Text | Seongnam Jinchengwu
Edit | Noisy
At the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, Ning Zetao, a chinese swimmer, became famous.
He won four gold medals in the men's 50m freestyle, men's 100m freestyle, men's 4×100m freestyle relay, men's 4×100m medley relay, and broke the Asian record in succession...
With a perfect performance, Ning Zetao wrote a strong stroke at the Incheon Asian Games, and many people remembered his name in this war without smoke, as well as the sunny and handsome figure.
A year later, at the 16th Kazan World Swimming Championships, in the men's 100m freestyle final, Ning Zetao surpassed all opponents with his outstanding back-end sprint, taking the lead in hitting the wall, becoming the first Asian to be called the king of the 100-meter "flying fish" battle since the World Championships were held in 1973.
Victory after victory has pushed Ning Zetao to the peak of his sports career, and he has been called "Liu Xiang in the water". Not only that, Ning Zetao's handsome face and tall and stylish figure also allowed him to gain a large number of small fans, and netizens affectionately called him "Bun Brother".
People are full of expectations for Ning Zetao's future development, his every move has attracted much attention, and he has also been selected as the third of China's top 10 influential figures after the 90s.
At that time, Ning Zetao, who was at the peak of his life, could not be overstated to describe it as the proud son of heaven, but with flowers and applause, there was a succession of controversies and storms.
So what happened to Ning Zetao? How is he doing now?
1
Ning Zetao was born in 1993 in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, his father was an air force, his mother worked in a beijing unit, and he was born in a military family.
Speaking of getting involved in swimming, this is really an interesting story.
Ning Zetao was afraid of water since he was a child, and when he was 7 years old, he washed his hair and covered his eyes with a towel.
Afraid of the water to this extent, but the mother Liu Wenhong is angry, she feels that a boy is so timid that it is not okay, so Liu Wenhong in line with the principle of what the child is afraid of what to learn, gave Ning Zetao a swimming class.
Liu Wenhong did not expect to have a little "gambling gas" at the beginning, but unexpectedly achieved his son's future career.
In just 2 months, Ning Zetao, a small dry duck, has shown amazing talent in swimming, and Liu Wenhong was pleasantly surprised to see his son so much transformed.
It was at that time that Ning Zetao met the enlightened teacher of his swimming career, Guo Hongyan, the coach of the Henan Amateur Sports School.
When Guo Hongyan first came into contact with Ning Zetao, he was deeply impressed by him. Coach Guo said: "He has a very good understanding, once the action is taught, only two lessons, he has mastered the basic essentials of breaststroke." ”
After a period of training, Guo Hongyan also found that Ning Zetao was a child who was very active in learning. Unable to understand the scientific training methods and sports theory knowledge taught by Coach Guo, Ning Zetao actually ran to the bookstore to buy a professional swimming magazine and seriously studied the articles on swimming technology.
This made Guo Hongyan feel very incredible, and since then he has decided that this is a good seedling, not only talented, but also knows that active learning will definitely achieve something in the future.
Sure enough, Ning Zetao did not disappoint Guo Hongyan, and under his careful teaching, Ning Zetao's progress was very fast, and his teaching was four years.
In 2004, Ning Zetao was selected by the Henan Provincial Swimming Team for his outstanding achievements.
At that time, it only took him 3 months to stand out from the same group of players.
2
In order to let Ning Zetao have a better development in swimming, in 2007, with the efforts of Ning Zetao's parents, 14-year-old Ning Zetao entered the naval swimming team under the guidance of major general Ye Jin, a national coach and captain of the naval swimming team.
Entering a higher platform means that the future will undergo more rigorous training, and for Ning Zetao, motivation and pressure coexist.
In Ye Jin's view, Ning Zetao's advantage is that he is smart enough, and it is difficult for others to understand the technical movements, and he understands it at one point; at the same time, his shortcomings are also obvious, the level of butterfly and backstroke is too poor.
At that time, Ning Zetao's main sport was breaststroke, but after a period of observation, Ye Jin felt that freestyle should be the direction of his focus.
Later, at Ye Jin's suggestion, Ning Zetao's main sport was changed to freestyle.
