On the evening of August 19, 2008, the last gold medal in the weightlifting event was presented at the Sports Institute of Beijing Hangda University, and the athlete Matthias Steiner from Germany won the last gold medal in the weightlifting event.
On the podium, Steiner held a gold medal in flowers in his right hand and a photo in his left hand, and when the media turned the camera to him, he saw Steiner kissing the woman in the photo affectionately, which was a picture of his deceased wife, who had agreed to come to the Olympics together.
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Matthias Steiner was born in 1982 in Vienna, Austria. Because his father used to be a weightlifter, Steiner was determined to be a weightlifter like his father when he grew up.
Sure enough, after his own hard work, Steiner embarked on the road of weightlifting like a father when he grew up. Unfortunately, in 2000, he was diagnosed with diabetes, which was a heavy blow for Steiner, as it was likely to ruin the athlete's path.
But Steiner did not give up, insisted on exercising and participated in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, finishing seventh. The Austrian media was very upset, claiming that "for Austrian sports, Steiner is a dispensable athlete". After returning to Vienna from Athens, there was no expected flower pick-up, but instead received such an evaluation, and Steiner was very annoyed.
By chance, Steiner met Susan of Germany, Susan has always been Steiner's number one fan, watched a weightlifting game on TV that year, through various ways to Steiner's email, the two began to contact and meet, and the two fell in love at first sight and entered the palace of marriage.
After the marriage, their careers in Austria were gradually suppressed, and the disheartened Steiner consulted with Susan and decided to leave Austria to become a German citizen.
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It turns out that since the Athens Olympics, Steiner's career has been in a state of being suppressed. Because of injuries, Steiner's state has not been very good, and the training results have been good and bad.
Later, at the 2005 European Championships, Steiner made another mistake. At that time, he still did not hold up the barbell in his hand after reading the time, which directly ignited the anger of the Austrian media, and everyone openly said that he deliberately passed the game passively.
The move became the trigger for a later break with Austria, when the entire country's media blamed Steiner for deliberately passing the game. Steiner knew that he would not be able to defend himself, and after some consideration, he made the decision to leave Austria and become a German citizen.
In fact, this decision is very risky, because Steiner cannot participate in any competitions during the three years of joining Germany. And diabetes is still repeatedly torturing his body, and his sports career is likely to end here.
During the lowest period of Steiner's life, Susan has been with him and encouraged him. To this end, Susan made a detailed plan for him, taking the Beijing Olympic Games in three years as the goal, making a series of detailed travel plans, even all the expenses of going to Beijing, and how to save money.
In order to encourage Steiner, Susan also set him a grand goal, this time to go to the Beijing Olympics, and to win the championship, to prove himself to all those who had looked down on him. His wife's encouragement was Steiner's greatest motivation, and he practiced day and night, cooperating with the treatment, and his body recovered better and better day by day.
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But the accident was creeping in, and in July 2007, Susan was in a serious car accident, and she could never accompany Steiner to the race. As she lay dying, Susan said to Steiner in a weak tone, "Honey, how much I want to go to Beijing with you, you don't give up because of me, you must go to Beijing, you must win the gold medal." ”
After Susan left, Steiner fell into great pain, but as soon as he remembered Susan's parting wish, he immediately threw himself into training again. Finally, Steiner got a German passport and qualified for the Beijing Olympics. Before leaving Germany. Steiner came to Susan's grave and said goodbye to her. "Honey, I know you'll always be with me, I feel like you're always there for me, give me encouragement, I'm going to win the championship this time."
But the race was not smooth sailing, and the other athletes were also very strong, and Steiner's 203 kg of snatch lift, although it set a personal best, was only ranked 4th in the whole game. By the time of the deadlift stage, the final result of the Russian Chigishev had been determined to be 210 kg in the snatch and 250 kg in the deadlift, at which point Steiner had only one last chance to lift 258 kg if he wanted to win the gold medal.
After Steiner failed to lift the head handlebar at 246 kg, the second deadlift was 248 kg, which was the largest weight he had ever lifted in his entire career. Now, to add a full ten kilograms, it must be done at once, an almost impossible task.
But Steiner chose to give it a go, actually lifted this weight, and won the gold medal with a slight advantage of 1 kilogram, which was one of the most legendary moments of the Beijing Olympic Games.
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After winning the gold medal, Steiner was ecstatic. He knelt on the ground and silently told his dead wife the news. Then he stood up and took out the photo of Susan hidden in his pocket and kissed it, and the audience was deeply moved at this moment.
"I dedicate this gold medal to Germany and thank Germany for all that it has done for me. Of course, I would first dedicate it to my wife, Susan, without whom I would not be where I am today, and I know that she is still with me and shares her joy with me. After the game, Steiner, standing on the podium, held the gold medal in one hand and a picture of Susan in the other, and Steiner kissed the photo of his beloved wife affectionately, and his eyes were full of tears.
"I dedicate the gold medal to my deceased wife, Susan." This sentence touched all the audience present at the time, and people shed tears for Steiner's affection.
Steiner's success was not easy to come by, and without Susan's support, he might now be just an ordinary person, or an athlete with mediocre results, and he would not have had such remarkable results.
Susan's wish has always sustained Steiner, and people say that Susan is Steiner's lucky god, but winning the championship is inseparable from Steiner's efforts.
No one could guarantee that Steiner would lift 258 kilograms, and even he himself was not entirely sure, but for Susan's wishes, he was willing to try. Even if you don't succeed, you at least try hard, don't you?
Steiner's success is inseparable from Susan's encouragement and support, and in the end, Steiner did not live up to Susan's expectations and completed their common dream.
I think Susan, who was far away in heaven, must have been very happy to see Steiner's success, and her hero finally began to shine.