hoped that she could take her former teammates, who had also retired athletes, to do something for them. But in the days after losing the crystal shoes, every step has to be taken by yourself and survived by yourself.
In the second interview with "People", Wang Meng mentioned the story of his first business but bankruptcy.
It was 2014, wang Meng, who had just retired, returned to his hometown of Qitaihe to start a business with the name of a former Olympic champion and the "hard-earned money" he had saved for more than ten years of skating. But because of the lack of experience, misjudgment, and "too easy to trust others", this venture ended in bankruptcy, "lost a few million, two or three million, I am equivalent to my own years of skating hard-earned money, you yourself will lose." 」
But what made her most helpless was not the loss of all her money, but the weakness that the reputation of the Olympic champion brought to her. Even if the production is broken, the partner still refuses to give up, constantly harassing her family, her father drives out, there will be people next to the car pretending to fall and touch porcelain, if you call the police, some people say that Wang Meng's brother-in-law is the director of the public security bureau, in fact, the brother-in-law is just an ordinary policeman. Later, Wang Meng decided to take the legal route to solve it, and the rumors came again, "Even if the court judgment comes down endlessly, it becomes the president of the court and is also a relative of my family.
During that time, Wang Meng was tied up by the four words "Olympic champion" and helpless. She chose to stop all the business at that time, "I don't want to do it anymore, I can't get any protection and protection, you feel like it's a [pit], you see your own future in this depression." 」
"Of course, she has particularly difficult times, called every day when she should not be." Zhang Hui also mentioned to "People" the feeling of "under the fame, but there are words of suffering", "When we cry with a headache, how can we let others know that when people are in the most difficult time, when they are the most difficult, only the people around them can understand." 」
That nightmare lasted for several years, until In 2018, when Wang Was invited back to the national team as a coach, she seemed to have been given a chance to prove herself again, even during the national team coaching period, there would still be a whistleblower letter about her sent to the State General Administration of Sports.
In May 2018, Wang Meng was appointed as the head coach of the speed skating national training team. A year later, she was the head of the coaching staff of the national team for speed skating and short track speed skating. During this period, Nie Xin, Zhou Yang, Zhang Hui, these old teammates and friends were also included in the coaching team.
Nie Xin remembered that when he received Wang Meng's call, his daughter had just been born, and he had not had time to go to the hukou, but he immediately came from Shenyang to Beijing. After many years of retirement, their group has a period of burning together, often at 12 o'clock at night still in meetings, how athletes are tidy, how coaches are tidy, and how some external publicity or commercial sponsorship and other activities are organized.
Once when the national team was training in other places, Wang Meng's mother went to visit the class, the old lady stayed at the base for three days, and only saw Wang Meng twice during the meal, Nie Xin always called Wang Meng's mother "old lady", "The old lady said, then what am I going to do, I will not come when you are so busy, when it is over, I will say that the revolution will be like you, and it will be victorious long ago."
However, that period of ambition in the chest finally ended in a quiet and dumb way. On April 28, 2020, Beijing time, the National Winter Management Center officially completed the latest personnel appointment, and Wang Meng stepped down as the head of the coaching team.
Nie Xin still doesn't quite understand what happened at that time, in the 2019-2020 short track speed skating 6-stop World Cup, the total result achieved by the Chinese team was 10 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze, the results were eye-catching, "I don't know why, that is, if you don't let it be done, you won't let it be done."
Wang Meng calmly accepted the decision. Nie Xin remembered that Wang Meng's attitude at that time was, "The most she could say was that there was something wrong with this thing, and I couldn't decide, so let's do it." But what makes Wang Meng happy is that the coaching team of the Beijing Winter Olympics is still built during his coaching period. She also specially invited Ahn Hyun-so from Russia, although she has experienced many storms, but because of her contribution and understanding of short-track speed skating, Ahn Hyun-so has always been Wang's most respected athlete.