Ye Jin has always been known for large amount of exercise training, usually, 100 meters freestyle athletes a day of training volume of about 6000 meters, because Ning Zetao is relatively thin, in order to enhance physical fitness and lay a good foundation, Ye Jin stipulates that Ning Zetao's daily training volume is 8000 meters to 9000 meters, and the maximum intensity is as high as 15000 meters.
No matter how intense the training was, Ning Zetao strictly followed Ye Jin's requirements and conscientiously executed them, which also laid the foundation for him to break the Asian record in the future.
However, Ning Zetao also rebelled during adolescence, because of various reasons such as large training, high intensity, homesickness, etc., Ning Zetao was very decadent for a while, full of complaints.
It was Ye Jin who let Ning Zetao out of this decadent state, and one day he severely reprimanded Ning Zetao: "Being a professional athlete is not an ordinary career, you can't stand the unbearable challenges of ordinary people, you might as well not do it." ”
Listening to the coach's words, Ning Zetao woke up like a dream, and he understood that if he could not continue to train well, then all the previous efforts would be in vain.
Since then, Ning Zetao has worked harder and his state has gotten better and better.
Ning Zetao has made great progress under the high-intensity training day after day and year after year. He also wrote down his dream and pasted it on the bedside of his dorm room: "I must break the Asian record!" ”
The little friends all said: Dreams still have to be had, in case they are realized.
But no one can have a smooth sailing on the road to realizing his dreams, and Ning Zetao is also facing many difficulties and setbacks.
Years of high-intensity training, not only excellent swimming results, but also a body of injuries, Ning Zetao not only has a serious knee injury, many parts of his body have been injured more or less.
What tormented Ning Zetao the most was a stomach problem, and sometimes after high-intensity training, he would vomit. It is precisely because of the poor stomach from childhood that he is both picky and gluttonous.
Ning Zetao's gluttony also caused himself the biggest setback in his sports career so far.
In early March 2011, Ning Zetao had just celebrated his 18th birthday and underwent routine doping checks. At that time, he was preparing for the Wuhan National Swimming Championships, and when he received the notice that the doping test result was positive, he was so shocked that he almost fainted.
At that time, the eating conditions in the team were not very good, plus Ning Zetao was more picky, often eating instant noodles at night, and also putting some ham sausages and lunch meat in the instant noodles, and these processed meat foods added clenbuterol, which was the ban of positive stimulants, because Ning Zetao was severely punished by a one-year ban.
Ning Zetao didn't expect that he would run into such a catastrophe because of gluttony.
A one-year ban is too long for a swimmer in his prime, and it became the biggest blow of his athletic career.
Because of this matter, the team at that time also pleaded and appealed, but it did not change the result of the ban. Later, mentioning the matter in an interview, Ning Zetao said: "In any case, it is also because of gluttony, which is the lesson of my life. ”
Ning Zetao, who was banned from the tournament, could not participate in the competition, and he spent a long day and night at the training base. Ye Jin said: "Even if I suffered such a big blow, I have never seen Ning Zetao cry because of grievances or pain. ”
But Ning Zetao himself once admitted that the experience of the ban hit him quite hard, but he could only face the reality, he said: "Crying in the water, others can't see it." ”
The boy has tears, not softly, but not to the sad place. It can be seen how big the ban hit him.
When Ning Zetao ended his ban, in 2013 he competed in the National Swimming Championships in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, where he broke the Chinese record of 48.73 seconds held by Chen Zuo in the men's 100m freestyle final with a time of 48.60 seconds. In the following competition, he won the 50m freestyle again, winning the second gold medal of the competition.
For Ning Zetao, this year is his ban period, but also his precipitation period, he uses his achievements to prove himself, not to sound is already, a blockbuster.
Ning Zetao tasted the joy of victory and continued to ride the wind and waves and bravely move forward.
At the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, Ning Zetao led the Chinese team to defeat the Japanese team that had not been won for 24 years in the final of the 4*100m medley relay, and in the men's 100m freestyle final, with a time of 47.70 seconds, he became the first Asian person to advance 48 seconds in the event, and was called "Asian Flying Fish" by the media.
