Shanghai Oriental Green Boat Sports Training Base, eye-catching banners write Qin Haiyang's brilliant achievements. Having just won three gold medals in the breaststroke competition at the Chengdu Universiade, he is preparing for the Hangzhou Asian Games here.
Reporter: How long is it every day?
Qin Haiyang: About six hours, three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon.
Reporter: In what form can you return to the training ground now? I'm thinking.
Qin Haiyang: In the form of a world champion.
Reporter: What is the state of the world champion?
Qin Haiyang: I think the state of a world champion is to be more relaxed and more confident.
A month ago, at the 2023 World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Qin Haiyang won gold medals in the men's 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, while breaking the world record in the 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:05.48. His personal record fills a gap in China's 66-year breaststroke program. After the competition, Qin Haiyang wrote on his personal social account - "On the way to the top, even if you are afraid of the rocks, you must be the top; Even if no one will come to the scene, it should be strong. "Looking back on the road to the top, on the eve of the Fukuoka World Championships, he stopped in front of the honor roll of the swimming pool of the General Administration of Sports, which is a key moment.
Reporter: What does the honor roll look like?
Qin Haiyang: The honor roll is for both Olympic champions and world champions, Olympic champions are in the first row, the world champions are a little below, and then I stand in front and look.
Interviewer: What to see?
Qin Haiyang: I'm watching where do I hang after the competition? It's true.
Reporter: There was no you yet?
Qin Haiyang: Right.
Reporter: So where do you want your place to hang?
Qin Haiyang: Actually, it's good that I can hang it, before the competition, I regard it as my only way, these three championships I will definitely win, if I can't win these three championships, I won't talk about the Olympics.
Reporter: Why is it so absolute?
Qin Haiyang: Because I didn't think about failure, I was determined to win.
With the determination to win three championships, Qin Haiyang came to the Fukuoka World Championships. On July 24, in the men's 100m breaststroke final, Qin Haiyang, who finished fourth in the water, determined his advantage after entering the water, and when he swam to the last 15 meters, he felt that he was about to succeed.
Reporter: What happens to the mental state of athletes during the sprint stage?
Qin Haiyang: The whole body and nerves are actually a highly concentrated point, all concentrated in rushing forward.
In the men's 100m breaststroke final, the 24-year-old won China's first men's breaststroke world title, setting another Asian record with a time of 57.69 seconds. From learning to swim at the age of 6 to winning his first world championship medal, the 18-year journey to the top may begin with Qin Haiyang being thrown into the water by his coach.
Qin Haiyang: When I was a child, I didn't like to go into the water, and I was thrown down by the coach, that's it.
Reporter: At the age of 9, you began to be exposed to relatively systematic training?
Qin Haiyang: Right.
Reporter: Were professional athletes your only option back then?
Qin Haiyang: Not either.
Reporter: The goal in mind?
Qin Haiyang: I didn't think about doing it later, anyway, it was a movement.
Interviewer: Just as a sport.
Qin Haiyang, a native of Hunan, was born in 1999, and when he was 9 years old, he learned to swim for three years from Hunan to Shanghai Minhang District Junior Sports School. A year later, he was selected for the Navy swimming team for trial training. Coach Ye Jin, who has trained famous players such as Qi Hui and Ning Zetao, gave Qin Haiyang a nickname: "Brother Calmding". Because Qin Haiyang is half a beat slower in everything, but his training is very conscious and his understanding is very high. Many technical essentials, Ye Jin only needs to say it once, Qin Haiyang can do well. In 2015, at the first Youth Games swimming competition, 16-year-old Qin Haiyang won two gold medals in the men's 100m and 200m breaststroke. After that, he won consecutive national swimming championships and the men's 200m breaststroke championship at the Qingdao National Championships. However, in 2016, Qin Haiyang was not selected for the Rio Olympic trials, and in his own words, that time, it was only a little bit worse.
Interviewer: A little bit?
Qin Haiyang: It's half a second, less than 0.5.
Reporter: Blink your eyes?
Qin Haiyang: Yes, yes, and then I feel very sorry.
Reporter: How to knock on this door?
Qin Haiyang: Later, I wanted to go back to refueling and training.
In 2017, Qin Haiyang won the men's 200m breaststroke final at the 13th National Games with a time of 2:07.35, and in 2018 and 2019, he won the second place in the men's 200m breaststroke at the Short Course Swimming World Championships and the World Military Games in 2019. In 2021, he competed in the Tokyo Olympics as he wished, swimming 2:08.48 seconds in the men's 200m breaststroke heats, first in the group, but the blow ensued, and he was disqualified for a foul.
