He is a recognized weightlifting genius and at his peak was known as the "King of Asia". But at a young age, he fell seriously ill and died suddenly.
Before he died, he told his wife that even if his daughter went to ask for food in the future, she would never touch sports.
Why would he, who gave everything to fight for the honor of the country, say such words? And what caused his untimely death?
Today, let's take a look at the story of the weightlifting champion, Caili.
Talent
Born fat boy
In 1970, Xiaocaili was born in Liaoning, and when he was born, it was a sensation in the hospital, because the newborn Xiaocaili weighed ten pounds.
At that time, many people just thought that 10-pound children were rare, but they would never have thought that this fat doll would one day go to the world.
Xiaocaili grew fat, and his food intake was very amazing since he was a child, and he could eat several adults at a young age.
At that time, food was not abundant, and many families often did not have enough to eat. In this case, Xiaocaili's huge amount of food can be said to break his parents' hearts.
However, at the same time, the strength of small talents is constantly growing.
At the age of five or six, he can already help the family with many household chores, especially moving food, which adults cannot lift, but it is easy for small talents.
However, the huge strength of Xiaocaili also caused him a lot of trouble. At the age when he should be chasing and fighting with his friends, Xiaocaili has few friends and is alone.
Because when he was playing with his friends, he often couldn't control his strength, and he threw his friends to a blue nose and swollen face with a little force. Since then, Xiaocaili's "notoriety" has spread in the village, and no child wants to play with him anymore.
Soon, Xiaocaili reached school age, but he was still lonely, and his fat body made him the target of the whole class. All kinds of ugly nicknames similar to "fat pigs" make Xiaocaili afraid of going to school and afraid of seeing his classmates.
After his parents learned about it, he decisively let Xiaocaili drop out of school. They understand that if they are educated in this environment, the physical and mental health of their children will be a problem.
The little talent at home shows the vitality and innocence that he should have at that age, thrives under the care of his parents, and his fate will be changed by a TV show.
One day, Xiao Caili turned on the TV and accidentally saw a weightlifting competition. Watch the people on TV who are bigger than themselves, and raise huge barbells to the cheers of the crowd. At that moment, he was touched.
It turns out that chubby people can also enjoy the popularity of so many people and get everyone's appreciation. Since then, whenever there is a weightlifting competition, Xiaocaili will wait in front of the TV on time to watch.
Watching those weightlifters win medals, Xiaocaili couldn't mention how happy he was. Under the influence of his ears, Xiaocaili also began to play the game of weightlifting.
He often tied many large stones to the sides of the stick, and then learned the weightlifting movements of professional athletes. This is the beginning of the road of small talents to lift weights, and greater hardship and glory are also waiting for him.
Weightlifting genius
The weightlifting game quickly caught the attention of parents, who saw that their son liked lifting weights so much, and they came up with the idea of having their son engage in professional weightlifting training.
At this time, the appearance of a noble person completely determined the path of a small talent weightlifter.
This person is a sports coach in Liaoning Province, he has heard the story of Caili, and after seeing Caili Zhenren, he is more convinced that he is not mistaken, Caili is born for weightlifting.
Therefore, he discussed the matter with Caili's parents, and he wanted to recommend Caili to go to a professional weightlifting school, which coincided with his parents' ideas. As a result, Caili could finally touch the real bar of his heart.
The days of training in sports school are hard but enjoyable. For the first time, he found himself feeling fulfilled because of his weight and for the first time he was able to meet so many friends at school.
More importantly, in his heart, the dream of a champion is quietly germinating.
To achieve this goal, he continued to train hard and exceeded the coach's targets. A few years later, Caili was smoothly selected into the provincial team in Liaoning and began almost torture-like training.
After raising soldiers for a thousand days and using troops for a while, Caili finally ushered in his debut. In 1985, the National Youth Games opened in Zhengzhou. In order to test his strength and his dream of being a champion, Caili signed up without hesitation.
The result did not disappoint everyone, and he defeated his opponent with almost crushing strength, pocketing his first championship medal.
Since then, he has become famous in a battle. And the swarming fame and fortune did not overwhelm Caili's mind. He understands that his goal is more than that, that he wants to go out into the world and win on a bigger stage.
After Caili won the championship, the Liaoning team also cultivated him as the top seed, pouring the best sports resources in the province into Caili.
And it turns out that Caili's weightlifting talent, in the domestic competitions of those years, Caili has always been the strongest contender for the championship.