At the 16th World Swimming World Championships in Kazan in 2015, Ning Zetao won the gold medal in the men's 100m freestyle with 47.84 seconds, following Liu Xiang, once again breaking the spell that "yellows cannot enter the top 8 in the world championships straights event" and creating the history of Asian swimming.
For a time, Ning Zetao was in the limelight, he not only often participated in various award ceremonies, but also won the award, and successively won the "CCTV Sports Figure Best Male Athlete Award" and the "National Top Ten Athletes" in 2015.
As the first asian person in the short freestyle, in the face of a tidal wave of praise, he calmly said: "For me, this is just the beginning." 47.70 seconds is a breakthrough for Asia because I was the first Asian to swim into 48 seconds. As for the future, I hope to compete with the top players in Europe and the United States. The Asian champion is still far from the world championship, and I want to test myself in the real world championship. ”
It has to be said that Ning Zetao can still keep a sober mind under the huge victory, which proves that Ning Zetao is not only psychologically strong, but also has a very clear plan for the future.
However, the development of things is often not subject to the will of people, and when Ning Zetao is full of confidence and strives to achieve better results in the swimming world, unexpected disputes quietly come.
3
Ning Zetao became a rising star in the sports industry after becoming famous, and in the entertainment industry, he is a "beautiful man" with good looks and a figure, and has become a new male god Ning Zetao, who has a high popularity and a large fan base, he has a lot of traffic valued by enterprises, and companies seeking Ning Zetao's endorsement are also flocking to him.
At that time, no one thought that one of Ning Zetao's endorsements would become the fuse for being "expelled" from the national team in the future.
The earliest thing to say happened in 2014, when, after the approval of the swimming center, Ning Zetao signed an endorsement contract with Illian Muxi, and handed over part of the fee to the swimming center according to the regulations.
After the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, Ning Zetao's value doubled, and Yili upgraded the contract and directly signed an endorsement contract with Ning Zetao.
Later, the new swimming team leader signed a collective contract with Mengniu, which was tacitly accepted by all athletes, but Ning Zetao refused to sign.
Later, after Ning Zetao's advertisement for Yili was broadcast, he was held accountable by the swimming center, and the contradictions between the two sides continued to escalate.
The swimming center asked Ning Zetao to put the overall situation first, immediately stop cooperating with Yili, and publicly apologize for this kind of private advertising behavior, while Ning Zetao believed that he was not wrong at all and refused to apologize.
Being able to face the management of the swimming team is probably the first person ning Zetao.
In an interview, Coach Ye Jin once said: "Ning Zetao has a lot of personality and ideas. ”
Coach Ye also gave a small example, once, many ning zetao fans waited in the Yingdong swimming pool, and Ning Zetao's itinerary had other arrangements, for safety reasons, Ye Jin let him go out from the side door, but was rejected by Ning Zetao in person, he calmly walked out of the main entrance, and greeted the fans before leaving.
Through such a small thing, you can "peek and know the whole leopard".
This small matter reflects that Ning Zetao has an opinion on doing things, will not follow the crowd, and will not easily change his decision because of the opinions of others, and such a personality also lays the groundwork for the contradictions he encounters in the future.
In April 2016, Ning Zetao participated in the swimming championships in Foshan with the team, which was also the selection competition of the Rio Olympic Games, Ning Zetao specialized in the main events of 50 meters and 100 meters freestyle, but one morning he suddenly received a notice from the swimming center to let him participate in the 4 * 200 meters freestyle relay race, in the face of such a sudden change, Ning Zetao said that he could not accept it.
Then, in the men's 100m freestyle semifinals on April 6, Ning Zetao swam a good time of 47.96 seconds, but in the final, Ning Zetao withdrew due to illness.
At that time, Coach Ye Jin came forward to clarify: "Ning Zetao did fall after the semi-finals, he had a fever, his body was very hot, it was not pretended, and it was impossible for people to make themselves feverish." ”
In May 2016, when Ning Zetao was training abroad in Melbourne, he said bluntly: "The effect of foreign training is very good, and such a competitive state is a high probability event to stand on the Olympic podium." ”
Just when Ning Zetao was looking forward to the future, he was again notified by the swimming center, suspended his external training, let him return to the Navy on standby, and was told that he might not be able to participate in the Rio Olympics.
