Xiao Ruoteng was born in Beijing in 1996, and his speech has the tone of old Beijing. Over the past five years, he has grown to the absolute core of the Chinese gymnastics men's team. At the just-concluded Tokyo Olympics, Xiao Ruoteng played all six events in the men's team event and succeeded in all of them, which is a rare situation in the history of Chinese gymnastics. Xiao Ruoteng and the Chinese gymnastics men's team finally finished third in the team event, and the results were on par with the previous Olympic Games. In addition, Xiao Ruoteng also won the men's individual all-around silver medal and the free gymnastics bronze medal.
In the song "Dream as a Horse", Xiao Ruoteng had a wonderful rap: "In fact, there is no time to think, to fight for every minute and second, from 4 years old to practice gymnastics, to 7 years old single school, whether it is gold medal or silver medal, is my pride, since to do, then do unexpected ..., HIP-HOP It is my favorite, but it is not my job, not like a gymnastics competition, no right or wrong, no need to pass, just what I want to say, all to you to tell, if there is a dream, please do it now, Act without fear of failure. No matter what it brings, whether it is success or setbacks, whether it is sadness or happiness, persevere to the end and do not give up, do not be afraid of yourself, there are dreams shining on you, it will become stronger. ”
The lyrics of this rap were written by Xiao Ruoteng himself, and Xiao Ruoteng, who was injured, described himself as a fragile "vinyl record", and only at the most important moment could he put his "vinyl record" to everyone, and the Tokyo Olympics were obviously this important moment, and what made Xiao Ruoteng happy and proud was: "I did it." ”
Before the Rio Olympics
I regret losing the election due to injury
To tell the story of Xiao Ruoteng, we must start from March 2016. At that time, although Xiao Ruoteng was not yet the leader of the Chinese gymnastics team, his talent had been recognized by many people. Huang Yubin, the head coach of the Chinese gymnastics team at the time, was very optimistic about Xiao Ruoteng and hoped that he could participate in the Rio Olympic Games that year.
According to the Olympic selection method of the Chinese gymnastics team, before the official selection of the participation list, it is necessary to pass three team tests, but in the first free exercise of the first project, when Xiao Ruoteng made a landing action that was not very difficult, unfortunate things happened, and he held his hand on the ground after landing. "At that time, the coach told us that the whole gym could hear, pop, bang." Xiao Ruoteng's mother, Zhao Xiuli, recalled to the Beijing Youth Daily reporter, "Later, Xiao Ruoteng did an MRI, and there were two large tendons in his arm, he broke one and a half, and the rest that was not broken was almost broken." You think about it, how painful that is. ”
At that time, it was only more than three months before the Rio Olympics, how to treat injuries, became the biggest worry of the Coaching Team of the Chinese Gymnastics Team and Xiao Ruoteng, only in terms of injury treatment, it is definitely the best choice to undergo surgery as soon as possible, but this means that he will definitely miss the Rio Olympics. But if it is conservative treatment, no one can guarantee that the three-month recovery time will allow him to reach the physical state of the game.
In the end, Xiao Ruoteng wanted to gamble, and after full communication with the Chinese gymnastics team, medical and rehabilitation experts, and the security team, they decided to treat conservatively. "Those days, he ate painkillers every day, and now he thinks about it. It's just too hard. During that time, we would cry every day after the video. Zhao Xiuli recalled.
Xiao Ruoteng has a habit with his family that he has maintained for many years, no matter how tired and late he trains, he will video call his family every day. Zhao Xiuli said that Xiao Ruoteng relied on his strong will, "and cooperated with the coaching staff and team doctors, gritted his teeth and survived, but in the end his physical state still failed to meet the requirements of the Olympic Games, so he was very sorry to lose." Seeing this, we as parents feel that the suffering of our children at this stage is really in vain, and that kind of pain is unbearable for ordinary people. ”
The defeat at the Rio Olympics is a blow to Xiao Ruoteng. "I think this is probably the biggest setback I've had in all my years of practicing gymnastics." Xiao Ruoteng recalled to the Beiqing Daily reporter, "Because this is not to say that you know from the beginning that you can't go to the Olympic Games, but you are very close, but at the last moment you still can't participate in the Olympic Games." It was a psychological blow. ”
Xiao Ruoteng was extremely depressed in the following months, which he himself called a period of depression. "I just don't want to touch gymnastics in the short term, I lowered my requirements, it's not that I want to give up gymnastics, I never wanted to give up gymnastics, because I was very sure that gymnastics was what I was best at and what I loved the most, but what I thought at the time was that if I couldn't play the Olympics, I could play the World Championships, the National Games, etc."
It took Xiao Ruoteng about half a year to come out of this low period, and the help of coaches, teammates, friends, and family members naturally played a very important role, but what was more critical than this was that he found the joy of practicing gymnastics again. "This happiness is a very relaxed feeling, not to make yourself so tight, but a state of relaxation."