Wang Meng remembered that after the leader talked, the first thought in her mind was to hurry home to pack up her things, and then go to Hainan for the first time and personally tell the news to her parents who lived there. What she thought was that her parents were older, and if they heard bad news about her through others, they would definitely be in a hurry to catch fire. In the year sochi was injured, the parents first heard the news from the outside world, and at that time, they were scared enough to choke the old couple.
That day, she drove for a day and a night, all the way to Hainan without closing her eyes. "When I got there, I finished myself, well, after I said it myself, they understood, they are old and can't stand these stimuli." 」
The Chinese delegation to the 2006 Winter Olympics returned to Beijing with honors, and Wang Meng hugged his family Photo Source Visual China
"People" and "Institutions"
Whether it is the athlete period or the short coaching experience of the national team, the set of narrative models that the outside world is accustomed to is to see Wang Meng as the opposition of the system.
Wang Meng himself did not accept this relationship. Or more than twenty years later, she grew up and matured in the system, and she became part of a sustained collective glory with individual glory, in which she also struggled, collided, deviated and returned, and she longed to give herself.
Zhang Hui felt that Wang Meng always had a very positive energy in her body, "That is, we can't see a little negative thing in her, we don't feel that the state is not good for us, the state gave me the opportunity, I did it, and didn't say what the state wants to give you, it is giving you a chance."
According to Nie Xin, Wang Meng's mother was an excited old lady who instilled in several of her children the idea of patriotism and love for the party since she was a child, "When there is nothing to teach us, I am still in the army, I have nothing to tell us, we must listen to the party, no, no matter how big an official you are, no matter how big an official you are, no matter what position you are, you can't be sorry for the state, sorry for the party."
Immersed in this kind of education from childhood, coupled with the experience of the athlete period, Nie Xin felt that Wang Meng also had a sense of "loyalty to the country" in his bones, "She had a lot of ideas at that time, how to be good to athletes, how to make the whole team better."
Sometimes this kind of pride even makes everyone cry and laugh. In 2019, an ice project oath ceremony, Wang Meng put forward a request, all foreign teachers participating in the oath ceremony must be able to sing the Chinese national anthem, many foreign teachers will not Chinese at all, but Wang Meng feels that playing for the Chinese team, this requirement is not excessive, the final oath meeting, the world people's federation, various pronunciation tones, finally finished singing.
During Wang Meng's coaching of the national team, Xin Qingshan was invited to serve as an adviser, and during that time, Xin Qingshan observed in his former disciples some things that were not in the athlete period, "It is quite decent, it is quite decent in all aspects, the problems considered in all aspects, quite strong, quite bold."
Wang Meng said that the experience of the national team is a very good experience, experience is wealth, the national team at most more than 500 people, daily things to deal with piled up, but in turn is also a good practical practice - the practice from a person rushing forward to slowly walk into the crowd, into the various networks concluded by people.
Speaking of this, Wang Meng came to the spirit, she raised her eyebrows and danced to talk about the ultimate Northeast philosophy she believed in, "When I was a coach for two years, how many things did I do, communicate with others, engage in relations with others, maintain relationships, is it not, ask someone to referee, invite international referees to come to China to referee China's most important games, than to invite people to drink after the game, then the referees one by one, do you think?"
After switching identities, Wang Meng also switched her own way of doing things, and she rarely impulsively stopped. The Chinese team has suffered a lot of losses in the past in sentencing, combing and pondering, Wang Meng's final conclusion is that the rules must be thoroughly eaten. At this time, the worldview accumulated in the sports career is also stubbornly working, "The referee is a person, he is a person, he is not a machine, right?"
The money for the dinner was all out of her own pocket, "What is the purpose of doing these things, don't you just hope that we will get this rule right, this thing has to be done, can you still fight with people?" 」
In order to ask Lambert, the technical representative of the International Skating Federation, for some technical details, her delicate side also came in handy at this time, "Then why do you ask for advice?" Either have a coffee or a meal, I can't bring an interpreter, I'm really 'Bang Bang Bang' going out, so what to do. If you bring one more person, you will make people feel more uncomfortable, right, just let's both, just throw a fist, come on, in order to get things done!" 」
Lambert was a Canadian, and later when the Chinese team went to Montreal to play, he specially invited Wang Meng to eat a hot pot, "Then you said that by what person can please you, why did you fight with others a few years ago, so why didn't you fight when you came to me?" Right, we've got to ask for advice, what's the fight, isn't it?" She vividly described the harvest of that period, "Then the referee said that whether I insist on refereeing the Beijing Winter Olympics or not, I will remember having you as a friend."
