For Wu Yanni, there is nothing more regrettable than losing the Asian Games gold medal that she cherished on National Day.
In the just-concluded Asian Games women's 100m hurdles final, Wu Yanni fell into a rush crisis, and crossed the finish line second with a time of 12.77 seconds, and another Chinese athlete, Lin Yuwei, won the gold medal.
China's Wu Yanni celebrates after the match on September 30. On the same day, the women's 100m hurdles preliminary round of the athletics event of the Hangzhou Asian Games was held at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium. Xinhua News Agency
In the preliminary round on September 30, Wu Yanni, the best individual runner, led all the way, although she slowed down before crossing the line, she still ran a good time of 12.80 seconds, and finally advanced to the final after finishing first in the group, no one will deny that she is the strongest contender for the Asian Games gold medal.
From the Universiade to the Asian Games, Wu Yanni has always lived on the cusp, people talk about her always can't avoid the two words "appearance" and "conspicuous bag", Wu Yanni's "crazy" personality, so that many people are quite critical of it.
"Athletes still have to focus more on the field than off the field."
"She is too ostentatious, not modest at all."
"An athlete is full of thoughts about how to be red."
But in fact, Wu Yanni has not done anything out of the ordinary, and she has never taken it seriously in training matches, as she herself said on social media, "I have always been myself." ”
"People come crazy"
Champion of the 1st National Youth Games in 2015, champion of the 2016 National Youth Championship, third runner-up of the 13th National Games in 2017, champion of the 2018 National Championship, champion of the 2020 and 2021 National Athletics Championships, runner-up of the 10th National Games in 2021, runner-up of the 2023 Chengdu Universiade...
The young Wu Yanni gradually grew into a famous 100m hurdles in Chinese athletics, and in the Universiade, Wu Yanni ran a personal best of 12.76 seconds and qualified for the Paris Olympics.
In 2004, Liu Xiang won the men's 110m hurdles championship at the Athens Olympics, becoming the first Chinese male athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics, Liu Xiang created history and miracles for Chinese sports. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Liu Xiang, who retired due to injury, also brought endless regrets to people.
After Liu Xiang's retirement, although outstanding athletes such as Xie Wenjun and Zhu Shenglong still appeared in the men's 110-meter hurdles event, they were far from reaching Liu Xiang's popularity and influence.
Until a group of outstanding young female hurdlers such as Wu Yanni and Xia Sining appeared, the popularity of hurdles increased sharply.
Wu Yanni has good physical condition, solid basic skills, great development potential, and belongs to the competition type player. In the eyes of coaches and teammates, Wu Yanni belongs to "people come crazy", the more the competition, the more excited she is, the more prominent her performance, and her psychological quality is very stable.
Although Wu Yanni has achieved a lot in the arena, she is still met with some doubts.
The action of pointing to the sky before the Universiade competition was ridiculed by many netizens; The large tattoo on his right arm has been accused of bringing many teenagers who love athletics.
In the face of controversy, Wu Yanni did not choose to be silent, but responded: "I think my movement is very handsome and sassy, and it is also very suitable for me, this action represents the sword pointing to Paris." ”
Regarding the tattoo on her arm, Wu Yanni explained in an interview with CCTV that it shows her pursuit of the championship and the confidence she shows herself.
Even so, some people still believe that Wu Yanni's high-profile personality outside the court is to become an Internet celebrity to make quick money. In this regard, Wu Yanni even responded in the live broadcast, "I am not bad at money."
After winning the silver medal in the women's 100m hurdles at the Chengdu Universiade, FAW Besturn quickly announced that it would sponsor the Chinese track and field team and make Wu Yanni the face of the brand. Subsequently, coffee brand Luckin also hired her as quickly as possible to become a brand spokesperson.
Stereotypes
In fact, some people's complaints about Wu Yanni come more from a certain stereotype of Chinese athletes, especially among female athletes.
In the eyes of some people, professional athletes are still the stereotypical image of "developed limbs and simple minds", in addition to competing the field, they are silent and stumbling off the field, as if this should be what a professional athlete looks like.
But in fact, sports cannot develop in isolation from social changes, and the personality and style of athletes will inevitably change due to the changes of the times.
