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Zhu Jianhua at the Fifth National Games in 1983
Zhu Jianhua was a well-known high jumper in the 1980s, and between June 1983 and June 1984, Zhu Jianhua broke the men's high jump world record three times in a row, raising the world record from 2.35 meters to 2.39 meters.
In 1983, Zhu Jianhua participated in the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki and won the bronze medal, which was the first world championship medal in the history of Chinese athletics.
At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Zhu Jianhua won the bronze medal with a time of 2.31 meters, which was the first track and field medal in the history of the Chinese Olympic Games.
However, Zhu Jianhua won the bronze medal at the Los Angeles Olympics, which caused dissatisfaction among the Chinese people. Someone wrote insulting him and smashing the glass window of his home; Someone sent him a blade and rope and asked him to commit suicide, for which Zhu Jianhua shed tears of heartache.
In 1988, Zhu Jianhua chose to retire with regret and a body of pain. Now that 34 years have passed, what is Zhu Jianhua doing? What is the current state of his life?
01
Mentor Hu Hongfei guided Zhu Jianhua in training
Zhu Jianhua was born on March 29, 1963 in a lane in Shanghai to ordinary workers. Zhu Jianhua has 1 brother and 3 sisters above, and the whole family of 7 is crammed into a 16-square-meter room.
Zhu Jianhua's 3 sisters live in an upper and lower iron bed, and he and his brother sleep in the attic.
The attic was dark and cramped, and Zhu Jianhua and his brother could not lie side by side, but could only sleep on their sides. The attic is built on top of the kitchen, and as soon as the cooking is cooked, the soot of honeycomb coal and the oil smoke of stir-fry vegetables are poured straight into the attic, and Zhu Jianhua and his brother are often full of taste.
Zhu Jianhua's father is 1.85 meters tall, his brother is as tall as 1.83 meters, his second sister is also 1.75 meters tall, and Zhu Jianhua's height after adulthood is 1.93 meters.
At that time, Zhu Jianhua was skinny and bony, and his two slender legs were particularly conspicuous, and his classmates called him "sheep's foot bone", and some called him "mung bean sprouts".
Coach Hu Hongfei
Zhu Jianhua likes to play table tennis, but has never practiced high jump. Due to his family's financial difficulties, Zhu Jianhua did not wear sneakers before he was 10 years old.
On an ordinary spring night in March 1973, Zhu Jianhua's fate was completely changed by a coach named Hu Hongfei.
Hu Hongfei was born in Shanghai in 1925, when he was a full-time high jump coach at the Shanghai Nancheng Youth Amateur Sports School, and was elected as the "Shanghai Ten Jie Coaches".
When Hu Hongfei occasionally came to Shanghai Penglai No. 2 Primary School to select seedlings, he took a fancy to Zhu Jianhua's two conspicuous thin legs, and that night he squeezed into Zhu Jianhua's simple home.
The skinny Zhu Jianhua is curled up at home, his legs appearing more slender in the dim light.
Zhu Jianhua and coach Hu Hongfei
When Hu Hongfei explained his intentions, Zhu Jianhua and his parents were very surprised, because Zhu Jianhua was weak and sickly since childhood, and he was the old patient number of the hospital, at that time, his hemoglobin was only 12 grams, which was a serious anemia, how could such a physical quality be an athlete?
Hu Hongfei said that Zhu Jianhua is a natural material for practicing high jump, and people's physique can be changed, and he will definitely train Xiao Zhu into an excellent high jumper.
Hearing that practicing high jumping can not only eat lunch for free, but also send sportswear and sneakers, Zhu Jianhua and his parents agreed.
After that, Zhu Jianhua took a cultural class at the school in the morning and followed Hu Hongfei to practice high jump at the Nanshi Amateur Sports School in the afternoon.
Zhu Jianhua
At that time, the training conditions were quite difficult, and on the training ground of more than 80 square meters, there was no standard jumping frame, nor a standard sponge mat, and even the ruler for measuring height was made by Hu Hongfei himself with waste wood.
Hu Hongfei was very strict with Zhu Jianhua, and he adopted scientific training methods to guide Zhu Jianhua in training.
Someone suggested to Hu Hongfei that Zhu Jianhua's thin legs be pressed with a barbell to make it grow thick. Hu Hongfei fortunately did not do this, otherwise Zhu Jianhua would have left the arena due to injury.
