In December 1990, a little girl named He Zi was born in a family of ordinary workers in Nanning, Guangxi. Her father, He Changtai, was a vehicle management office employee and lived in poverty.
What's even more poignant is that He Zi's mother was only 4 years old when she died of cancer. was supposed to be an innocent and carefree childhood, but this girl had to face the cruelty of life and death.
Fortunately, God is not sorry for this poor little girl, she seems to have formed an indissoluble bond with sports. When she was 6 years old, the coach of Nanning Sports School fell in love with this sturdy little girl from kindergarten and recruited her into the gymnastics team.
He Changtai was ecstatic back then, as if he saw that his daughter would shine on the field one day.
However, the good times did not last long, and at the end of the year, He Zi was suddenly notified to quit the gymnastics team. The little girl didn't understand what was happening, she just bit her lip and held back tears. Fortunately, the diving coach of the sports school discovered her potential in time and took the initiative to throw an olive branch to her.
With the encouragement of his father, He Zi turned to diving.
At first, He Zi, who was not familiar with water, was scared by the pool, like a little quail that was not accustomed to water and soil. But gradually, under the careful care of her father and coach, her talent finally broke through.
It didn't take long for He Zi to be able to control the movements in the water freely, and her interest in diving grew. Every day after school, she always hurried home, grabbed bread and boiled water and ran to the training venue, just to practice every move.
However, Nanning Sports School soon faced closure, and He Zi's training was once again in trouble. Fortunately, in 1998, she entered the Shenzhen diving team as she wished. hopes to light up the way forward for this diving prodigy again, but I don't know what kind of wind and rain are coming.
The appearance of the Shenzhen diving team seemed to indicate that He Zi could train smoothly again, but the good times did not last long, and the news of the disbandment made her fall into a trough again. However, God seemed to want to test the will of this little girl, and the olive branch of the Tsinghua diving team gave her hope for rebirth.
Under the careful training of well-known coach Yu Fen, 16-year-old He Zi finally realized his national team dream and studied under the famous coach Hu Enyong. Under the strict training and demanding requirements, He Zi gritted her teeth and survived, and the coach gradually recognized her solid basic skills.
"Difficult, good strength, strong control", this is the coach's first impression of her.
A year after being selected for the national team, the medals at the Asian Games and the World Championships proved that He Zi's hard work was not in vain. Especially at the moment of winning the 2007 World Championships, everyone saw a new diving queen rising and the future was bright.
A girl came out of the gloom and finally stepped on solid ground.
However, just when He Zi was in the limelight and highly anticipated, a defeat in the preliminaries of the 2008 Beijing Olympics became her inner demon. There was a mistake in the pairing with Li Ting, and the scoreboard with zero points became the beginning of her nightmare.
In the blink of an eye, He Zi fell from a new star to the bottom and paid a painful price. This is undoubtedly a huge blow to a young athlete, who has suffered a huge challenge both technically and psychologically.
Fortunately, He Zi did not give up and became a strong person through experience. In the coming time, we will see her regroup and thrive again with her tenacity.
That fatal mistake did not break He Zi, she was like a warrior who had left her hometown and wandered, accumulating strength in the midst of displacement. In the 2011 World Championships, she partnered with Wu Minxia to win the gold medal in the double 3-meter springboard, which was the first step for her to raise her eyebrows.
When Wu Minxia lifted the gold medal in the women's single 3m springboard, He Zi proved her return with a personal silver medal.
At the London Olympics next year, she and Wu Minxia won a gold medal for the Chinese team first. Looking at the back of the senior sister on the podium holding up the medal, He Zi clenched his fists, and his heart was full of joy and pride.
After winning the individual silver medal, she also calmly accepted the glory that belonged to her.
However, fate seems to favor jokes. In front of medals and honors, He Zi also faced another competition - the sweet relationship between her and teammate Qin Kai was also exposed.
In the Olympic village and on the training ground, every smile reveals the sweetness of happiness. For He Zi, this has also become another inescapable choice in life.
In the 2016 Rio Olympics, He Zi once again competed with her sister Shi Tingmao for the gold medal, continuing the conflict between her and honor. When the silver medal was awarded, she gladly accepted her fate.
At this time, her boyfriend Qin Kai's marriage proposal became her gold-medal surprise. Perhaps between medals and feelings, He Zi has already made her own choice.
From a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers, to a professional athlete who is getting better, and then to a woman full of charm and tenderness, He Zi we see is a true portrayal of the growth and transformation of women in this era.
She used her story to tell the world how many difficulties and obstacles a girl's determination and courage can overcome to explore more possibilities in life.
After the Rio Olympics, He Zi and Qin Kai announced their retirement, ending their radiant careers. In June 2017, a simple Xi'an wedding kicked off their ordinary life.
Unlike others who expect He Zi to marry into a wealthy family and obtain more material wealth, this young man from an ordinary family won her heart with a sincere heart.
A month later, He Zi announced through her social account that she was pregnant. In the photo, she touches her slightly bulging belly and has a happy smile on her face. Gradually, she stopped appearing in public as often as she used to.
All her time and energy are dedicated to her family, and now she is an ordinary mother who bakes bread and waits for her children to get out of school, and she is also a quiet hostess who prepares dinner and talks to her parents-in-law.
The child brings more laughter to this small family, and taking care of the family has also become her new direction in life. Occasionally, she would share some trivial things about her life on social networking sites to keep in touch with her old friends.
What people see is the self-living state of a happy woman who lives an ordinary life.
In 2019, He Zi and Qin Kai founded a training institution together, and the husband and wife worked together to expand their careers, help more children realize their sports dreams, and also create another career for themselves.
There are too many possibilities in life, and in the face of a colorful life, He Zi chose the plainness and contentment he wanted. This is also the best place for her to return after her youth.
He Zi's story is not thrilling, and she may not be a superstar in the sports world. There's been less coverage about her, and it's not as frequent as other favourites.
However, this "diving queen with the weakest sense of presence" contains a unique charm in itself.
In this era of rampant materialism and extreme comparison, He Zi used her low-key to show the power of ordinary people. When the public is eulogizing those legendary gold-winning heroes, she has been silently persevering and moving forward step by step.
He Zi did not choose to retreat because of the twists and turns in her achievements, but made a real and brave choice at a critical juncture in her life.
Along the way, she did not have a vigorous experience, but she also avoided the tragedy of failure. In the second half of her sports career, He Zi gained love, established her own small family, and lived a simple and contented life.
This peaceful, rustic state is more moving than the ups and downs of life. It is precisely because she is so low-key, calm and unique that she has become the closest and most amiable "queen" in the minds of the general public.
There are always many paths to choose from in life, and what really matters is not what you chase, but what you find. For He Zi, it is more meaningful to have a happy home and run a persistent career than to spend his youth between medals and fame and fortune.
This is also the most thought-provoking part of her life credo. Perhaps her existence is to tell those of us who are still forging ahead that there are many other possibilities.