In Wang Meng's cognition, you give me face, I also give you face, everyone exchanges sincerity with each other, that is the ideal interpersonal relationship, but in addition to more complex relationships, many times she has no way to cope.
During Wang Meng's coaching, it coincided with the quadrennial National Games. The National Games are more important to the local area than the international competition. That was the most difficult period of time for Wang Meng to lead the team, in this process, Wang Meng had to balance a lot of relationships, "When you are an athlete, I manage myself, I practice well, I take everyone on, no, being a coach, doing management is not the same thing at all." 」
A lot of things can't be elaborated, the local government comes to do the work, to preserve the results of the Games, the athletes' minds at this time will also change, "You said that you know that he went to protect the state of the National Games, but you can't say, for example, he said he didn't sleep well yesterday, right, I will find a scientific research team, come, you sleep monitor, give me an analysis of whether he slept well or not?" But it doesn't mean much!"
When everyone's mind is not working together, it is useless to say that any unity and progress is useless. For Wang Meng, it was a period of "every day is a headache, today is either this problem, or that problem, there is no time when there is nothing."
"I can't be responsible for each of your leaders. Because I can't be responsible for each of you." Wang Meng described the difficulties of that period of time this way, "It is that I will not grasp this, to balance this relationship, I can't sleep every day, I am not steadfast, and I am too tired to do it."
Summarizing the work during the national team, Wang Meng told "People" that her bottom line is only two, "First, I want to be worthy of athletes; second, I am worthy of the country."
Xin Qingshan believed that with Wang Meng's character, he must have experienced all kinds of difficulties, "We received a notice, scattered and it will be over, everyone is confused, can not ask, can not say, this thing is, oops."
After the Turin Winter Olympics, Xin Qingshan faded out of the national team and was later invited by jilin to work in Jilin for a long time. For his choice, many people around him at that time did not understand, "The national team with so many Olympic champions, to achieve so many breakthroughs, zero breakthroughs, you see the first few people in your place, where there are people who can do it, good seedlings have gone to the national team, there is no one who can do it, that does not ruin your reputation." If you can't bring it out in the end, your reputation will be gone."
Xin Qingshan felt that it was too tiring to think about the problem in this way, and he convinced himself that the reason was simple, "Because I like this thing."
After retiring, Xin Qingshan accepted the invitation of Xinjiang, and in the past two years, he has been busy training team members and echelon construction in Xinjiang. It seems that it is destined that Xin Qingshan went to Xinjiang and returned to his old business - speed skating, with the heat of short track speed skating, speed skating has gradually been snubbed in China, and the distance between him and the world's first-class team is getting bigger and bigger. Xin Qingshan hopes to take advantage of these years to pick up another fate that passed away when he was young and "really do something" for speed skating.
Regarding the relationship between "people" and "system", after experiencing the change of personnel from scratch and generation after generation of Chinese short track speed skating, Xin Qingshan described, just like the leaves on the tree, the new emerges, the old always falls, there is no eternal world champion, there is no need to dwell on it, "everyone is part of it, this is the law of physics."
Back to the ice rink
Man is a fruitful animal, or man is always Mu Qiang. Because of the four Olympic gold medals, Wang Meng's words and deeds can be tolerated and understood, and it is even a little cute to look at carefully. Because it inexplicably became the top stream, the crowd looked at Wang Mao, and it was a gust of wind that worshipped like it. People are happy to recognize her, remember her, judge her with the help of those shining labels, and of course continue to misunderstand her to some extent.
In real life, the wall in front of you has always existed, and it is taller, thicker and stronger than when you were an athlete. Sitting on the network commentary platform, for Wang Meng, is more of a way to realize his own value.
