Text: Northern Autumn
Edited by Beiqiu
She was the "loneliest" Olympic champion in the history of the mainland, and no one cheered her on, and no one sent her flowers.
The huge Sydney Olympic stadium could not find a five-star red flag, no one applauded her, no one went up to hug her, she looked at the entire venue lonely but found that the coaching staff had left the stadium early, and she had no choice but to go around the field alone to celebrate.
The champion is like a loser
In the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games race walking competition, there were only two domestic athletes participating in the competition, one was named Liu Hongyu and the other was Wang Liping.
And Liu Hongyu is a player who is optimistic about the country, so Wang Liping, who is also a contestant, is an escort to cooperate with Liu Hongyu to win the championship.
During the 20km women's race walk, the weather in Sydney was very hot, and many foreign runners left early because they were not used to the weather, after all, they thought it was important to participate.
There are also some players who have been sent off because they have committed multiple fouls, knowing that two fouls can be allowed in a race walking game, and once you carry three fouls, no matter how good the athlete is, you will be sent off.
At this time, there are less than half of the athletes on the field, and there are many athletes whose mentality is affected by the impact of their teammates being sent off the field and messing up.
At this time, the game has entered the white-hot stage, and the favorite Liu Hongyu is only 4 kilometers away from the finish line.
There is no doubt about this, as each referee can only show a red card once at the Sydney Olympics, so each red card is given by a different coach.
After Liu Hongyu was sent off, only Wang Liping, a Chinese player left in the sports field, at this time she was in fifth place, and normally speaking, she had little hope of winning the championship.
But she didn't give up, because she had been preparing for this competition for a long time, and in her heart, as long as she could get a medal, it was this mentality that encouraged her not to give up and rush again.
And she clearly remembers that she only carried a red card once, so she didn't worry about being sent off at all.
So Wang Liping sped up her speed, thinking that to maintain balance, she only needed to stand on the podium and rush into the top three.
At this time, the third and fourth players were both sent off the field because of their own fouls, and at this time the partner Wang Liping had become the third place.
Seeing that the final game was getting closer and closer, Wang Liping kept adjusting her speed, perhaps feeling the pressure brought by Wang Liping, or being happy too early, at this time, the No. 1 Italian player was sent off after eating his third red card.
The situation on the court also changed, Wang Liping was directly guaranteed from third place to second place, and the first place was a player from Australia.
The two chased after me, and seeing that they were about to reach the finish line, the Australian player was too foul and the referee couldn't tolerate it, so he reluctantly gave her a red card.
The Australian athlete just watched the upcoming championship slip away, and Wang Liping became the number one athlete in the whole athlete.
With a red card, she can be said to have no psychological pressure, and she is far behind the second place at this time, as long as she does not make major mistakes, the championship is just around the corner.
Wang Liping's heart is also very excited, her hard work in those days was not in vain, her sweat was not in vain, she will not only stand on the podium, but also as a champion.
So when she rushed into the venue, she waved her hands, but what was waiting was the silence of the audience, and foreigners felt incredible when they saw a Chinese win the first place.
But the teammates and coaches on the stage were nowhere to be found, Wang Liping tried hard to find those familiar figures on the field, and finally found that she was really the only one left.
How she wanted to run around the field wearing the national flag, because she knew that it was her pride and the pride of her motherland, but there was nothing, and with tears in her eyes, she ran around the field alone and alone.
This has also become her biggest regret as an athlete, because no one knows how many championships she can win, because for them, being able to hold flowers and wear the national flag is the proudest thing.
So where did the coach go at that time?
The coaching staff left the field early
When Liu Hongyu was sent off the court because of a foul in the middle of the game, she cried profusely, she felt ashamed of the coaching staff's trust in her, and the coaching staff saw that this proud disciple was so sad, so they arranged for someone to accompany her.
They looked at Wang Liping on the field and felt that she would not win the championship, or even stand on the podium, after all, there was a big disparity in strength, and they themselves did not expect Wang Liping, she was just a companion.
In addition, the coaching staff had other things, so after discussing it, they left the field, thinking that Wang Liping would come back after the game.
However, what they didn't expect was that it seemed that this game was prepared for Wang Liping, and those competitors in front of her were all sent off for fouls.
All this was not expected by them, so when they learned that Wang Liping won the championship, they also raised their arms and shouted outside the stadium, very excited, and they also wanted to send the five-star red flag and flowers to Wang Liping.
They trotted all the way to the entrance in high spirits, only to be told that it was time to enter and that no one was allowed to enter.
They begged bitterly, but the other party did not agree to their request, after all, rules are rules, and a few helpless people could only walk to the exit and wait for the champion to come out with guilt.
Wang Liping's personal experience
Wang Liping was born in an ordinary rural family in Liaoning Province in 1976, because she was born in the mountains, it is several kilometers from school to home, and in order to be able to go home as soon as possible to do housework for her parents, she is young and runs to and from school every time.
Every time the school held a sports meeting, Wang Liping was the first in the long-distance running event, which also made the teachers discover her talent, began to focus on cultivating him, and introduced her to a coach of the city sports school.
The coach fell in love with Wang Liping's talent and hard-working spirit at first sight, and promised her that as long as she practiced hard, not only would she not be charged tuition, but she would even be exempted from living expenses, as long as she devoted herself to training.
Wang Liping was also greatly moved by this, and she was more active in training, so she was recommended to the provincial team by her own enlightenment coach, and the race walking coach at that time was called Wang Kui, who was the teacher of China's first race walking champion.
After coming to the provincial team, she trained hard, not wanting to live up to the expectations of her teachers and family, but race walking is a very physically consuming sport, so Wang Liping's body also had problems.
In 1995, she was injured and left for a while, but after half a year, she felt that she was almost recovering, so she returned to the team to continue training.
In the domestic trials before the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Wang Liping finally obtained a ticket for herself through her own efforts and went with the team.
After that, the previous thing happened, and after that competition, Wang Liping still wanted to shine in this position, but in the 9th National Games, she lost to another player due to injury.
During this period, Wang Liping also got married and gave birth to children, and the married life was very sweet, and entered the university for further study and had a diploma.
In the 2004 Athens Olympics, although Wang Liping was still the first place in China, the peak was no longer there, and Zi Ah only achieved the eighth place in that Olympics.
Today's Wang Liping has seized the opportunity of short videos, she posted her sports routine on the short video platform, and taught everyone how to race walk more standardly.
epilogue
Although Wang Liping did not wear the national flag in that Olympic Games, she was really beautiful to win glory for the country, and the country would not forget her, she also exonerated her coaching staff, saying that they were not to blame for that incident, and Wang Liping, who was beautiful and kind-hearted, would definitely shine in the things she loved, and hoped that she would get better and better in the future.
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Sources of information:
https://www.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1687501860168311.html