In the women's 100m hurdles final of the 31st Summer Universiade in Chengdu, Wu Yanni won the silver medal with a time of 12.76 seconds. This result not only set her personal best, but also brought her up to the standards for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Wu Yanni's signature move of "index finger pointing to the sky" has also attracted attention, and some netizens have questioned her being too high-profile in the arena.
Wu Yanni (third from left) points to the sky before the women's 100m hurdles final of the Chengdu Universiade. China Youth Daily • China Youth Network reporter Qu Junyan/Photo
Recently, in an interview, Wu Yanni responded: "What am I doing in the arena low-key, I am going to fight." For the voices on the Internet about her signature actions such as "exaggerated" and "too high-profile", she said that after listening to it, she did feel a little uncomfortable in her heart, but she would not care too much. She said that in fact, the action of twisting the shoulders is simply to relax the body and adjust the competitive state; And the signature action is to commemorate the deceased grandfather, so as to cheer yourself up.
She said that as an athlete, in addition to professional skills, self-confidence and no stage fright are also advantages. As long as you can relax yourself on the field, play your true strength, and achieve good results; It doesn't matter what others think or say. "You asked me to do [the signature move] under the ring, and I really couldn't do it."
After the women's 100m hurdles final of the Chengdu Universiade, Wu Yanni wore the national flag around the venue to thank the audience. China Youth Daily • China Youth Network reporter Qu Junyan/Photo
Wu Yanni: Every young person is a hero in their own story
"When I was a child, my idol and target was Teacher Yang Liping." Wu Yanni learned to dance at a young age, because of her height, she is more suitable for solo dance, "In the words of athletics, peacock dance is my main sport." But she was born into a military family, and her grandfather always felt that girls should not be weak, so under the influence of her grandfather, Wu Yanni began to contact athletics, and after answering 3 questions cheerfully, she officially became a hurdler in 2012.
"Do you like hurdles?" "Like" "Do you know that we are Liu Xiang's project?" "Do you know" "Want to come to Beijing?" "Yes." Good personality, no stage fright, generous downfall, Wu Yanni's "sass" impressed coach Yang Hui very early, although she was labeled as "greedy" and "can't run results" in the team, Yang Hui still firmly believes that "she can definitely practice".
When the naughty Wu Yanni was still occasionally looking for excuses to delay training, her grandfather died, overnight, Wu Yanni "like a different person", she no longer had to be supervised by the coach in training, every move was full of "self-discipline", only one winter training time, she directly reached the athlete from the second level athlete, and the time also increased from 14.4 seconds to 13.6 seconds, and she can already stand out in the national arena.
At the 2021 National Games, Wu Yanni has high expectations for winning the championship. But at that time, the state of tension and excitement made her ignore the fatigue of her body, and half a month before the competition, she was accidentally injured in training, and the moment her ankle stinged, like a needle picking through a bulging balloon, "punctured a hole, leaked, and my 200% confidence instantly dropped to 80%." She cheered herself up in her heart, "Wu Yanni, you can definitely do it, if you really can't beat her, you have to bite her all the time."
In the final, Wu Yanni followed Lin Yuwei closely, from the first hurdle to the last hurdle, until the sprint, her strength was completely exhausted, the whole person almost fell, after the game, the coach told her: "The second place is already very good, I brought so many athletes, you are the first to make me cry on the field." ”
But this loss, Wu Yanni has never been willing to face it. It wasn't until more than a year later that she watched a record-breaking video of foreign athletes on video, and inadvertently popped up her participation in the National Games, "I watched it completely twice, and then cried and called my mother." She remembers her mother saying, "I'm glad you're finally able to accept your failure." ”
"The charm of competitive sports lies in its cruelty and wonderfulness, and the king is not forever." Whether on campus or in the arena, the more Wu Yanni experienced, the more she understood that "the efforts of the second and third places should not be denied", "constantly know new self, and have the courage to be hated by others, in order to make herself a person who can really stand on the field".
After the women's 100m hurdles final of the Chengdu Universiade, Wu Yanni at the award ceremony. China Youth Daily • China Youth Network reporter Qu Junyan/Photo
The Chengdu Universiade is Wu Yanni's third World Series, and she is eager to show the world the style of Chinese college athletes on her doorstep, "the wonderful performance of one generation of young people can influence the next generation of young people". She mentioned Liu Xiang, who once won the championship as the representative of the Chinese track and field team at the Universiade, "Liu Xiang won the Athens Olympic championship in 2004, which raised Chinese athletics to an unprecedented height. His victories have brought too much inspiration to our generation of athletes and this generation of Chinese young people. ”
Wu Yanni hopes that she can also be like Liu Xiang, let more people pay attention to the women's 100m hurdles, but she does not want to be called "female Liu Xiang", "Liu Xiang is Liu Xiang, his aura should not be dunked on anyone's head, and I am also a unique me, because every young person is a hero in his own story."