After stepping down as the head coach of the national team, Wang Meng set up a sports culture company, and long before the Winter Olympics began, Wang Meng and his team racked their brains about what they could try during the Winter Olympics. The reason why Migu's explanation is also accidental, Wang Meng said with a bitter smile and a string of his own "top stream" history, "You see that the platform is so two, there is that live broadcast right." So in this process, people are also unwilling to use me, people find a circle of people to say that this person can not use, how, she talks (can't hold), in fact, how right I speak!" 」
Hit the wall on a different direction to try again, with the sense of urgency of the athlete period, Wang Meng and the team cast a wide net to catch more fish, do the program in the early stage, the market does not recognize, the investment is not good, just compress the cost to do it yourself, and then take the program to find the platform to talk, "still everywhere hit the wall, I still have to pay the screen fee, I said I lost money, I also paid you the screen fee, impossible, no." Replace, replace, I'll give you some work for free during the Winter Olympics, and you broadcast me this."
No one expected that with the top effect of Wang Mao, "The Movementist Lianmao" and the previous "Mao Lord Is Coming" have become fragrant food, at this time, the attitude of all platforms and partners has suddenly taken a big turn.
Wang Meng's body gathered the excitement and madness of the two-person actor and the shaman god, as long as he could still do things, as long as there was still a chance, "then you have to do it, do it, do it, and it's over." For a short period of time to experience a bit of human warmth, Wang Meng did not feel anything, before the explosion of popularity promised others, even if it is only a verbal agreement, she cooperated to complete, "that is to say, since you promised others, this matter no matter if you take out 10 minutes, 20 minutes, I will do it for you."
It's not just that to worry about. Wang Meng told "People" that on the day when he rushed to the hot search by relying on "my eyes are the ruler", in fact, his real feeling in his heart was "anxiety", "You directly gave me a hot search first."
She flipped through some online comments, many fans re-mentioned the past, but also a lot of emotional statements, which made her feel nervous, she first consulted with the team to see if she could take down some keywords, she explained her concerns to "People", "I just don't want these things to be amplified." I'm over the age above, I still want to continue to develop, sustainable development is not how high you hold me today, how hard you give me tomorrow, I have experienced this too much."
Now 38 years old, more mature and stable, after owning a company and more experience, Wang Meng is more willing to show the outside world that he is at this moment. Before coaching the national team, every time I went to the competition, there were always fans commenting on the Internet, why Wang Meng was not a coach, this time this voice was gone, Wang Meng felt that this time everyone was finally mature, "You see what my fans say, hurry up and let Lao Wang go to his own career and make money."
It's just that being at the top is too tired. After the beijing Winter Olympics, Wang Meng's time was divided into countless fragments, 10 minutes to see a wave of people, 15 minutes to see another wave, live broadcasts, programs, business cooperation, almost every day in a state of overdraft. But one day when she was video chatting with Zhou Yang, she told the other party with a satisfied face, "I see that these people around me have something to do, that is, they all enjoy their own work, I am very happy, especially a sense of accomplishment." 」
When talking about this part of the interview, Wang Meng showed the part of her personality that was continuously ignored by the outside world, people remembered her as a former Olympic champion, and recognized her as a satin hand, but she was the head of a start-up, there were many people who wanted to rely on her to eat, and she also wanted to make a more successful company, "If I want to earn money on myself, I will go to other people's live broadcast rooms as guests, half an hour, an hour, I earn my own appearance fee I am very easy." 」 But she always thinks about the lives of more retired athletes, "No matter where he comes from, what you do, so that many people, even the unknown people, can let everyone live and have a normal life." 」
This is her motivation, but also makes her anxious, there are repeated epidemics, but also exacerbated the difficulties of a start-up - talking about these difficulties, and the experience of hitting the wall in society over the years, Wang Meng, who is almost in a low mood, unconsciously has a sigh, "I think that athletes are still the happiest." How good it is to be an athlete. You're free to ride on the ice rink, how nice, alas."
