Yan Zibei's father Yan Xianghua and mother Qiao Gelan watch their son's game. Yangtze River Daily reporter Yu Zhiyong photographed
Yangtze River Daily, July 31 On the morning of July 31, in the final of the swimming 4×100-meter medley relay at the Tokyo Olympic Games, the British team won the championship in 3 minutes 37.58 seconds and broke the world record, and the Chinese team played well, finishing second in 3 minutes 38 seconds 86. After the game, the Yangtze River Daily reporter interviewed Yan Zibei's parents Yan Xianghua, Qiao Gelan and enlightenment coach Zhang Jiepin, who introduced Yan Zibei's growth story to reporters.
Former diving Olympic champion Liu Huifeng watched the live match from the viewing point. Yangtze River Daily reporter Yu Zhiyong photographed
After a year of studying dance, the swimming team often won the first prize at the Spring Festival Gala
Yan Xianghua and Qiao Gelan were from Shandong, and Yan Xianghua came to Hubei as a soldier and stayed in Xiangyang. Yan Xianghua is tall, 1 meter 88 tall, and speaking of his son, "He is two centimeters taller than me." ”
Yan Xianghua likes to play basketball, so Yan Zibei's first sport when he was a child was basketball. Yan Xianghua thought of xiangyang sports school to enroll his son in a basketball class, but the sports school did not have it, and could only give up. After that, he enrolled his son in a dance class, and after practicing like this for a year, Yan Zibei was reluctant because except for him, it was all girls.
However, this year's dance study has left a fortune, at the Chinese swimming team's annual Spring Festival gala, Yan Zibei can perform dancing, often win the first prize, his songs are also sung well, Hua Chenyu's songs will be sung.
On July 31, China's Xu Jiayu (second from left), Yan Zibei (first from left), Zhang Yufei (second from right) and Yang Junxuan made appearances in the match. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Du Yu
After rio 'day trip', the whole family collectively decided to "stick to it"
When he was in elementary school, Zhang Jiepin, the coach of Xiangyang Sports School, went to the primary school to pick seedlings, and at a glance, he took a fancy to Yan Zibei, who was tall and had big feet. So at the age of 10 in the third grade of Yan Zibei Primary School, he entered the Hubei Provincial Swimming School. In 2016, Yan Zibei was selected for the Rio Olympic Team, becoming the first male athlete in Hubei to participate in the Olympic swimming competition.
"The Rio Olympics Yan Zibei was a day trip and was eliminated after the preliminaries." Yan Zibei's parents recalled. After returning home, the family discussed the future together and made a decision together: to persist. The Rio Olympics did not go in vain, allowing Yan Zibei to understand how big the gap between himself and others was, and where he was heading.
In the following years, Yan Zibei's performance improved rapidly, with two golds and two silvers at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games; in the men's 100m breaststroke at the 2019 World Championships, Yan Zibei broke the Asian record and won the bronze medal with a time of 58.63 seconds, which was the first time in 21 years that a Chinese athlete won a medal in the world championships. He is known as the "Frog King of Asia".
Yan Xianghua introduced that before going to the Tokyo Olympics, Yan Zibei said to his parents, "I will definitely come back with a medal." Seeing that their son won a silver medal, Yan Zibei's parents commented: "The Chinese relay team has the strength to rush gold, but the field is changing rapidly, and the silver medal is very good, very good." ”
China's Xu Jiayu, Yan Zibei, Zhang Yufei and Yang Junxuan (from left to right) at the award ceremony on July 31. Photo by Xu Chang, Xinhua News Agency
Not in a hurry about his son's marriage, "his career is on the way"
In the eyes of enlightenment coach Zhang Jiepin, Yan Zibei was a good boy, "He was the class leader when he was studying at school, or the squadron leader of the Young Pioneers." After entering the gym school training, he cooperated with the coach and was a very good child. ”
Yan Zibei trained for a period of time, and the results were not outstanding. Zhang Jiepin and Yan Zibei's parents communicate, thinking that the child's conditions are good, and he is willing to train, he is also interested in swimming, it should not matter if he does not produce results for the time being, boys develop late, and lay a good foundation first. "After explaining the reasoning to Yan Zibei, he was also in a good mood and continued to train." Zhang Jiepin believes that Yan Zibei, 26 years old, can continue to insist now.
Before the media reported the story of Yan Zibei being "urged to marry" by his mother, Yan Xianghua said: "My son is only 26 years old, I and his mother are not in a hurry, whether he has a girlfriend, we do not ask." It was something his mother had inadvertently said while chatting with reporters. We are not in a hurry, his career is on the way. ”
(Yangtze River Daily reporter Yu Guohua)
【Editor: Yao Hao】