Some time ago, a video burst the circle of friends, and many people were in tears.
The man in the video is Oscar Figueroa, a weightlifter from Colombia.
It is said that 10 years to sharpen a sword, and Oscar in order to win a championship, but in the continuous failure of the whole 12 years!
At the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Oscar competed for the Olympic Games for the first time and only finished fifth.
After the Olympic Games, he participated in various competitions, large and small, but none of them were champions.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Oscar failed to stop the final with 7 attempts, and he roared in despair as he collapsed, which moved many spectators.
At the 2012 London Olympics, the Oscars, which had been preparing for 4 years, reappeared, but in the end they only won the silver medal, once again missing the dream champion.
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, he finally lifted that damn barbell and won the weightlifting gold medal at the Rio Olympics in one fell swoop! The weightlifting veteran burst into tears on the stage.
Someone on the Internet once asked:
A champion just, is it really necessary to be so excited?
And what I want to say is that the people who asked this sentence have no idea what the Oscars paid for this day.
Oscar Figueroa was born in 1983 in a small village in Colombia.
Locals make a living digging for gold in gold mines, but most of their wealth goes into the pockets of the rich. Most people can only live a life of poverty with a meager salary.
The same goes for Oscar's family.
Oscar saw the end of this life early on, and he knew that there was no future in living a life of mining. So he said to his mother:
I don't want to do this anymore, it's not the life I want.
So, as if by fate, Oscar entered a weightlifting gym at the age of 15 and began his arduous weightlifting career.
There are many children like him who have dreams and hope to one day become professional athletes.
Since everyone comes from poor families, they often face the problem of eating, and many times Oscar can only eat one meal a day.
But even this harsh environment still did not hide the talent and brilliance of the Oscars.
As a beginner in weightlifting, he actually learned all the skills taught by the coach on the first day of training! Let the coach keep praising: Oscar is such a genius!
Soon, the Oscars stood out with extraordinary talent and hard work, and with their excellent results again and again, they shined in the country.
But he didn't know enough, because he still had a bigger stage and a distant place in his heart.
Finally, in 2004, the 21-year-old Oscar stepped into the Olympic Games for the first time on the stage of his dreams! As a fledgling, he eventually finished fifth.
Although it did not win a medal, it was already a good result for newcomers to the Olympic Games for the first time. It also made him full of hopes for the Beijing Olympics four years later. After all, in four years, anything is possible.
Only at this time, he did not expect that fate had prepared an almost desperate joke for him.
In preparation for the Beijing Olympics, he trained harder.
Oscar's coach at the time was from the military, so he was very strict. The intense training style made Oscar very overwhelmed. The incompatibility of training philosophies makes their relationship very poor.
Under such tremendous pressure, it is difficult for the Oscars to play at their best level. Unfortunately, the athlete's nightmare, injury, also found the door at this time.
Oscar's neck often felt a sharp pain, and even the weight lever fell off when lifting. The doctor could not say why, and the coach did not ask him, appearing very indifferent.
Even by the time Beijing competed, the coach had completely abandoned him and missed the entire game.
But Oscar didn't give up, because he prepared for it for four years anyway. He had to get on the stage, tiptoe up and touch the champion's gold medal again.
However, the first time on the field, two consecutive tackles failed! The immense force almost lifted his right half into the air.
During the break, Oscar stepped off the stage slightly helplessly, preparing for the second attempt. However, his right hand was like an evil one, and he still lost his hand three times in a row!
Oscar shook his fist, and his eyes had begun to burst into tears. But in the end, I calmly returned to the background and adjusted the bandage to prepare for the third time. However, he still failed.
Oscar finally couldn't help shouting, tears welling up from the Eyes of hercules, and he leaned against the wall and buried his head in his arm and cried bitterly.
There is a Western proverb that says:
One cannot tread into the same river twice.
Oscar, on the other hand, took off his right hand 7 times, and the last shout was not a roar at the injustice of fate.
The best age for a weightlifter to serve is 23-28 years old, while oscar at the Beijing Olympics is already 25 years old, and perhaps he will bid farewell to the Olympic arena forever, and in the moment of disengagement, he feels that he has lost everything.
Oscar, who returned to China as a "loser", was overwhelmed by huge public pressure after returning home:
The public and the media didn't believe he was injured at all, they thought he just didn't want to play.
Would a person who has been preparing for the game for many years and has to play with an injury not want to play? These people have no idea that Oscar wants to win the championship more than anyone!
This criticism made Oscar despair, and the criticism of the domestic movement made him feel dead.
Later, a Cuban coach told him: Oscar, you may have c6, C7 cervical disc herniation.
The disease can ruin a sports career at worst and can lead to paralysis. The Oscars look as if they have lost sight of the championship or even weightlifting.
When he got the news, he went back to his room and broke down and cried, he only felt that he had been abandoned by the whole world, and he did not know where to go in the future.
But Oscar told himself in his heart:
I haven't won the championship of my dreams yet, and I can't give up yet!
So Oscar finally calmed down and gritted his teeth and took a huge risk for the surgery. Luckily, the surgery went well and the doctor told him he could still play.
After the overjoyed Oscar changed coaches, he directly threw himself into intense training.
In 2012, at the London Olympics, Oscar regained his footing, sparking cheers from the audience. In the end, he didn't make the mistakes of four years ago and won a silver medal! It's only one step away from the dream in my heart.
Seeing that everything seems to be changing in a good direction, and a nightmare has befallen Oscar.
While preparing for the 2016 Rio Olympics, Oscar injured his back during training. The immense pain often caused him to wake up in his sleep.
He had to operate again, at this point with only 6 months left before the race.
Oscar hurried into training after the operation, but the wound that had just healed made him very painful, and everyone, including himself, thought that he might not be able to hold on.
But seeing another opportunity in front of him, how could he easily give up? So the 33-year-old Oscar gritted his teeth and finally stepped onto the Olympic stage.
After taking the stage, Oscar let out a roar at the front, as if thinking of the efforts and ups and downs of the past ten years, thinking of the self who cried bitterly after 7 failures in Beijing, and thinking of the scars on his back that were still faintly painful.
His eyes were full of determination, as if to tell himself:
I must win this time!
Finally, under the attention of the whole world, the Oscars succeeded! He lifted the most weighty barbell of his life! Won the first olympic game for Colombia at the Rio Olympics!
When he slammed the barbell heavily on the ground, the pressure and grievances of more than a decade seemed to be vented in an instant, and Oscar cried like a child.
Then he kissed the barbell that had accompanied him for more than ten years, took off his shoes and announced his retirement to the audience.
On the podium, Oscar sang the national anthem with tears in his eyes and kissed the hard-won gold medal. More than ten years of persistence, the efforts of the four Olympic Games, finally turned into tears of happiness, touched countless audiences.
Oscar's story, I have read many times, each time moved me, made me awe-inspired.
Because even if he was repeatedly frustrated by failures, even if he was injured and operated on, even if he was questioned and criticized by countless people, Oscar never gave up the pursuit of his dreams.
As Oscar himself said:
No matter how much hard work I have experienced, I have never given up.
I've also heard a quote:
There is only one kind of person who fails, and that is the person who gives up before reaching success.
So, the Oscars succeeded.
So, if one day you also feel that life is difficult and feel that you will not be able to realize your dreams, please watch the oscar story and then stick with it for a while.
Next time, maybe just the next time, you can use your achievements to block the mouths of those criticisms and become a winner in life!