The reason why some athletes have left some stereotypes on people is that it comes from the sports talent training model of that era. Some young people are discovered because they are considered to be athletic, leaving their families early, leaving education and entering collective life, and their lives are closed and boring compared to young people in society.
This will inevitably cause some athletes to have a certain degree of obstacles in personality presentation and language communication. In addition, the values of Chinese people for sports have always been "success and defeat", so the "losers" in the eyes of a large number of people are even more "speechless".
In the era of no Internet, no social media, they are far from media reports, and there is no platform for voice at all.
Today's sports people have changed to a great extent compared with the past, they are closely related to this developing society, and there is not even the slightest barrier, athletes are a profession, but it does not represent all, they deserve their own life, they should have their own personality.
At first, when people saw that athletes such as Liu Xiang and Yao Ming could talk in front of the media, they were still more surprised than recognized, but now, no one will think that it is different, that is flamboyant.
However, some people still have stereotypes about female athletes, and before Wu Yanni, the most questioned female athlete was probably Fu Yuanhui, a cute girl who was made into an emoji. Soon someone stood up and complained about her, "The results are not good, and I sell well every day." "People attacked her, accusing her of lacking athletic talent and relying on being funny.
Wu Yanni is also the same, her popularity is actually contributed to many factors, on the one hand, her results are good enough, she has emerged in various competitions and increased her exposure; Secondly, because of the aforementioned Chinese people's feelings for hurdle projects.
Finally, there are more complex factors. Compared with the entertainment industry, people nowadays hope that better idols can emerge in the sports industry, who are more sunny, more positive, and more inspirational. When people look at athletes from the perspective of examining the entertainment industry, Wu Yanni, who has outstanding appearance, is naturally magnified.
When looking at the face, it is according to the standards of the current entertainment industry, and the evaluation is measured by the stereotypes of evaluating athletes in the last century, and in this way, Wu Yanni has become a contradiction complex.
Fortunately, Wu Yanni didn't care about this at all.
Wu Yanni attends the opening ceremony of the Hangzhou Asian Games Photo/Zhongxin Photo by Shi Chunyang, reporter of China News Agency
Strong ego, good for athletes
For professional athletes, a strong ego may be of greater benefit to achieving better results and pursuing higher goals.
For athletes, the goal set for themselves is obviously to always be higher than their own ability in order to become the driving force to promote their continuous progress.
It's psychologically easier to approach victory than to set more ambitious goals, and to think you're already the best.
At the level of competitive sports, the participants are all gifted people, but there are still differences in talent, and the root of this is racial differences. This discrepancy is not something that can be bridged by an acquired effort.
For example, height, bounce, explosiveness, flexibility, these indicators between different races, there are huge differences, resulting in some sports, some races through scientific training is difficult to complete breakthroughs, including basketball, including swimming, but also track and field.
Under such circumstances, the super self of the athlete can make himself have the motivation to continue to work hard, and try to make up for the innate gap caused by the race under the same competition rules. From this point of view, Wu Yanni's super self is only good for the athletes themselves, not harmful.
From the world ranking of athletes released by the IAAF, according to the points, Wu Yanni temporarily ranked 50th in the women's 100-meter hurdles, this year's track and field competitions, there have been 7 athletes have opened the 12.40 seconds mark, compared with the career best time of 12.76 seconds Wu Yanni, compared with the world's top athletes, the gap is very obvious, from the current point of view, Wu Yanni is unlikely to repeat Liu Xiang's feat at the Athens Olympics at next year's Paris Olympics.
But so what? She is already one of the best female athletes in this event in China for this age, and her ability to stand on the track and field field at the Paris Olympics is enough to prove the progress and efforts of Chinese athletics. Why use meritocracy to harshly criticize a Chinese track and field athlete?
As for personality, people have to accept that everyone's personality is different, and it has nothing to do with what gender he/she is or what kind of work he/she does. Athletes are no longer what they once were, they are athletes, they are young people, young people are full of energy, which is also a good thing.
If you don't win the championship, what can you do? When athletes become public figures, they are also destined to be scrutinized and commented, and have nowhere to hide, which is also an inevitable product of this era.
Maybe for Wu Yanni, these are not a matter at all, we'll see you in Paris.
Source: China Newsweek