Coach Hu asked Zhu Jianhua to practice one-foot jumping, frog jumping, and running jumping, and later let him jump steps, jump cardboard boxes, and jump bamboo poles.
In this way, Zhu Jianhua's consumption is quite large, and his physical strength cannot keep up with during training. The parents raised 3 hens in the cage at home, and no one in the family could eat eggs, all of which were left for Zhu Jianhua to eat.
02
Zhu Jianhua leapt in the air and wrote a legend
In 1978, when Zhu Jianhua was 15 years old, he grew into a strong body and a strong jumper. Because he was too tall, coupled with the usual bow training, Zhu Jianhua's back was a bit bowed.
In 1979, Zhu Jianhua participated in the World Student Athletics Competition, easily jumped 2.13 meters, won the second place, and broke the national junior men's high jump record.
In 1980, the 17-year-old Zhu Jianhua broke out in full force, first winning the high jump at the National Athletics Championships and then the high jump at the International Youth Athletics Games in Mexico.
In June of that year, the 4th World Student Games was held in Turin, Italy, and Zhu Jianhua won the high jump again.
Zhu Jianhua took a photo in the old street of Nanshi District
After returning to China, the relevant departments gave Zhu Jianhua a 12-square-meter single dormitory. Because his brother was married and did not have a house to live in, Zhu Jianhua gave the dormitory to his brother as a marriage room, and he still slept in the attic of the house.
Usually going out to play, the team gave Zhu Jianhua some pocket money, he was reluctant to spend, all to his mother to subsidize the family.
In 1981, the Asian Athletics Championships were held in Tokyo, Japan, and Zhu Jianhua skipped 2.03 meters to win the championship with a Japanese athlete, breaking the Asian record set by Ni Zhiqin.
At this time, Zhu Jianhua was only 18 years old, the domestic media boiled over, and the Japanese media even called Zhu Jianhua a high jump genius.
Zhu Jianhua's glory continues: In June 1982, at the "Golden Sparrow Cup" track and field competition in Shanghai, Zhu Jianhua jumped over the 2.32-meter crossbar, breaking the world record held by the famous East German Wessig. Chinese and foreign media praised Zhu Jianhua and praised him as the "Prince of High Jump".
Zhu Jianhua was interviewed by Chinese and foreign media
Subsequently, Zhu Jianhua participated in the New Delhi Games, when more than 200 Chinese athletes competed, but Zhu Jianhua was the brightest rising star. Wherever he went, foreign reporters followed him, and even when he ate and slept, reporters followed him to interview.
At the Asian Games, Zhu Jianhua won the gold medal with a height of 2.33 meters and broke his own Asian record.
When Zhu Jianhua competed, sports reporters from all over the world gave up other competition items and transferred to the venue of Zhu Jianhua's competition to report, which shows how hot Zhu Jianhua was that year!
In August of that year, the first World Championships in Athletics was held in Helsinki, Finland. Zhu Jianhua was originally a big favorite to win the championship, but on the day of the final, a sudden rainstorm fell and the game was forced to be interrupted.
Zhu Jianhua's life highlight moment
After more than 20 minutes, the rain stopped, but the field was full of water and mud. Under such circumstances, Zhu Jianhua jumped 2.29 meters and won a valuable bronze medal.
This is the first World Championship medal in the history of Chinese athletics and the only medal in Asia at this World Championships.
On September 22, 1983, in the preliminary round of the National Games, Zhu Jianhua jumped another 2.38 meters, breaking the world record again.
In just over 3 months, Zhu Jianhua broke the world high jump record twice, becoming a legend in the world of athletics in the 1980s.
At that time, Zhu Jianhua was more popular than all athletes, and he was elected as "National Top Ten Athletes" 3 times, "National Top Ten Track and Field Athletes" 4 times, and successfully elected as "World Top Ten Athletes".
On the commemorative coin of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Zhu Jianhua's dashing posture of jumping high was even used as a pattern. In China, Zhu Jianhua has become a national idol.
03
In July 1984, the world-renowned Olympic Games in Los Angeles kicked off. This is China's first time to participate in the Olympic Games, before the opening of the Olympic Games, all the domestic media predicted that the gold medal in the high jump is not Zhu Jianhua, and his gold medal is the most stable.