After drawing a lot of business plans and blueprints for the future, Wang Meng said that she could think of the best way to relax, she hoped that when she was not so busy, she could make a pair of ice knives again, be more comfortable, have a higher upper, protect the injured ankle, and then go to the ice rink to skate a few laps without thinking about anything.
Sochi's previous injury caused Wang Meng to eventually lose the cartilage at his ankle. Until now, when Wang Meng went to a place at a high altitude, "his feet were swollen like pig's trotters." Two or three years ago in the national team, sometimes need to go to the ice, put on the original skates, she found that after the injury of the foot shape changed, endured the pain to wear it, the result of a few laps, or feel like.
In all of Wang Meng's stories, the most moving ones are always related to the ice rink.
Fan Kexin and Wang Meng are fellow villagers of Qitaihe, and in 2005, Wang Meng returned to Qitaihe to participate in activities, when Fan Kexin was 12 years old. Wang Meng's appearance made her know for the first time that there are places in the world farther than the Qitai River, and if she skates well and quickly, she can "stand on the world stage to win glory for the country." This silent and introverted girl always remembered that she had plucked up enough courage to ask Wang Meng, "I said Sister Mao, how old are you practicing, so I asked this question, and I was particularly careful." And then I remember her answering me, and she said she was 10 years old too."
In 2008, Fan Kexin was diagnosed with severe anemia, the doctor directly told her that she could no longer practice skating, at that time, she had just received the news of being selected for the national team, and all the good expectations for life had just begun to end, Fan Kexin was completely unacceptable, and returned home to cry every day.
What finally salvaged Fan Kexin from despair was a white T-shirt. At that time, Wang Meng and Fan Kexin did not have much intersection, but they knew that there was another talented girl in their hometown, and Fan Kexin later received Wang Meng's signed T-shirt, and two words were written on the name, "Come on".
Another time was the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, where Fan Kexin lost the gold medal due to consecutive controversial penalties. For a long time, she couldn't hear the words "Pyeongchang", and when she returned to Qitaihe, the whole person fell into a depressed state, "Always crying, I don't want to slip, I want to retire." 」
At that time, Wang Meng was also in Qitaihe, the two families were not far away, she took Fan Kexin to the house to nag, Wang Meng said a lot of her experience as an athlete, a lot of depressed things, but the conclusion is that it can not be slippery, "or have to slip, how can I be a deserter?"
Speaking of Wang Meng and the ice rink, the old coach Fan Hongwen was deeply touched. At this Winter Olympics, he was responsible for the training of Wu Dajing, and in his opinion, Wang Meng and Wu Dajing were the kind of athletes who really had a crush on the sport, and they really loved the sport. During the preparation for the Winter Olympics, many times Fan Hongwen felt painful when he watched Wu Dajing's training, and he felt that whether it was Wu Dajing at this time or Wang Meng at that time, "As a veteran, there are also (honors) that should be there, and they may just want to slide a little more and take longer."
When Wang Meng talks to "People", the topic often returns to the ice rink, "I like the ice rink the most, and my favorite is skating." When I was teaching the players (later), I said, Oh mom, I'm tired of them skating, I want to go up and skate myself, I said it's very happy to watch the ice rink every day, right, I want to be able to skate again."
As in her previous description, she always believed that it was a "world that was particularly comfortable and simple."
Many years ago, it was also this world that attracted the young and active Wang Meng. The winter of Qitaihe is extremely cold, the face wash water is poured on the ground, frozen overnight, and then in the furnace to take some ash sprinkled around is a natural ice rink, and the fate of the ice surface, began in such a rough simplicity.
Later decided to practice skating, mom and dad felt that sports were too hard, at first dead or alive did not agree, dad also said a heart-wrenching sentence, "Playing skater can play what can be played?"
Wang Meng did not listen to his father's words, carried his own skates out on time, in Qitaihe, in Harbin, in Beijing, in Turin, in Vancouver, in a circle of "out of the slipper", infinitely close to and mastered his own destiny.