Interviewer: But what was your mood when you were told of a foul?
Qin Haiyang: It's more of a question.
Reporter: Because after changing the rules of swimming at that time, the aerial camera can be seen very clearly?
Qin Haiyang: There are also underwater shots.
Reporter: What does it look like when you see the problem clearly?
Qin Haiyang: There is nothing to say, in fact, the most uncomfortable may not be the results of the competition, the most uncomfortable may be that this matter is more humiliating.
Reporter: What makes you feel ashamed?
Qin Haiyang: In anyone's opinion, this is a relatively stupid mistake.
Qin Haiyang's so-called stupid mistake stemmed from the fact that the breaststroke leg habitually picked up a freestyle leg after turning around underwater, and it was not easy to change his exercise habits. At this time, Qin Haiyang's mentor Ye Jin stood up, and although the naval training team was facing disbandment at that time, Ye Jin still ran around to find a fixed training ground for Qin Haiyang. In addition to using underwater cameras for analysis, she even took a stick and put it on Qin Haiyang's leg so that he could feel the position of movement in the water.
Reporter: Actually, for a while after you came back, you fought with it?
Qin Haiyang: Right.
Reporter: To what extent can you pick your own movements?
Qin Haiyang: Just like dancing, which movement must be done.
Reporter: Is it difficult for an already well-formed athlete like you?
Qin Haiyang: Anyway, it's not simple, it takes a lot of effort.
Reporter: Will you feel frustrated inside?
Qin Haiyang: Yes, there will be, but there is no way, you can only accept it.
After a year of difficult competition, in August 2022, Qin Haiyang went to Beijing to start training, and he had a new team to learn from Shanghai coach Cui Dengrong. Cui Dengrong is also the meritorious coach who brought Zhang Yufei to the highest Olympic podium step by step.
Reporter: What does this choice mean for you?
Qin Haiyang: It means a new beginning, as I said, it breaks the process of reshaping.
Reporter: For example, in what kind of training?
Qin Haiyang: The previous concept was that you need to swim more before the game and swim more to maintain your condition, but Cui guided his philosophy to swim less and improve your physical strength.
Reporter: If he doesn't let you swim, you don't want to swim, and then he won't let you swim, so what should I do? Do you sneak around?
Qin Haiyang: He also respects athletes.
Reporter: Under what circumstances or at what moment, do you think he is right?
Qin Haiyang: Because in the end it reflects an achievement, maybe you don't know what is right, but you know what is wrong.
Whether it is Zhang Yufei or Lu Ying earlier, the breakthrough period of achievements mainly comes from the improvement of technology. For Qin Haiyang, Cui Dengrong also chose to start with technology.
Reporter: Because I remember that when interviewing Zhang Yufei, she said, it seems that Coach Cui thinks that picking technical movements is something that an athlete has to do in his life?
Qin Haiyang: Yes, it's similar, for example, maybe the palm is slightly tilted and the effect of this water skiing is a little different. If you have a little difference in each stroke, then your whole trip will actually affect a lot. I see that there will be comments that I swim the first 150 meters with less effort, less movement than others, the same distance may take people a half and a half movements, and I only need one movement.
Reporter: What kind of talent did this rely on?
Qin Haiyang: I personally think that one is water sense, and there is also systematic physical training.
While emphasizing the technical details, Cui Dengrong also strengthened Qin Haiyang's strength training, and the exercise planning on the core muscles was also more subdivided.
Reporter: Now that we see the records of your past training, everyone will dig out the process of you going to practice squats?
Qin Haiyang: Because breaststroke requires leg strength very much, especially for short distances, one is to be very explosive.
Reporter: Because when we see some videos, we will see that your training methods are sometimes, such as hanging from your waist?
Qin Haiyang: It's a piece of iron.
Reporter: How many kilograms of squats can you do now?
Qin Haiyang: Around 160 kg to 180 kg, I feel that I have just completed the shaping of the foundation.
Reporter: What else needs to be improved?
Qin Haiyang: After the onshore training, you have to transform the onshore training into the water, how to better reflect the training results into the water.
In more than a year with Cui Dengrong, Qin Haiyang, who once regarded swimming as a job, gradually learned to enjoy swimming.
Reporter: What do you think is the most revolutionary change or innovative change that Mentor Cui has brought to you?
Qin Haiyang: Very good at cheering up the team members and cheering for the team members.
Reporter: Because after our persuasion, he still refused our interview. His reason was that I was always the one behind the athletes. What kind of things are at work in him? What has changed in you?
