"Zhang Hong, do you want to practice speed skating?"
In 2008, a phone call from her coach made the gears of Zhang Hong's fate start to turn: she resolutely decided to change the course and become a speed skater after 13 years of short track speed skating.
Six years later, she successfully won the first gold medal in the history of China's speed skating Winter Olympics.
If the life trajectory is simplified to a circular movement, everyone walks on the established track under the effect of centripetal force, and Zhang Hong has written a different life trajectory by virtue of the "centrifugal" journey of changing the track several times, and thus became a candidate for the "2024 China's Top Ten Brand Women".
Centrifugation is to better "centripetal" accumulation
In 2008, Zhang Hong put aside all the glory she had won in short track speed skating and chose to start from scratch and devote herself to speed skating training.
"Short track speed skating is a competition of skill, tactics and coordination, while speed skating is a competition of time. Zhang Hong said.
Wanting to improve by half a second in a race means improving your fitness throughout the year. From mid-May to the end of July, Zhang Hong was on the road every day, roller skating on Wednesdays and Fridays, and road cycling on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
I still remember this time of training. She said: "Every time I reach the finish line, my legs are so tired that I can't get off the bike, and my waist is fixed in the riding position, and it takes half an hour to get up completely." If there was no other training on Saturday afternoon, I would lie in bed and look at the ceiling until it was dark, so tired that I couldn't move or sleep. ”
Despite this, Zhang Hong persevered. In 2011, in the 1000m race of the Xinjiang National Championships, she won her first national championship after switching to speed skating, and she is also getting closer to the Olympic dream.
Three years later, she won the women's 1,000m gold medal by a narrow margin of 0.001 seconds – China's first gold medal in speed skating at the Games. This not only means that she has fulfilled her personal dream of the Winter Olympics, but also means that she has fulfilled the dream of several generations of Chinese speed skaters.
Image source: Xinhua News Agency
In 2016, Zhang Hong ushered in another peak of her life - reaching the championship podium five times in one year. In January, she won the women's 500m, 1000m and 1500m speed skating championships at the 13th National Winter Games, and in February, she won the women's 500m championship at the Speed Skating Sprint All-Around World Championships and the women's 500m at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Norway.
Where there is a camera, it is her sassy figure who fights tenaciously for the honor of the country, or her confidence and calmness standing on the podium with a smile, and outside the camera, it is her perseverance and hard work day after day, year after year.
Zhang Hong could have retired after so many achievements, but she did not hesitate to choose to compete in Changping 2018. During this preparation, she felt "exhausted" for the first time. Her knee had been severely waterlogged during the long training session, and she continued to receive treatment, but "the knee was not at all within the control of her body".
Eventually, she ended her career after completing the 500m and 1,000m speed skating at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
It was also after this Winter Olympics that Zhang Hong's life ushered in a new turn.
"centripetal" after several degrees of "centrifugation"
"I had two Olympic journeys: the first was when I was an athlete, from the age of 7 to my retirement at the age of 30, which was 23 years, and after PyeongChang 2018, when I was elected as an IOC member, I started another Olympic career. Zhang Hong said.
Image source: Beijing News
All the trials she has experienced are to pave the way for future surprises, and every time she goes all out, she is accumulating strength for a brilliant future. With the opportunity of the 2018 Olympic Games, Zhang Hong unlocked a new identity as a member of the International Olympic Committee and a member of the IOC Athletes' Commission.
She has started a new journey in life, and at the same time, it means that she is about to take on a new challenge. In order to make up for her English, she immersed herself in 5~7 hours of study and training every day. Because she is an athlete, Zhang Hong can always put herself in the shoes of the athlete to raise issues directly related to the athlete, and strive for more reasonable and humane rights and interests for the athlete.
"From sportswear to formal wear, I feel like it's a baptism from the outside to the inside. Standing on the podium of international sports organizations, representing not only Chinese athletes but also athletes from all over the world, I should think about how to contribute my experience and how to speak on behalf of Chinese athletes. She said.
In addition, Zhang Hong has another identity - a teacher in the Physical Education Department of Harbin Institute of Technology. "It's my ultimate goal to make everyone around me fall in love with the Olympics. In class, she not only taught students what ice skating is, but also taught them the history of the Olympics and Olympic English, so as to inherit and promote the Olympic spirit, Chinese sportsmanship and ice and snow culture.
In September 2020, she initiated the establishment of the "Rainbow Fund", a special sports fund, to support physical education in Northeast China. The two identities of researcher of the Sports Department of Harbin Institute of Technology and the initiator of the Rainbow Fund closely link her with the "Ice City" - her hometown Harbin.
Image source: Xinhua News Agency
In addition, Zhang Hong also keeps trying to unlock new identities on the road of life. At the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, she passed the Olympic torch, a symbol of light, bravery, solidarity and friendship, to IOC President Thomas Bach, in September 2022 she was appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as a member of the 2023 Athletes' Council, and in October 2022, Zhang Hong went to Beijing as a representative of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China......
From the first speed skating champion in the history of the Chinese Winter Olympics, to the ambassador of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, to a member of the International Olympic Committee and a researcher at Harbin Institute of Technology, Zhang Hong has constantly adjusted her life trajectory, and what has always remained the same is her adherence to the Olympic sportsmanship. She has drawn beautiful arcs on different tracks, and strives to sow the seeds of ice and snow sports in the hearts of more students.