Race walking star Liu Hong: Only when there is a goal in life can we "walk" out of a new world
Text/Yangcheng Evening News special all-media reporter Chai Zhi
Under the stone statue of Archangel Gabriel at the top of the Millennium Monument in Budapest's Heroes Square, 36-year-old Guangdong race walking star Liu Hong sprinted towards the finish line, running alone far behind the first echelon, her figure is slightly lonely, but her steps are unusually firm. Although she only finished 17th in the women's 20km race walk at the World Championships in Athletics, at the moment of collision, Liu Hong still habitually took off her sunglasses, looked at her watch, adjusted her breathing and wiped her sweat, and once again burst into her iconic smile, without revealing the slightest regret.
Liu Hong has competed in four Olympic Games (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze and 1 fourth place), eight World Championships (4 golds and 1 silver), and has completed the "Gold Slam" (Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cup) in this event, holding Olympic champion, world champion, world record holder, race walking veteran and "mom athlete" and other titles. From quitting the track in 2016 and returning to her family, to returning to racing in 2019, to switching perfectly between race walking and marathon in 2022, Liu Hong's sports life for more than 20 years has been constantly writing legends, and she still has no intention of stopping. Her love for race walking and her goal have never stopped on her quest for "higher, faster, stronger".
Status: Age is not a limit, love makes the possibility infinite
In competitive sports, many athletes have begun to decline after the age of 25, but 36-year-old Liu Hong smiled lightly at the special "gift" of age. In her eyes, age is not a limit, and love keeps her as persevere. "First of all, you have to have a passion for the sport and enjoy the process of training and competing very much. I'm always trying new ways to push my limits, whether there's more to come. ”
In this process, Liu Hong is like a sponge, hungry for new training methods and other new things, constantly absorbing the "nutrition" in competitive sports: "I find that I can find the shortcomings in my body every time I finish the competition, which makes me feel that there is still hope to make myself better, and I constantly want to challenge and change myself." In the midst of change, Liu Hong constantly motivates herself, thus forgetting the shackles of age.
Liu Hong's persistence is also a spur for the Chinese race walking team. Men's 35km race walking star He Xianghong said that "Sister Hong is my guide on the road of race walking", in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, only 10-year-old He Xianghong saw Liu Hong's competition, only knew about race walking for the first time, and since then the seeds of love for race walking have taken root in his heart.
Although she is a veteran of the battlefield, Liu Hong still shines in the national team. Her coach and husband Liu Xue told the Yangcheng Evening News reporter that on the one hand, Liu Hong's competitive level is still at the top of the world, on the other hand, it also reflects the signs of discontinuity of Chinese race walking reserve talents. During the difficult period of race walking in China, Liu Hong had the obligation to shoulder the heavy responsibility of passing on the help.
Liu Hong's national team career has witnessed the rise and fall of China's race walking. "When I first entered the national team in 2005, it was the trough of Chinese race walking, and then through the training mechanism of 'going out and bringing in', Chinese race walking ushered in take-off at the 2012 London Olympics, winning two gold medals in the men's and women's 20km race walk, and we have medals in the next three Olympic Games, which should be the most brilliant 10 years of Chinese race walking."
Now, competing in the Athletics World Championships for the eighth time, Liu Hong's biggest impression is that the outside world is changing too fast. "The women's 20km race walk used to be the winner at the 10km level, but there are still eight athletes in the first tier of the 15km race at this World Championships, which is the highest level of competition in recent years. The development of women's race walking in the world today has gone from one or two countries leading the way to a new stage of large-scale improvement of the overall level, especially in Europe. ”
Liu Hong believes that the outbreak of the new crown epidemic has disrupted the rhythm of preparation for China's race walking, and the level of competition has also declined to a certain extent, "but the ability of Yang Jiayu and Ma Zhenxia is still world-level, and the current world record in women's 20-kilometer race walking is still held by Yang Jiayu, but the team members have fewer opportunities to participate in recent years, and the judgment of the international situation is not very clear, and young athletes must go out to participate in the competition if they want to accelerate their growth." ”
Mentality: For the Paris Olympics, even if you fall badly, it is worth it
At the beginning of her career, Liu Hong went uncrowned for many years until she won her first gold at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, opening her own era. Now in the face of this honor book, the "Grand Slam" winner will also feel some pressure, "I have had brilliant results, but the match is hit by the opponent like this, which still feels a little ugly." It is undeniable that Liu Hong also has star baggage, but she never regrets her choice, and she said to herself on social media that "lagging behind is not a failure, giving up catching up is"!