But these accolades fall far short of the expectations of talent. Until 1990, the Asian Games were held in Beijing. This match is a long-awaited moment for talent, and it will also be the pinnacle of his life.
Before the match, domestic and foreign media focused on the up-and-coming domestic star. But there is still a big question in everyone's mind: can he win the championship?
Previous weightlifting competitions tended to be dominated by tall foreigners, and the world record was also held by them, and it has not been broken for so many years.
Although Caili's strength in recent years has impressed many people with China's weightlifting strength, can Caili really compete with them in the face of so many strong foreign athletes?
Caili was not affected by the disturbances of the outside world and devoted himself to the game. He knows that strength is the greatest right to speak. After fighting with foreign players again and again, he managed to reach the final.
In the face of the world's attention, he fought a decisive battle, defeated his opponent, and broke the world record that had been held for many years. Since then, Caili has acquired a new nickname: "Asian Liwang".
However, just when everyone was expecting Caili to go to a bigger stage, to a bigger international arena, and even to compete in the Olympic Games, Caili hurriedly retired a few years later, leaving a stunned audience.
A genius tormented by injuries
Since becoming famous at the Asian Games, Caili began to train and compete in cycles. In just a few years, Caili has won dozens of gold medals. However, behind the honor is hard training and high pressure that ordinary people simply cannot imagine.
With the passage of time, Caili's body is like a worn-out train, which has long been overwhelmed on the road and is in danger of capsizing at any time.
During a training session, Caili temporarily lost his strength during the trial lift and smashed the bar heavily on the ground. At that moment, he understood that he seemed to have reached his limit and it was time to leave.
So, in 1994, Caili announced his retirement and began to live like a normal person. But after retiring, the most embarrassing situation faced by athletes is how to survive?
In addition to weightlifting, no skill is deeply troubled by this problem.
In desperation, he asked for help from the Liaoning provincial team. Under the soft and hard bubble, the provincial team promised to arrange a job as a janitor for him. The once well-known King of Li, after retiring, can only engage in the work of a janitor, and the huge gap erodes Caili's heart a little.
Among the pedestrians coming and going, Caili felt extremely lonely. Slowly, he began to stop holding himself to athlete standards, and his diet and training pauses caused his weight to soar rapidly, and with obesity came disease.
Caili often sleeps on the table without knowing it, which is a precursor to sleep syndrome, which will also completely destroy Caili's life in the near future.
Perhaps it was the last time God took pity on this former weightlifting genius, and love quietly fell into the hands of Caili.
Liu Chengju, who used to be a weightlifter, contacted him as soon as he learned of Caili's first condition. Liu Chengju, who has always regarded Caili as his idol, began to take good care of Caili, and she slowly approached Caili's heart.
After marriage, the two soon had the crystallization of love, a lovely daughter. Life was supposed to be so plain but happy.
However, every day did not take a year, Caili's illness began to gradually worsen. And the meager income of the two simply cannot support the treatment costs of Caili.
As a father and the pillar of the family, Caili chose to hide his illness again and again, and later, Caili even had difficulty breathing.
In order to treat her husband, Liu Chengju borrowed money everywhere and pulled him to seek medical treatment. Finally, with the help of the provincial team, the team pooled money for him to buy a ventilator, which helped him extend his life expectancy by several years.
However, the ventilator could not completely save Cai Li's life. In 2003, Caili died of respiratory failure. Before Caili died, he took his wife's hand and warned her that he would never let his daughter engage in sports.
Maybe it's remembering the almost harsh training and pain I have experienced, maybe I feel the heat of the world after fame and retirement, or maybe I don't want my daughter to be entangled in injuries all my life. The weightlifting genius, who won 60 gold medals, almost stubbornly left such a wish.
After Caili died, his wife and daughter only had 300 yuan left in their hands, but the bad luck did not dissipate, and later, his wife and daughter also suffered from cancer.
The early death of his father and his own experience with his mother made his daughter feel depressed. She uploaded her father's and family's story online and was retweeted many times in a short time.
Many people learned about Caili's story and reached out to help. As a result, Caili's wife and daughter were able to receive treatment and their lives improved.
After the government learned of Caili's death, it specially arranged a special cemetery for him to highlight his contribution to China's weightlifting cause.
The dead are dead, and the living are like the living. May the surviving wife and daughter of "King Li" live a happy life.
(Images and story materials are sourced from the Internet.) Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited! #秋日生活打卡季#