And as early as June 10, at the high jump in Albertstadt, Germany, Zhu Jianhua jumped another 2.39 meters, setting a new world record.
Both Zhu Jianhua and Hu Hongfei are confident of winning olympic gold medals. The American "Athletics" magazine invited 17 well-known coaches to predict who could win the gold medal in the high jump, of which 15 meters coach said that Zhu Jianhua.
This made Zhu Jianhua bear huge mental pressure, he had insomnia all night, taking sleeping pills did not work, and he could only sleep for three or four hours a day, and the taste of purgatory was difficult for outsiders to understand.
At the Los Angeles Olympics, Zhu Jianhua took off and jumped instantly
On August 11, the Olympic men's high jump competition, which has attracted the attention of the Chinese people, began. Zhu Jianhua jumped easily in 4 consecutive heights, and when the fifth jump started, there was an accident on the field.
British middle-distance runner O'Vitt suddenly fell ill on the field after running 1500 meters, and the game was interrupted.
Zhu Jianhua's rhythm was completely disrupted, the whole person was wrapped in tension, and the muscles of his whole body began to stiffen. After the race resumed, Zhu Jianhua's state dropped sharply, he jumped 2.33 meters free of jump, directly jumped 2.35 meters, and the result was defeated.
In this way, Zhu Jianhua won the bronze medal with 2.31 meters, while German athlete Morganburg won the gold medal with 2.35 meters.
Just two months ago, at the Albert High Jump, Zhu Jianhua also defeated Morganburg. Zhu Jianhua's bronze medal is the first track and field medal in China's Olympic history, but the Chinese people and the media have too high expectations for Zhu Jianhua.
Zhu Jianhua in training
After his failed gold grab, he was accused by thousands of people. After Zhu Jianhua returned to China, many people wrote to him, accusing and insulting him, and some people also sent Zhu Jianhua ropes and blades to let him commit suicide.
Some radical masses in Shanghai smashed the window glass of Zhu Jianhua's house. One day, 3 young men intercepted Zhu Jianhua's mother in the alley, saying that Zhu Jianhua had eaten so many nutritional products from the state that he had vomited them all. Mother Zhu burst into tears.
Overnight, Zhu Jianhua, a hero admired by everyone, was pushed off the altar and trampled under his feet, and he shed tears of heartache and regret.
Under the huge pressure of public opinion, Zhu Jianhua's state plummeted, and coach Hu Hongfei was transferred, he and the new coach needed to run in, and Zhu Jianhua was no longer brave.
Zhu Jianhua
At the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, Zhu Jianhua skipped 2.30 meters to win the gold medal, but the Chinese people were still not satisfied.
At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, 25-year-old Zhu Jianhua was eliminated in the preliminaries. After the Olympic Games, the disheartened Zhu Jianhua chose to retire.
04
In 1989, Zhu Jianhua went to the United States to study. In 1990 he returned to Shanghai after completing his studies.
In 1991, Zhu Jianhua got married, his wife was also from Shanghai, younger than him, and an ordinary female worker in a company.
When Zhu Jianhua was at his peak, many girls courted him, and some even went to the alley of Zhu Jianhua's house to squat, and he received courtship letters sent from all over the country and piled up in the half-bedroom.
Zhu Jianhua (center) after retiring from the army attended the event
Zhu Jianhua was born into poverty, was a simple and kind boy, and never did a good job of being lofty. There were many girls who pursued him at the time who had very superior conditions, but he did not accept it.
The girlfriend was once unconfident and felt that she was not worthy of Zhu Jianhua. Zhu Jianhua comforted her: I was born very poor, and now the family conditions are not good, I look for a girlfriend and do not pick the best conditions, only choose the most suitable.
In 1991, when Zhu Jianhua got married, the wedding was also very simple.
In 1993, Zhu Jianhua's daughter, Connie Zhu, was born in Shanghai. In 1995, they gave birth to their youngest daughter, Zhu Wei ni. Neither daughter likes to jump high and has been practicing tennis while reading since childhood.
After marriage, Zhu Jianhua registered a sports agency in Shanghai, and the business was booming.
Hu Hongfei studies high jump technology at home (1997)
In 1995, Zhu Jianhua saw that the old coach Hu Hongfei was suffering from cancer and still rode his bicycle to various schools to select seedlings, and he burst into tears.
