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In the history of swimming, Liu Zige can be said to be a man of the hour, not only won the championship of the Beijing Olympic Games, but also broke the world record, and was known as the "butterfly queen".
However, her love life is full of controversy, at the age of 27, Liu Zige chose to marry a 50-year-old coach, and her parents were not seen at the wedding, and now the two do not seem to live in China for a long time.
So, why did Liu Zige marry the coach without hesitation?
【▶> Talent Players and Gold Medal Coaches< ◀
When it comes to Chinese swimming, who will come to mind first?
Is it Fu Yuanhui, who is known as the "Girl in the Wilderness", or Zhang Yufei, who is known as the "Butterfly Queen of Chinese Swimming"?
In fact, before these two people, there was also a smash hit figure, she was Liu Zige, who was once known as the "butterfly queen" of the Chinese swimming world.
Even Zhang Yufei, who frequently wins glory for China and continues to deliver good results on the field, is Liu Zige's little fan sister.
For Liu Zige's achievements, winning the Olympic championship is not the thing she is most proud of, but the first Chinese person to win the championship by breaking the world record.
Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Liu Zige was an unknown member of the swimming team, and even standing on the Olympic stage, not many people had any hope for this fledgling little girl.
After all, she was only 19 years old at the time, and her opponents were a former world record holder in the women's 200m butterfly and a former Olympic champion in Athens.
Compared with the two famous opponents, Liu Zige does not have many bright spots, but she did not expect that she was the "killer feature" of the Chinese swimming team to deliberately hide the gold medal.
In the game, Liu Zige's performance surprised his opponent and made the audience notice the girl, only to see a bright red swimming cap in the pool constantly jumping.
In the end, Liu Zige won the 200-meter butterfly championship with a good time of 2:04.18, even 1.22 seconds faster than the original world record.
In this way, Liu Zige became famous in the first competition, which also brought more hope to the Chinese swimming team.
However, while people pay attention to Liu Zige, they are also very interested in the coach who cultivates her.
At that time, her coach was Jin Wei, a former athlete of the Liaoning Provincial Swimming Team, who was a well-known gold medal coach.
And Liu Zige can be said to be one of Jin Wei's most proud apprentices, and it was Jin Wei's wife Xi Qiuju who was in charge of Liu Zige's basic training at the beginning.
Jin Wei and Xi Qiuju spent a lot of effort on Liu Zige, and in 2004, Jin Wei also took Liu Zige to Shanghai for exchanges.
Unexpectedly, in just four years, Liu Zige has brought surprises to people, and such achievements are inseparable from her talent and acquired efforts, as well as the cultivation of coaches.
However, in less than ten years after winning the championship, Liu Zige and her gold medal coach Jin Wei became a legal husband and wife from a master-apprentice relationship.
What's going on here?
[▶>From master and apprentice to husband and wife<◀]
After retiring in 1988, Jin Wei went to Australia to study, until he returned to China 10 years later to form the Liaoning Seaship Swimming Club.
It was also at this time that Jin Wei met 10-year-old Liu Zige.
Liu Zige's father was also a swimmer, and for the sake of physical fitness, Liu Zige began to practice swimming when he was in primary school.
Unexpectedly, this also opened the door to Liu Zige's new world, and she who performed well was also focused on training, until Jin Wei's club in Liaoning was established, and she followed to systematic training.
Since training with Jin Wei, Liu Zige has worked harder, and she is full of admiration for Jin Wei, and has never had disagreements and conflicts with the coach.
In Liu Zige's simple life, Jin Wei is also extremely responsible and careful, taking care of her various food, clothing, housing and transportation, and even in 03, Jin Wei took his apprentice to Australia for training out of his own pocket.
Perhaps because she left home since she was a child, Liu Zige relied on Jin Wei very much, and she also said that no matter where she went, she should not be separated from the coach.
In order to thank the coach for his cultivation, Liu Zige also spent more than 1.7 million yuan to buy a car for Jin Wei after winning the championship, and in her heart she always remembered that Jin Wei once said that she liked Land Rover.
The master and apprentice supported each other all the way to complete one competition after another, but in 2014, a rumor broke the peace between the master and apprentice.
At that time, someone exposed that Liu Zige and Jin Wei had received a marriage certificate, but Jin Wei angrily denied it.
But this incident still had a lot of impact on the two, at this time Jin Wei was divorced and had a son and a daughter, and there was a scandal between him and the apprentice he cultivated, so he would naturally be criticized.
Unexpectedly, two years later, I learned the news of the relationship between the two again, which turned out to be the news that the two were officially married, and it was confirmed by relevant reporters that they may have received a marriage certificate earlier.
One is 27 years old and in his prime of life, the other is 50 years old, Liu Zige and Jin Wei are 23 years apart, coupled with the transformation from master and apprentice to husband and wife, the two of them also fell into the whirlpool of public opinion for a while......
[▶> controversial love <◀]
In fact, how can we, as bystanders, explain the matter of feelings?
I only know that there was a lot of scolding on the Internet at that time, some people called Jin Wei "an old cow eats tender grass", and some people rumored that Liu Zige's parents did not go to their daughter's wedding.
Liu Zige doesn't care about the gossip, in her heart, everything she can have now comes from Jin Wei.
As for Jin Wei's divorce and the situation with two children, she didn't care at all, and she talked very well with these two children, and even handed over all her money to Jin Wei to manage.
In 2017, Liu Zige gave birth to a daughter for Jin Wei, and Jin Wei also became a father again.
At present, the two have rarely been on the road in China, and it is rumored that they have moved to Australia a few years earlier, and live there.
In fact, this is also very good, at least it is far away from the right and wrong on the Internet, after all, the feelings still have to be experienced by themselves, as long as both parties are willing, as spectators, we are really not good at pointing fingers.
In fact, Liu Zige and Jin Wei are not alone, as are Shi Zhihao, the former coach of the women's team of the Chinese table tennis team, and Li Nan, an athlete.
The two also have a huge age difference, and they have also faced all kinds of gossip, but in the end, the two still came together against all odds.
The relationship is indeed wonderful, maybe it was the reason why she left the family since she was a child, or maybe it was Jin Wei's dedication to her care that made her feel warm.
But in any case, marriage is a choice for two people, and for them, suitable is enough.
While we understand the emotional lives of others, we should also remember the miracles created by the "butterfly queen" back then.
Resources:
Sanlian Life Weekly: "Liu Zige: Winning Gold is Not a Miracle"
Shangguan News: "Master and apprentice become husband and wife, Liu Zige married the most trusted him!
Litchi News: "28-year-old Olympic champion Liu Zige gave birth to a daughter in a low-key manner, a 51-year-old mentor's husband, and became a father for the third time"