Love gymnastics talented
But every step from the middle of the mountain to the summit is difficult
Xiao Ruoteng, who returned again, continued to show his talent and strength in gymnastics. "I'm a very talented athlete, growing up, coaches and teammates say I'm a very talented athlete. To put it simply, someone else may need to do one action ten times, and I need to do two. Xiao Ruoteng said.
Talent has always been a distinctive label on Xiao Ruoteng.com. According to Xiao Ruoteng's mother Zhao Xiuli, Xiao Ruoteng was very thin and very active when he was a child. "When we first exposed him to sports, we wanted him to eat more. There was a friend at Dongcheng Sports School, so he asked Xiao Ruoteng to look at it, and he liked it. The coach said that Xiao Ruoteng's comprehensive quality is particularly suitable for practicing gymnastics. ”
"I loved gymnastics when I was very young. Every time I shouted to go to the gymnastics room to play, the apparatus looked to me like a toy. Xiao Ruoteng recalled. In 2005, Xiao Ruoteng participated in the competition for the first time, and at the Li Ning Cup National Gymnastics Children's Championships, he won the kurama and parallel bars championships, and the second place in the team.
Zhao Xiuli said: "When Xiao Ruoteng came back from that competition, I felt that practicing this project had a special sense of honor, and gymnastics could make him feel like playing to the extreme. Let him practice gymnastics, and embark on a career path, we are also entangled for a long time, Xiao Ruoteng's academic performance at that time was not bad, speaking from the heart, there is no need to completely rely on being an athlete to change his fate, but he just likes gymnastics, and we later decided to develop according to the children's favorite things. ”
In this regard, Xiao Ruoteng said, "When I was a child, my parents respected my hobbies, they would give me a lot of choices, they would never force me to do something, and when they felt that I liked gymnastics very much, they would help me continue on this road." ”
Xiao Ruoteng has since begun to show himself in various competitions, such as youth competitions, national competitions, and national games, and he has won numerous awards. "I think practicing gymnastics is like climbing Mount Everest, from the bottom of the mountain to the halfway point, it may not be difficult, but if you want to climb to the top, that is, the Olympic Games, the road from the middle of the mountain to the top, it is really difficult every step." Xiao Ruoteng recalled his gymnastics experience to the Beiqing Daily reporter.
I had self-doubt because of my injuries
Is it impossible to continue
Like other athletes, Xiao Ruoteng's dream is to participate in the Olympic Games and stand on the highest podium. Since 2017, he began to harvest the championships of international competitions, especially the world championship all-around champion that year, which was undoubtedly an important achievement in his gymnastics career, Xiao Ruoteng said: "The biggest encouragement to me this world championship is that it makes me more determined to play the Olympic Games again. ”
But Xiao Ruoteng's Olympic road is full of twists and turns. After the 2019 Gymnastics World Championships, his shoulder injury became serious. "After that year's World Championships, at the National Games that year, I didn't have an all-around event, in fact, until the Tokyo Olympics, this injury was always like this." Xiao Ruoteng told the Beiqing Daily reporter, "Shoulder injury pain makes me always unable to strengthen some projects, can only spend a lot of time to rehabilitation treatment, when others can learn new movements, practice movements, I can only watch, when my body feels OK or in some key moments, I can only practice once or twice." Like a footballer, he can never run with the ball, he can only be in a state of running training. This feeling has a great impact on my psychology. ”
Everyone is training, but Xiao Ruoteng can't practice, which makes him sometimes have self-doubt, "Am I unable to continue?" Because of the shoulder injury, I couldn't practice some projects. In this case, it's like a vinyl record, I can practice, but I can't do it more times, and the more times I use it, the more vinyl records are scratched. Therefore, I need to be at the most important moment to release my 'vinyl record' to everyone and listen to everyone. ”
Before the individual all-around final
Four painkiller tablets were taken
The most important moment That Xiao Ruoteng refers to is the Tokyo Olympics. Before going to the Tokyo Olympics, Xiao Ruoteng went to the hospital for an injection and closure. "Now is the time to crush the steel teeth and fight."
At the Tokyo Olympics, Xiao Ruoteng was an athlete who had to play six events in the team event of the Chinese gymnastics team, and he did not fail in his mission, and finally won the bronze medal with the whole team. After the personal all-around project, Xiao Ruoteng desperately hopes to reach the top successfully. Zhao Xiuli recalled to the Beiqing Daily reporter: "The night before the final of the individual all-around project, he and I videoed and told me that it was difficult, but he also said that he was not very bottom-up in his heart, the difficulty of the action increased, and the stability would be a risk. But this child is something that once you have made up your mind, you must do it. ”
In the all-around hexathlon, Xiao Ruoteng ate four painkillers before the final, and increased the difficulty in the penultimate event, the parallel bars, "Only when the parallel bars increase the difficulty, there is a greater possibility to impact the gold medal." Xiao Ruoteng told the Beiqing Daily reporter, "Because the last item is the horizontal bar, this is the opponent's strength." So I'm going to try to get my lead a little bit more before the last item. ”
The final process did not develop according to Xiao Ruoteng's plan to some extent, and after the parallel bars were completed, he was still in the first place at the time, but there were not many leading points. The last horizontal bar, this is a knot in Xiao Ruoteng's heart, he has made a major mistake in the horizontal bar at the World Championships before. "I told myself that I needed to cross this hurdle, and if I didn't go over this time, I might not be able to go over it later." Xiao Ruoteng recalled afterwards.