Qin Haiyang: Confidence, one is communication, very respectful of athletes' practices and ideas.
Qin Haiyang, who will compete in the 2023 Fukuoka World Swimming Championships, has undergone a reinvention. He got his wish and won the three gold medals he was determined to win. He then reached the tipping point in the 200m breaststroke, where Qin Haiyang finished second in the semi-finals, and his biggest rival was the current world record holder, Australia's Staberti Cook.
Qin Haiyang: At that time, I thought the competition was the hardest, really.
Reporter: Why is 200 meters the most challenging in your opinion?
Qin Haiyang: Before May, the early stage of preparation was bound to be won in the direction of 100 meters.
The semifinals and finals of the breaststroke 200m were separated by a day, and on that day, Qin Haiyang's mentality changed.
Qin Haiyang: Actually, after swimming in the semifinals, it doesn't matter if I want to take second place, it's this attitude, maybe this mentality lasted for me for a day.
Reporter: Once the idea of being willing to be the second is born, there is suddenly no pressure on people?
Qin Haiyang: Yes, yes, I did rest well, but after I got up, because I was about to go out to compete, I got up and thought, for a moment I felt that I couldn't do it, even if I would lose, I must go and not let him win easily.
Reporter: Was it when you went out to change clothes?
Qin Haiyang: Yes, yes, on the way to the arena by bus.
Reporter: How long is this stretch?
Qin Haiyang: About 20 minutes.
Reporter: At that moment, you yourself felt the change that had occurred in you?
Qin Haiyang: The mentality and confidence come up, even if I lose, I have to stand and die.
Reporter: So in fact, when you started swimming, you were already another Qin Haiyang?
Qin Haiyang: Yes, I think this is probably the biggest key point to stimulate potential. Yes, very determined to win three gold medals.
In the men's breaststroke 200m final, all the athletes began to enter the field, and before entering the field, Qin Haiyang and seven other competitors bumped punches one by one to encourage each other. In the final, Qin Haiyang and Cook ranked fifth and fourth respectively, the starting gun sounded, Qin Haiyang took the lead, and the 100-meter half-distance beat the opponent in the first place. The critical third 50 meters, Qin Haiyang's state of courage still did not give Cook a chance. In the last 50 meters, Qin Haiyang sprinted hard and led all the way to the finish, breaking the world record with a time of 2:05.48 to win another championship, winning all three gold medals in the breaststroke event of this World Championships, and also won his fourth gold medal in this World Championships.
Reporter: So going back to this gesture of yours, I was thinking that you might have said to yourself in your heart, Qin Haiyang, what did you do right?
Qin Haiyang: Just believe in yourself, really, just like I was in before the final, believe in myself.
Reporter: So all the people in 200 meters said that we have a world frog king in China.
Qin Haiyang: I prefer another sentence, the other sentence is called "Freshly dressed angry horse boy, who does not know Qin Haiyang." ”
Reporter: So many people may put you in a longer river to watch this competition, hoping that this is a new beginning for the sport of swimming in China.
Qin Haiyang: I believe it will be a new beginning, because achieving such results will definitely be a summary and learning feedback for the whole team, such a result, to communicate this better training model with everyone, there will be better results, and the results will definitely be better and better.
After this battle, Qin Haiyang won 4 gold medals in this competition, and he will undoubtedly become a catch-up target for all the best players in breaststroke. Regarding the pressure brought by the gold medal, Qin Haiyang said: "After the gold medal is won, it is hung there, instead of wearing it on myself all the time, I will not let it become pressure." Every competition is a new challenge because others are always working hard and improving. ”
Reporter: Actually, this is also a question for me, saying that for a long time, you think that swimming well is your job.
Qin Haiyang: Yes, maybe I care too much about the result, I feel that I have too much baggage on my body, I always want to succeed, I always want to prove something.
Reporter: Now, what has become?
Qin Haiyang: Now I enjoy every training very much, and I am also very engaged in thinking about how I can do every class better.
Reporter: Because the 2024 Paris Olympics is less than a year away?
Qin Haiyang: Yes, in fact, one year is just fine.
Reporter: A year later, Qin Haiyang and the current Qin Haiyang, where do you hope the changes you presuppose will happen?
Qin Haiyang: I can steadily win the 100m and 200m gold medals, which is what needs to be done in a year, and if these processes are done well, in fact, there is not so much pressure during the competition.
Column editor-in-chief: Qin Hong Text editor: Lu Xiaochuan Title picture source: Xinhua News Agency Photo editor: Di Xi
Source: Author: CCTV News