The reason for the aquatics center to make this decision is that Ning Zetao privately endorsed and confronted the leader, threatening to suspend training and retire.
The matter continued to ferment on the Internet, and for a while there were many opinions, and Ning Zetao was troubled by various rumors.
However, there were still more unpredictable things waiting for Ning Zetao after returning to China.
After returning to the athlete's apartment, Ning Zetao found that the meal card could not be used, and the athlete had a rule that he could not eat outside, and he could only borrow a meal card from his teammates to solve three meals a day.
The problem of the meal was solved, but he was told to move out of the athlete's apartment within three days, and Ning Zetao was expelled from the national team.
Although ning Zetao later went through the maneuver and did not "live on the street", but there was a problem in training, Coach Ye Jin no longer appeared, and Ning Zetao could only continue training accompanied by teammates and team doctors.
Although Ning Zetao's name appeared on the list of the last to participate in the Rio Olympic Games, however, due to a series of events that occurred before, Ning Zetao's training did not keep up, and his weight was about 4 kg lighter than before, which had a huge impact on an athlete who mainly attacked short-distance swimming.
Subsequently, in the semi-finals of the men's 100m freestyle at the Olympic Games, Ning Zetao ranked 6th with a time of 48.34 seconds, missing the final.
In the Rio Olympic Games, Ning Zetao not only lost his grain, but also became an inflection point in his sports career, and Since then, Ning Zetao's state has been declining.
Just when people were talking about what Ning Zetao had done, a dynamic on Ning Zetao's social account sent him to the hot search.
On March 6, 2019, Ning Zetao suddenly announced his retirement on his 26th birthday. He wrote on Weibo: Not afraid of the past, not afraid of the future! Say goodbye to the blue water of the pool and start your own new life. Any restriction starts from one's own heart. The pursuit of beauty, tolerance of regrets, heart to the sun, laughter on life, everything is the best arrangement. Thank you, my dear fans! Bless each of you to meet your most beautiful happiness on your own life path! The way to success is never easy, push yourself and DO NOT SETTLE！ ~~ To swim! To Youth!!
Netizens saw this dynamic, surprised, dissatisfied, regretful, and even some netizens said that they could not accept it.
And Ning Zetao wrote in the signature of the social account: Keep focused, don't slow down because of regret. Smile, forgive, forget, and move on.
At this point, Ning Zetao made his choice, whether it was to continue to ride the wind and waves, or to take a step back from the sea and the sky, but this must be a decision he made after serious consideration.
4
Nowadays, Ning Zetao has been retired for a long time, but his every appearance still attracts the attention of fans.
Ning Zetao has a perfect body, super high appearance, there are many fans hope that he can enter the entertainment circle, but Ning Zetao said that the entertainment industry is not suitable for him.
Now Ning Zetao in addition to attending some business events, he is slowly becoming a golfer.
Open Ning Zetao's social account, there is a light breeze, all kinds of endorsements, beautiful photos, inspirational chicken soup, and even a plausible love official announcement, so that it can be seen that his mentality and life are slowly returning to the right track.
March 6, 2021, is Ning Zetao's 28th birthday, he wrote in his social account: Life is always in the cycle of gains and losses, and truly mature people should be composed of two parts: one half is the pursuit of beauty, and the other half is the tolerance of defects. Going with the flow is an attitude towards life, but also a calm and calm attitude towards the years. Many times when you feel that it is useless to play the ox piano, you can consider changing the head of the donkey to try, life is the same, change a lifestyle, there will definitely be a different harvest!! — Ning Zetao wrote to his 28-year-old self.
Life is not satisfactory nine times out of ten, no one's life is smooth, encounter troughs or setbacks, only constantly adjust the mentality, calmly cope, no matter what the future is, we must be brave and firm to go on, I wish Ning Zetao all the best in the future.