The results of this World Championships have slipped, and Liu Hong obviously expected it before the competition. "The preparation process was really not ideal, and I was a little bit physical, but considering that it is an important international competition before next year's Paris Olympics, I have to come and feel the atmosphere." Compared with the medals, Liu Hong is more concerned about the process of this competition. "The game is not just about you walking at the time, but also about factors such as pre-match preparation, early adaptation to the environment, diet and adjustment of the state, and I pay more attention to summarizing the process of this competition."
Liu Hong believes that key elements such as psychological pressure, physical distribution and tactical use can only touch things that cannot be touched in ordinary training through actual combat, "so even if this competition does not achieve good results, I think there are still a lot of gains." ”
In her race walking career, Liu Hong has too many moments to forget. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Chinese race walking team trained and prepared for the competition in high temperature and humidity mode for a long time, but a heavy rainstorm on the day of the competition wasted the pre-competition preparations; At the 2012 London Olympics, Liu Hong, who was aiming for the championship, could not stand on the podium due to tactical problems, and although she later won the silver medal, Liu Hong still remembers it vividly; At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Liu Hong withstood the pressure and won the gold in the final 30-meter sprint, "It's exciting in retrospect."
As Liu Hong said: "Race walking is a long road, fall to get up, fall has the opportunity to catch up, victory belongs to persistence, setbacks do not equal giving up." "Growing up and transforming in repeated failures has also made Liu Hong more calm in the face of wind and rain, and also has a clearer understanding of herself.
She and Liu Xue are both husband and wife and mentor, and in the two-tier relationship, the two find a balance and complement each other. "After practicing race walking for so many years, I still know more about my body, but people always have blind spots, and he is more of a role to make up for it, which can help me correct my deficiencies."
Goal: Looking forward to the fifth Olympic Games, a successful farewell
Liu Hong is an athlete who likes to plan and is good at planning, at every stage of her sports career, she will set goals for herself, only if the goal is firm, will she be more motivated.
In 2016, the 29-year-old Liu Hong completed the women's 20km race walk "Grand Slam" at the Rio Olympics. Since participating in national competitions in 2003, the "Olympic champion" has been the driving force behind Liu Hong's perseverance and brave climbing in the face of adversity. When standing at the peak of honor, Liu Hong felt that she suddenly lost her goal of progress. "At that time, I was close to being an Olympic champion, and after winning it, there was no clear goal for the time being, and once the athlete lost the goal, it would be difficult to maintain a high level of training. At that point, I made the decision to retire temporarily. Surprisingly, two years after fading out of the track, Liu Hong put on her robe again, because she couldn't give up her passion for race walking, "I feel that I can still try to challenge, and at that time, Chinese race walking also needed me to stand up and play my own value and contribute to Chinese race walking." ”
In the summer of 2018, when her daughter was only 6 months old, Liu Hong began to resume physical training, and for the then 32-year-old "mother athlete", the road to comeback was extremely difficult, but her goal was clear - to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, standing on the top of the world The only opponent she could surpass was herself.
After sweating countless times to restore physical functions and gradually find the memory points of muscles, in order to better take care of her daughter, Liu Hong and her husband Liu Xue explored a different training method from traditional and found a balance between family life and training. "In fact, after my comeback, the preparation mode of race walking has changed a lot from the past, there are many new ways, but now that this exploration has basically taken shape, and my daughter is also in kindergarten, she will not rely on me as much as before, and I will also focus on preparing for the Paris Olympics."
After the Tokyo Olympics, Liu Hong began experimenting with road running and trained with the Chinese marathon team in Kunming for a winter, hoping to stimulate her motor nerves in this way. "After all, race walking has been practiced for more than 20 years, and some injuries have accumulated, the Tokyo Olympics have been postponed for a year, and my body is in a state of overdraft. I wanted to change my way to stay moving, but also to make myself have a different sports experience. Athons are more intense, and muscles exert strength differently than race walking. In the face of such aerobic exercise, my physical strength can be fully supported, and this psychological transformation has given me the enthusiasm to continue walking. ”
When it comes to phased goals, Liu Hong pointed to the Paris Olympics. "I will participate in the Olympic trials in March next year, I will try my best to improve my competitive level, and at the same time hope that the Chinese race walking team can encourage each other and support each other to move forward, show healthy competition, and inspire each other to promote the development of China's race walking sport."
Source | Yangcheng Evening News • Yangcheng Pie
Image | Visual China
Edit | Liang Jinsong