Heroes are in the twilight, and the 66-year-old Olympic first gold medalist Xu Haifeng has lived like this in his old age!
In 1984, 27-year-old Xu Haifeng won China's first Olympic gold medal with a gun in his hand.
But forty years later, Xu Haifeng, who has already become famous, still lives in a flat room, and it is difficult to connect with the high-spirited Olympic champion when he sees him on the street.
What happened to Xu Haifeng, and what was his life like after winning the championship?
A natural shooting wizard
In August 1957, Xu Haifeng was born in a military family in Zhangzhou City.
Xu Haifeng was a good shooter when he was a child. He made his own slingshot because of his excellent eyesight, and he always hit the target with one hit.
This childish figure has already foreshadowed his heroic appearance on the shooting range in the future.
After graduating from high school, Xu Haifeng, like other classmates, was sent to the countryside to join the queue as an educated youth. When others are fantasizing about becoming famous, he just wants to be a soldier and defend his family and country with a gun in his hand.
Shooting became a lingering dream in his heart. During the few years he went to the countryside, he used the living expenses he had saved to buy his first air gun and began to explore the road of shooting.
At the age of 22, Xu Haifeng returned to his hometown in Ma'anshan, Anhui Province and started working as a salesperson. He did not forget his dreams because of his ordinary work and stable life.
He worked hard, but in his spare time he was always wandering around with an airsoft gun, shooting at targets on the side of the road.
It's just that Xu Haifeng didn't expect that he was destined to shine all over the world because of his shooting and become a generation of "marksman masters".
In 1978, the Anhui Sports School opened a shooting training class, and Xu Haifeng's high school physical education teacher was hired as a coach. He found Xu Haifeng and expressed his hope that Xu Haifeng would join the shooting training class.
When the great opportunity came, Xu Haifeng didn't say a word, and immediately resigned from the supply and marketing cooperatives to join the sports school.
But after years of working in a fertilizer warehouse, Xu's eyesight has deteriorated from 1.5 to just 0.5, a fatal injury in shooting sports.
However, he did not give up, but gritted his teeth and stepped up training.
A few months after joining the sports school, Xu Haifeng ushered in his first appearance on the field.
Xu Haifeng was a sensation in his first competition, winning one gold medal and two silver medals in the shooting event, and breaking the national record!
The entire shooting world was shocked by this young man who was born out of nowhere. Some people praise him as a "genius", while others are skeptical of the sudden appearance of the dark horse. But no one could have imagined that this was just the beginning.
In the 1983 National Games, Xu Haifeng became more and more courageous, winning two silver medals in pistol slow fire and air pistol in one fell swoop, becoming the focus of national attention.
He was noticed by the national team for this outstanding performance and became a member of the national shooting team. It was also the beginning of his illustrious sporting career.
From "the first Olympic gold" to "champion pusher"
In 1984, the Los Angeles Olympics came as scheduled. This is the most important competition to participate in as a national team, Xu Haifeng qualified in the layers of selection, and represented China with veteran Wang Yifu.
This event is very important and determines the fate of the Chinese nation's sports. Xu Haifeng was pinned on high hopes.
He also lived up to expectations. In the final shot of the decisive victory, Xu Haifeng shot ten rings, defeated the Swedish veteran, and let China win the first gold medal in this Olympic Games!
At that moment, all the members of the Chinese delegation shed tears of excitement. The Chinese team finally achieved a breakthrough of "zero" in the Olympic gold medal!
The whole country cheered, the newspapers packed pages, Xu Haifeng became a household name hero, and even the president of the International Olympic Committee praised it as "a great moment in the history of Chinese sports".
Since then, Xu Haifeng's name has been forever remembered in the highest hall of the Chinese nation's sports history!
It can be said that the trip to Los Angeles in 1984 was the most glorious turning point in Xu Haifeng's life. After making great achievements, he did not stop there, but pushed his shooting career to a new peak.
