Chen Long lost the "Double Dragon Society" and did not win the gold medal, and the three Olympic Games gathered "gold, silver and bronze"

From Rio's career love double harvest to tokyo runner-up, Chen Long's cycle is not easy.

"I've been waiting for the Tokyo Olympics for five years, and I don't want to wait any longer." Since the group stage, after each match, Chen Long has almost repeated the same sentence. The 32-year-old veteran took a gold medal and a bronze medal to three olympic games, and this time, and perhaps for the last time, he reached the final without being optimistic before the game, and finally lost 0-2 to Denmark's Axelsen, missing the Olympic men's singles title. In the three Olympic Games, Chen Long also collected the "gold, silver and bronze" tricolor medals.

Five years ago, when people were touched by the last "Lin-Li War" in lin dan and Li Zongwei's Olympic arena, when people thought that Li Zongwei, who had once again reached the final, could fulfill his long-cherished wish, Chen Long, who was not so sensational and not so bitter, stepped onto the championship podium, and at that moment, he deeply embraced and kissed Wang Shixian, and his career love was double-harvested.

In fact, as early as 2012 in London, the 23-year-old Chen Long had already won a bronze medal in his first Olympic Games, but he did not receive much attention, and at that time, the stars in the badminton arena were always Lin Dan and Li Zongwei. Rio Olympic cycle, when he was in the decline of Lin Dan's state, he won two world championship gold medals twice, and Chen Long also had too many difficulties and difficulties, but he was always reluctant to tell, just wanted everyone to see his real appearance of winning one game at a time.

Even after Rio won the laurel and achieved the Grand Slam, Chen Long still maintained a low-key appearance, he also took endorsements and also did activities, but more often used the short rest period to accompany his parents and Wang Shixian, enjoying a plain and warm family life, and then re-engaged in the preparation of the Tokyo Olympic cycle.

However, a new beginning is not a smooth one. The low point of 2017, the low point of 2018, but this year he experienced four "one round trips", and finally became the first Chinese player to beat Momota Kendou at the French Open, and won the championship in one fell swoop to break the championship drought of nearly a year, and Chen Long returned.

In the 2019 Nanning Sudirman Cup, Guoyu held a mobilization meeting before the match, the only Olympic champion in the lineup, Chen Long, was elected as the captain, and the fourth time he participated in the Su Cup, he said that he would go all out with his young teammates to win the Su Cup for the team and wash away the regrets of being on the Gold Coast two years ago.

Before the quarter-final match against Denmark, the coaching staff did not consider Shi Yuqi, who had played for the team before, but used Chen Long, who had a better record against Axelsen, who nodded to the coaching staff: "Well, I will go all out to play, the two of us also know each other better, I won more in the previous game, this is the third time this year, the first two times we won each, I am still psychologically confident." ”

However, in the game, Chen Long lost 0-2, which also made Chen Long once again bear the label of "poor team record" - in the 2014 Tang Cup semi-finals, Chen Long lost to Kenichi Tian, and the Chinese team lost 0-3 to Japan and did not qualify for the final; the 2014 Incheon Asian Games men's team final lost to Sun Wanhu, and the Chinese team lost to South Korea; in the 2016 Tang Cup quarterfinals, Chen Long lost to Sun Wanhu again, and the Chinese team lost to the South Korean team to stop in the quarterfinals.

In the 2017 Su Cup final, Chen Long finally won once, but that time the Chinese team finally lost 2-3 to the South Korean team, Chen Long still did not get a happy ending; in the 2018 Tang Cup final, although the Chinese team finally defeated the Japanese team to regain the championship, chen Long, who appeared first, also lost to Momota Kendou. This time in the Su Cup, Chen Long lost again, but Guoyu defeated Denmark, Thailand and Japan to win the cup again. The reporter asked Chen Long why he repeatedly lost in the team game, thinking that he would avoid talking about it, but he said frankly: "For me, I am indeed sorry, because in the team game, I want to play better and get a point for the team, but the game is like this, maybe you are not doing so well, or doing not do as well as the opponent, the result will be different." ”

Later, at the World Championships, Chen Long lost to Antonsen, the leader of the young generation of Denmark, and not only stopped in the quarterfinals himself, but also stopped here in the entire men's singles group of Guoyu, setting the worst record in 24 years. Chen Long must have changed. However, the layman looks lively, we only look at Chen Long's results are not satisfactory, but the insider looks at the doorway, and the head coach of the singles group, Xia Xuanze, found: "Chen Long began to find his correct playing style and ideas, and began to have a breakthrough. ”

"I feel like I'm thinking more deeply about losing, what should I do now instead of losing, I should think about what I'm going to do tomorrow." Chen Long not only seriously summed up himself, but also thought about the overall Chinese men's singles, he found Xia Xuanze and Chen Yu: "We used to occupy the world stage for too long, now we are in a backward state, now the world attaches great importance to men's singles, investment is also a lot, this is the progress and development of badminton." ”

The breakthrough began in the 2019 China Open, when Li Mao had just returned to Guoyu to coach and specially tuned Chen Long, so we saw that although Chen Long lost to Momota Kendou again and missed the final, his playing style began to become positive, and people became more calm and responsible.