Under the torture of cancer, Coach Hu Hongfei was old and haggard, and Zhu Jianhua was particularly distressed.
In 1996, Zhu Jianhua became the Zhu Jianhua High Jump School in Shanghai, cultivating seedlings for the national athletics cause.
Zhu Jianhua chose seedlings like a mentor, requiring the other party to have enough height, long legs, and lower legs to be longer than thighs.
In 1997, his first batch of seedlings was selected from thousands of children across the country. In order to give the children peace of mind, the school waived all their training fees and asked the teacher to give them cultural lessons.
Zhu Jianhua's life photo
In 2001, his mentor Hu Hongfei died of cancer, Zhu Jianhua was very sad, he inherited the legacy of his mentor and devoted himself to cultivating high jump talents.
After the wife gave birth to two daughters, she did not have the energy to go out to work, so she single-mindedly took care of the family, took care of her daughter, and supported Zhu Jianhua's career.
In 2010, after the two daughters graduated from shanghai international school, they were exchanged by the school to study in the United States, and his wife went to the United States to accompany her two daughters, so Zhu Jianhua began to live with his wife across borders.
His wife and daughter are abroad all year round, and usually Zhu Jianhua lives alone in China, and generally only during winter and summer vacations can Zhu Jianhua go to the United States to reunite with his wife and daughter.
05
In 2014, news popped up on the Internet that Mr. Zhu was paralyzed, and someone uploaded a photo of him in a wheelchair. Many netizens left a message below, sorry for Zhu Jianhua.
In 2021, Zhu Jianhua attended the event
In fact, this is a fake news posted by someone on the Internet, and the person in the wheelchair in the photo is not Zhu Jianhua at all.
To this end, a reporter from Shanghai's Xinmin Evening News interviewed Zhu Jianhua, who denied that he was paralyzed and took a photo with the reporter. When journalists posted articles and photos online, the rumors were self-defeating.
After retiring from the army, Zhu Jianhua was very low-key, rarely participated in public activities, and did not serve as a professional coach for sports teams.
In fact, there were track and field teams from many countries who promised him a lot of money to ask him to coach in the past, but Zhu Jianhua declined. He just wants to stay in China in a down-to-earth manner, cultivate more high jump seedlings, and make some contributions to the development of China's athletics cause.
Zhu Jianhua's sports agency has always been booming, and he often flies all over the world, introducing Chinese athletes to foreign development and introducing outstanding foreign athletes to domestic competitions.
Zhu Jianhua was interviewed
Zhu Jianhua is a grateful person, after the death of his mentor Hu Hongfei, he often went to visit his mother and family and regarded them as relatives.
If there are any difficulties in the master's mother's family, Zhu Jianhua always does his best to help solve them.
Photojournalist Hong Nanli took a lot of photos of Zhu Jianhua's competition that year, and Zhu Jianhua has always remembered it in his heart. Hong Nanli is now more than 80 years old, and Zhu Jianhua has visited the elderly many times and invited her to dinner.
In 2018, after the two daughters of Zhu Jianhua graduated from college, they temporarily developed in the United States, and his wife returned to China to reunite with Zhu Jianhua.
Zhu Jianhua never considered himself a celebrity, and the company and family did not see photos of him when he was an athlete, and his trophies were hidden.
Zhu Jianhua (left) and Liu Xiang
In an interview, Zhu Jianhua said: All the glory belongs to the past, and I am now an ordinary person who must adapt to the life of ordinary people.
In November 2021, Zhu Jianhua was the first athlete to be funded by an overseas sporting goods company in Shanghai, so he was invited to participate in the event in Shanghai.
Zhu Jianhua, who had not appeared in public for a long time, appeared in front of the camera, he was wearing glasses, his body was obviously blessed, he had a big belly, and his back was still a little bow.
If you don't know his identity, no one knows that he is Zhu Jianhua, the "high jump prince" of the generation who was in the limelight.
Zhu Jianhua
In August 2022, Zhu Jianhua was 59 years old and still working hard in the workplace, with no intention of stopping. He runs his own sports agency, runs a high jump club, and lives a normal life with his wife.
Zhu Jianhua's heart is very calm, his life is very stable, he treats himself as an ordinary person at all times, and lives a low-key and ordinary fireworks life with his wife.
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