Preface
When it comes to Chinese diving in the past few decades, Zhou Jihong must be mentioned, who won the championship when she was an athlete, and she made the team outstanding as a coach, but what many people admired was her vicious vision.
Many world champions like Qin Kai , Chen Ruolin and so on were trained by her, and she once expelled Tian Liang, Li Bao Sun Yang, and Li overrode the public opinion to let the 14-year-old Quan Hongchan participate in the Olympic Games, so what is her origin?
China's first Olympic diving champion
In 1965, Zhou Jihong was born in Wuhan, at the beginning, she practiced gymnastics, and later changed to diving, but in this regard, she really has a strong talent, entered the provincial diving team at the age of 12, and won the national championship at the age of 16.
If you look back now, the most brilliant career of Zhou Jihong as an athlete should be when she won the Olympic gold medal in 1984, when she was only 19 years old, and no Chinese athlete had ever won the Olympic diving championship before her.
But at such a young age, she is also like other peers, she loves to eat, is interested in novelties, and likes to play, but in order to make the splash look good, controlling the body shape has become a necessary "subject" for her.
Sometimes I often skip meals, and I can only have an occasional piece of chocolate to maintain energy. At that time, in the Olympic Village, Zhou Jihong also "complained" about the 84 Olympic Games, saying that the Americans were not as willing to spend money as they imagined to hold the Olympic Games.
They live in bunk beds, and there are no toilets! Toilets are shared, and there is only one floor, let alone a bath.
In 1986, the retired Zhou Jihong went to Peking University to learn English, and later served as the coach of the diving team.
Discerning "Powerful Hands"
Because of being the team leader, there is also a certain burden and pressure in this position, and there are many more things on my shoulders than when I was an athlete. Therefore, the impression she left on the people around her at that time was basically a tense face and no smile.
was even nicknamed "Iron Lady" because the training process was too strict. But when it came to this matter in the interview, Zhou Jihong reluctantly said that he actually had a hard time.
In the national diving team, as the competition continues to participate, many people have become celebrities, and if she does not strictly manage the relevant matters, the team will immediately become loose, which is something that no one wants to see.
She is indeed strict, but there are no rules, Zhou Jihong is not right about things, distinguishes between right and wrong, and has her own standards, and many things have been circulated for this.
Tian Liang won the gold medal in the 2000 Olympic Games and became an "overnight fame" and became the "Prince of Diving" in the hearts of many people, won the Asian Games championship in 02, and won the double platform championship in the Olympic Games in 04.
In the eyes of many people, Tian Liang is a talent who wins glory for the country, and he will achieve better results in the future, but in 2004, Zhou Jihong directly expelled Tian Liang from the national team, what is going on?
It turns out that since Zhou Jihong took charge of the national diving team, she has been very opposed to the fact that the team members receive advertisements, and in her opinion, as an athlete, you should do your most basic job - compete well and train seriously.
But filming advertisements is undoubtedly contrary to it, Tian Liang is this kind of "thorn", after becoming famous, he received a lot of advertisements, and Zhou Jihong fired Tian Liang for participating in many commercial activities and affecting training.
As soon as this incident was exposed, there was an uproar, and many people "supported" Tian Liang, saying that other team members also received advertisements, so why did they fire Tian Liang? Many people pointed the contradiction of this matter at Zhou Jihong.
This is also a normal thing, after all, Tian Liang's mass base is very wide, but for a variety of questions, Zhou Jihong "didn't know" and never responded to this. But these two still attended the show together in 13 years, and the relationship was not as bad as everyone imagined, right?
But when some athletes encounter problems, Zhou Jihong also dares to stand up and help them speak, and Sun Yang is one of them. At that time, after Sun Yang's matter was exposed, the relevant departments of FINA made a ruling after testing.
said that Sun Yang did not violate the rules, but Tony Shaw, the president of the Australian Swimming Association at that time, "didn't see it", and publicly said that he implied that Sun Yang was a "drug liar", and that FINA did not protect innocent athletes.
As soon as these words came out, Zhou Jihong immediately counterattacked, reprimanding him for slandering outstanding athletes based on rumors and speculation, which was very irrational, and this kind of behavior was also very incomprehensible.
At that time, Sun Yang was very controversial, athletes and swimming associations from many countries stood up to "bombard" Sun Yang, and many people avoided Sun Yang because of his accident, but Zhou Jihong dared to speak for him publicly, which is really good!
And she has not stopped at the coach of the national team, she still continues to strive to earn her own value, and her identity has further changed.
From the Vice President of FINA to the Director of the Swimming Center of the General Administration
In 2021, Zhou Jihong became the vice president of FINA and the first female vice president in the history of the institution.
But as people get older, they have a certain status, and they are thinking about how to better enjoy life, why does Zhou Jihong still make herself so tired, is it just for herself?
No, she can have more say in FINA, and it is also so that the Chinese diving team can speak here. After becoming vice president, she still cares about many athletes all the time.
I paid for the athletes to improve themselves and learn English, and also recommended Guo Jingjing and Chen Ruolin to be FINA referees......
In addition, during the Tokyo Olympics, Quan Hongchan was allowed to participate under her protection, everyone knew that Quan Hongchan was good at diving, but before the Olympics, she was only a 14-year-old "unknown player".
Many people questioned this decision after knowing it, thinking that the Olympics is a big event after all, and it's not good to use this newcomer, right? Fortunately, in the end, Quan Hongchan used her results to tell the world that Zhou Jihong was right and was a very far-sighted person.
At the end of last year, Zhou Jihong had a new position as the director of the swimming center of the General Administration, and the burden on his shoulders was even heavier......
epilogue
Zhou Jihong's achievements can make people feel that the national diving team has her really "digging a treasure", no matter what, the most important task at the moment is to achieve better results in the Paris Olympics.
I believe that under the leadership of Director Zhou Jihong, the national team will live up to its trust and strive to win the Olympic gold medal, and everyone will definitely cheer for the athletes!
Resources
1. The original article was published in Qingtong's perspective2023-11-26About "Focus|Zhou Jihong is the director of the swimming center of the General Administration of Swimming Center, and the three major fist events in the Paris Olympics are expected to win gold"
2. The original article was published in The Paper 2022-07-05About "National Honor|Lead Dancer Zhou Jihong: The Goddess Behind China's Diving Dream Team"
3. The original article was published in People's Information2021-07-29 about "Iron-fisted leader Zhou Jihong: expelled Tian Liang, tried to protect Sun Yang, and led the diving "dream team" to win 31 gold medals"
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