As a leading figure in the Tokyo period of Chinese men's singles, Chen Long shouldered his due responsibility: "I believe that everyone works together through the three generations of old, middle and young players, this collective work together, no matter who is good, not one person's good, not their own business, it is everyone to cheer up together, I believe that the men's singles group can experience no matter how big the difficulties, can also come out." ”

After the two open tournaments in France and Denmark, Chen Long won a championship and a runner-up result, and such a performance also officially announced that Chen Long's positive change had initially borne fruit, but it was not enough, everyone felt that it was not enough, and he himself felt that it was not enough: "It may have reached a certain height, and it will never be enough." "Before the Tokyo Olympics, Kuniyu made his last international appearance, losing to Li Zijia and missing the final four, Chen Long began to build up for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Because of the epidemic, the postponement of the Olympic Games for one year is quite cruel for some players, but at the same time it is also an opportunity for some other players, although Chen Long's age to participate in the Olympic Games has changed from 31 years old to 32 years old, but in his opinion, the postponement of one year has given him more time to improve: "If you make full use of this time, I believe it is a good opportunity for me." ”

How to grasp such an opportunity, Chen Long is very aware: "The main thing is that training must have a certain purpose, with the increase of age, I can't train like young athletes every day, mainly physical fitness, physical fitness is very important for old athletes, or one is to recover, to do such a good job, for the Olympic Games, and then go all out." ”

In addition to the strengthening of physical strength and the recovery of the body, Chen Long also strengthened his weapons when the opponent was out of sight: "For such a long time, the main emphasis was on attack, or on strengthening the threat of attack, although sometimes there were mistakes that did not work so well, but the main idea was to stick to the idea of attacking." ”

As the only of the 14 Olympians to have Olympic experience and the only one among the Badminton players in Tokyo who is likely to defend his title, Chen Long began to attack his third Olympic journey and second Olympic champion. The coaching staff has been giving Chen Long a positive psychological hint: "Since the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, the Chinese badminton team has had a Chinese athlete successfully defending his title, and now only Chen Long has a chance to continue this law." ”

Zhang Jun, chairman of the Chinese Badminton Association, is full of confidence and expectation for Chen Long: "His sense of responsibility as a father is also stronger, I believe he will perform better in the Olympic arena, he has experience, and he also has the ability to win the Olympic championship." The difficulty now is to recover after every high-intensity competition in the Olympic Games, and if he can completely open up, it is not surprising that his skills and strength have won the championship. ”

Coming to Tokyo, when the young teammates felt the novelty of the Olympic Village, Chen Long obviously felt that this time was completely different from previous sessions: "This time participating in the Olympic Games feels very different, because of the epidemic, such as accommodation, shuttle buses and other conditions, the venue and the Olympic Village take two hours back and forth, very rushing, but I think everything is not a problem, come to this is to play a good game." ”

Chen Long hoped that he would not have regrets in his third Olympic Games, saying that he had waited for this moment for five years and did not want to wait any longer, so he was full of ambition and low-key and down-to-earth and began to attack at the Musashino Gymnasium. The two group matches were lightly won 2-0, but he did not take it lightly: "I will play every game as a last game and fully prepare myself." ”

Defeating Li Zijia in the quarter-finals of the previous last international arena, chen long once encountered difficulties on the scene, and Chen Long always reminded himself that if he lost again, the Olympics would be over, and he must bite a point. Coming to the quarter-final against the second seed Zhou Tiancheng, Chen Long still did not give up in the backward situation and played his own firmness and confidence.

In the semi-final confrontation with Kim Ting, we have completely seen the change that Chen Long began at the end of 2019, he is no longer just conservatively balanced, no longer just rely on his own defense to wait for the opponent's mistakes, he on this basis, the new offensive weapon brought by the height of the arm length also played a role, giving the opponent enough pressure. As a result, we see Chen Long once again advancing to the Olympic final, just one step away from defending his title.

The twentieth "Double Dragon Society", facing the Danish Axelsen who gave himself the name Anselm, Chen Long was all too familiar, in the last six meetings between the two sides, the two won three times each, the most recent 2020 Malaysia Masters, It was Axelsen who won. Chen Long said: "He is in good shape, he has won all the way easily, I have no pressure in this final, I just want to impact him and hope to play a wonderful game." ”

The badminton men's singles final at the Tokyo Olympics was wonderful, but the result was a pity for Chinese fans. Chen Long ended his trip to Tokyo with a silver medal and also ended his Olympic journey. As Chen Long said, he has no pressure in the past, and a men's singles silver medal is also a recognition of the veteran's efforts in the five years of the Tokyo Olympic cycle.

Wen | Li Ting

Source: Sports Weekly