In the subsequent major competitions, he can be said to have swept thousands of troops, successively won good results in heavyweight competitions such as the Asian Games, and broke world records many times.
But shortly after winning a new gold medal at the end of 1994, Xu Haifeng resolutely announced his retirement and left the competition.
This is really a pity for countless viewers and fans. But it was this decision that allowed the shooting hero to start another peak of his career.
After retiring, Xu Haifeng was soon hired as the head coach of the national shooting team.
The coaches who had been associated with him in the grassroots training class were wide-eyed, and they couldn't believe that their students had now become their "leaders".
Xu Haifeng did not disappoint everyone. During his tenure as a teacher, he was very cordial to the team members, implemented a guiding concept of "both teacher and friend", and used his shooting experience and experience to support the young team members.
It is precisely by virtue of patience and perseverance that Xu Haifeng has cultivated batches of shooting talents such as Li Zhuhong and Tao Luna.
He taught hand-in-hand, followed by good guidance, paid attention to the ideological education of team members, clarified training ideas, and formulated targeted scientific programs.
Xu Haifeng has good intentions, countless days and nights in the playground or base to personally guide, and the notebook densely records the strengths and weaknesses of each team member.
This tireless dedication soon paid off. Under his leadership, the performance of the Chinese shooting team has been rising, and by 2002, it was invincible in the world.
At the World Shooting Championships that year, the Chinese team won 17 gold medals and broke 5 world records. At the subsequent Busan Asian Games, it created an impressive record of 27 golds and broke the world record three times!
All of this stems from Xu Haifeng's dedication and dedication to the shooting career. Although he no longer plays in person, he is still contributing all his strength to the sports cause of the country and the nation through his role as a coach.
Heroes are immortal
Some people say that heroes are immortal, and Xu Haifeng is the best interpretation.
It can be said that whether as an athlete or a coach, Xu Haifeng has made immortal contributions to China's sports industry.
Maybe everyone thinks that behind such a brilliant career, Xu Haifeng must have made a lot of money and lived a rich life, but this is not the case.
After retiring, Xu Haifeng has gained fame and fortune and is courteous, but his life style is no different from the past, low-key and poor.
You must know that at the peak of his career, there were countless foreign shooting associations and clubs that gambled heavily and wanted to poach Xu Haifeng abroad.
But he politely refused them all on the following grounds:
"I'm very patriotic, and I can't help other countries to win us Chinese." ”
Behind this short sentence is his determination in sports and his loyalty to the country.
As the first Olympic gold medalist, Xu Haifeng could have been on top and lived the life of a rich family. However, he did not do this, and instead donated most of his prize money and income to children in poor mountainous areas and poor families.
To this day, he still lives in that old 10-square-meter unit.
The furnishings are also very simple, with only a bed, a desk, an old wardrobe and a computer, so simple that even ordinary people are not as simple as ordinary people.
Xu Haifeng has always maintained a heart that is indifferent to fame and fortune.
The only thing that has changed between the present and the past is that he is finally able to spend more time with his family.
When he was young, in order to chase his career dream, he had no choice but to be separated from his wife and children for many years. Now reunited, Xu Haifeng hopes to spend the rest of his life to make up for this debt.
Xu Haifeng is now 66 years old, he is no longer the high-spirited teenager he was back then, his eyesight is not as good as before, his hair is sparse and messy, and his face even looks older than his actual age due to perennial fatigue.
When we know that all this is the price he paid for the national sporting cause, why not be in awe of this humble hero?
The author thinks
Xu Haifeng used his life to interpret the true meaning of contemporary heroes.
His story inspires us to dream and pursue them, and it teaches us to keep our feet on the ground and remain humble, even when we reach the pinnacle of the highest glory.
Only in this way can a hero truly be immortalized and become an eternal monument in people's hearts.
Source: He County People's Government "Xu Haifeng, the first gold medalist in the history of China's Olympic Games"