He did it, the horizontal bar set of actions, clean, beautiful, although the difficulty is not the highest, but the quality is superior, the most important thing is to stand on the ground, just like nailed to the mat.
At the end of the action, Xiao Ruoteng shook his arm, which was an expression of self-confidence. "If the full score of this game is ten, I give myself nine points, because before the game I knew that I was going to face all kinds of difficulties, but even so, I did it, I think I showed myself completely in this game, which is enough. The remaining point, I think, is not that I didn't win the championship in the end, but that there are some skills that can be done better. I'm a perfectionist. Xiao Ruoteng told the Beiqing Daily reporter.
In that game, Xiao Ruoteng did not signal to the referee after the end of the action, and the total score was deducted by 0.3 points, which caused a huge controversy about the referee's score. However, Xiao Ruoteng did not shy away from this at all, saying: "If I don't deduct this score, I can't surpass the champion's score." In fact, after I finished the parallel bars, I knew that I would most likely not be able to win the championship, because after the parallel bars were finished, the points between us were not pulled apart, and the last one could get the gold medal as long as the opponent played normally, and it turned out to be the same. ”
After the final ranking came out, Xiao Ruoteng, who ranked second, seemed to have some dampness in his eyes, but he still couldn't hold back the tears. In the group photo session of the award ceremony, Xiao Ruoteng said that he had a moment to watch the gold medal in the hands of the champion. He told the Beiqing Daily reporter: "At that moment, looking at the gold medal, I felt that it was a very vague feeling, although the distance was very close, but the feeling was very far away. ”
Be proud of yourself
I am my own champion
So close to the gold medal, but so far away, walking off the podium, Xiao Ruoteng and assistant coach Teng Haibin hugged. Teng Haibin was also a very good Beijing gymnast, and his gymnastics career has also had ups and downs. The Chinese gymnastics team lost its most valued men's team championship at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, when Teng Haibin's mistake directly led to this tragic result, although he won the Kurama championship at that Olympic Games, but the gold medal weight of this individual event was obviously not equal to that of the men's team. After that, Teng Haibin fell into a long trough, and before the 2012 London Olympics, Teng Haibin, who was in a state of recovery, returned to the Olympic squad again, but he withdrew due to injury in the last moment, which gave his gymnastics career a regrettable end. Since then, Teng Haibin has transformed into a coach, and in the past few years, he has served as Xiao Ruoteng's assistant coach and has had an important impact on Xiao Ruoteng.
Xiao Ruoteng said: "I think his influence on me is subtle, especially when I fail, when I am not very good at training, he is not the kind of coach who says some words of encouragement or comfort to me, but a reaction, that is, when I encounter difficulties and problems, he gives me a very calm and calm state, and his state will make me less irritable and able to solve problems more calmly." If I am irritable and the person next to me is irritable, this matter will be difficult to solve. I think it may have something to do with his personality, his experience, he has been successful and has failed, he can understand my psychology more, give me a very calm, stable feeling. ”
When Xiao Ruoteng had doubts in his heart, he would also take the initiative to ask Teng Haibin, "He will tell me that we must learn to accept reality and see reality clearly, what I understand means is that people can't think too much about what has happened, because time will not flow back, we need to look forward." ”
Xiao Ruoteng won a silver medal and two bronze medals at the Tokyo Olympics, and although he failed to win the championship, he said he was very happy and proud of himself: "This experience is very important to me, and it will be particularly deeply imprinted in my heart." I'm actually very grateful to myself, I'm happy and proud of myself, and in the face of many difficulties, I feel like I've shown all my things. I feel like every athlete wants to go to the Olympics, wants to be number one, and I'm even more so. But the Olympic Games are held every four years, there is only one champion, in fact, in these years, I feel that I have matured a lot more than before, and my view of the first place has also changed a lot, I think that not winning the gold medal does not mean that I am not a champion. In my heart, I am my own champion. ”
In the song "Dream as a Horse", there is such a lyric: "Don't stop the pace, take the dream as a horse, live up to Shaohua, just move forward, the password for passing the customs in the fog, wait and see, even if regret is interspersed, paint with dreams, live up to the flowers, just shine, no longer alone, don't be afraid, be a dreamer." I looked at myself in the mirror, he said brave, the moment of unbridled light, the evolution of youth, you and I set out for the future, looking for a beacon of hope, shout in my name, take the dream as a horse, tomorrow will arrive soon. ”
Xiao Ruoteng, taking the dream as a horse, quickly horse and whip, one day, will reach the other side of the dream.
Text/Reporter Song Xiang
Image from Xiao Ruoteng's Weibo