The 2022 Gymnastics World Championships ended the men's individual all-around competition on the 5th. At just 22 years old, Chinese athlete Zhang Boheng finished second with 86.765 points, and Japan's Daiki Hashimoto won the championship. At last year's World Championships, Zhang Boheng was crowned the king in the all-around event, and at this year's World Championships, he won the runner-up. Zhang Boheng is seen by the outside world as the future leader of the Chinese gymnastics team, and he is cashing in on his talent and carrying the beam.
A crying nose boy
Hard work is the foundation of growth
Zhang Boheng was initially concerned by many Chinese gymnastics fans, probably his national gymnastics championships and Tokyo Olympic trials in the first half of last year, where Zhang Boheng won the gold medal in men's floor exercise, as well as two silver medals in the men's team and all-around, and was successfully selected into the Olympic training squad of the Chinese gymnastics team.
At the time, there was a heated debate about whether he could become a part of the Tokyo Olympics. You know, the Olympic gold medal that the Chinese gymnastics team most hopes to win is the men's team, and in addition to Xiao Ruoteng and Sun Wei, they also need more high-level all-round athletes. But at the same time, Zhang Boheng is too young, not to mention the Olympic Games, even the World Championships or a formal international event, he has not participated. In the end, Zhang Boheng was only a substitute for the Tokyo Olympic squad, and he failed to enter the stage of his dreams. For Zhang Boheng, this is a bit of a pity, but it is more undoubtedly an incentive and a firmer goal.
Zhang Boheng is from Changsha, Hunan Province, a place where gymnasts are born, and the most famous gymnast is Li Xiaopeng. Zhang Boheng is Li Xiaopeng's fellow disciple and they were excavated and cultivated by the same master. Since the age of 4, Zhang Boheng has followed Coach Qiu Qi to start the road of gymnastics.
Zhang Boheng practiced gymnastics hard when he was a child, and he did not shed tears. Once, he returned to his mother's headmaster, Shashi Gymnastics School, and told the children about his growth experience, saying that he was very crying. Zhang Boheng showed these children his palms, most of which were calluses, and his elbows were also crisscrossing scars. It can be seen that behind Zhang Boheng's talent, hard work is the basis for growth.
"I grew up practicing gymnastics, and I didn't have any ideas about why to do gymnastics or how to improve. What really changed was when I was fifteen or sixteen, I experienced a serious injury. The injury was the biggest setback I ever experienced, and it was also a period of depression for me. Experiencing that injury gave me a deeper understanding of gymnastics and made me really realize that I should be responsible. After that, I felt that practicing gymnastics was not so hard, but a happy thing, which made me feel that I was constantly improving and improving. Zhang Boheng told a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily.
He became famous in the World Championships
Full of hope for the Paris Olympics
Zhang Boheng has grown up very fast since then, and he entered the national training team at the age of 18. He is really remembered for last year's Olympic trials and the National Games since. The 2021 World Championships made Zhang Boheng famous, when he defeated Tokyo Olympic champion Daiki Hashimoto to win the men's individual all-around title.
"It was my first time playing internationally and I was nervous, but more excited. In the competition, I compete with a learning attitude, there are Olympic champions against them, and I hope to learn from them. In 6 events, I made a mistake in the middle of Kurama, and I just wanted to keep catching up with my opponent and didn't think about anything else. To win the title at the last minute, I was a little blindsided and took a long time to realize that I was a world champion. On the night of the championship, I was tossing and turning, and it was hard to sleep. ”
Becoming famous in the World Championships has made the outside world have more expectations for Zhang Boheng, looking forward to his appearance and performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics. In fact, this is also his dream. In an interview, Zhang Boheng said: "In 2024, my age is 24 years old, which is a good age, but I also know that there will be many difficulties in the middle, so I still want to come step by step." ”
After two world championship experiences, Zhang Boheng further increased his confidence in participating in the Paris Olympics. Zhang Boheng once told a reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily, "Standing on the stage of the Olympic Games is the dream of every athlete, and I am no exception." But there are still a few years before the Olympics, and there will be a lot of things going on in between, including the adjustment of the rules every year, which will affect the choreography of the movements and the starting score of the entire difficulty, as well as the quality of the completion of the new set of moves, as well as injuries, which are unpredictable. There is no denying that winning the 2021 World Championships will give me more confidence and set more goals and higher standards for me. If you ask me about the Paris Olympics, all I can think about now is that if I can stand on the field of the Paris Olympics and show my normal level, it will be enough. ”
So Bingtim is an idol
It's embarrassing to say hello when you meet
Although Zhang Boheng has become a world champion, he is only 22 years old, and he has his own idol like his peers, that is, Su Bingtian, the leader of Chinese athletics.
Zhang Boheng revealed to the reporter of the Beijing Youth Daily that he had met Su Bingtian several times in the track and field before, but he was very shy and embarrassed to say hello. "I think his experience is very inspirational and his performance in the game has been impressive. I watched a lot of videos of his matches, including at this year's Tokyo Olympics, and I was impressed by him. In fact, I met him several times in the track and field before, and our gymnastics team went to the track and field to practice physical fitness, and Su Bingtian also trained there, but I was embarrassed to say hello to him. I also want to ask him some questions, such as the mental struggle of athletes in adversity, how to mobilize more of their potential, etc., these are the things I want to learn from him in person. ”
As for what kind of athlete Zhang Boheng hopes to become? He replied: "I want to be a very well-rounded athlete, for example, I especially want to learn Xiao Ruoteng's ability to cope and deal with problems calmly during competition." In fact, my life is very simple, almost all around gymnastics, I spend most of my time training in the gymnasium, after training, I go back to the room to watch the video, learn and improve the movement. My life is basically gymnastics except for eating and sleeping. I don't have any special hobbies, gymnastics is my biggest hobby. Text / Photo courtesy of Song Xiang, reporter of this newspaper/Xinhua News Agency