Text: Pity
Editor|Zhouzhou Film and Television Entertainment Review
"Are you still a World Champion?"
"And did you hurt at that time?"
Speaking of Liu Xiang's retirement, adults are always angry about whether he won the championship, but children are concerned about whether he hurts.
What kind of athlete would be called a "sports star"?
Some broke world records, others broke the top 10 in the world.
Holding the gold medal in their hands, they were held up to the altar in an instant.
But when they encounter difficulties or pain, those people will send them to hell, and the world champion who once won glory for his country will become a "cowardly and incompetent" clown.
Is it only honor that reflects the value of an athlete?
Liu Xiang, the world's flying man: an eternal hero
In a variety show, a few children asked Liu Xiang:
"Are you still a World Champion?"
Liu Xiang replied gently:
"I'm not now, I'm retired, I'm injured."
The children gathered around and asked:
"Did you shed a little tear?"
Liu Xiang replied:
"Nope."
Liu Xiang only used three words to summarize the pain he experienced in the first half of his life.
Yes, Liu Xiang did not shed tears, he will always be a hero.
In 2004, Liu Xiang won the Olympic gold medal in the 110m hurdles in Athens.
From then on, he embarked on a path of silence leading to the altar of God.
After returning to China, Liu Xiang said in an interview:
"All the flashing lights, all the focus is on me."
At that moment, he was praised by the audience as a "god" in the Chinese sports world.
Before this fight, Liu Xiang didn't know that he had such a big potential, and he only participated in the competition to break through his own results.
The appearance of this Olympic gold medal gave him an additional sense of mission, a sense of mission from the yellow race to challenge the black race to dominate the sprint event.
With this sense of mission, Liu Xiang is indeed getting better.
In 2007, Liu Xiang was arranged in the most unfavorable ninth lane, but Liu Xiang refused to accept his fate and created the "Nine Miracles" recorded in history and won the Grand Slam.
At this time, it was only a year before he fell from the altar.
In the past year, Liu Xiang has been reported to be injured a lot, and at the same time, he has also changed to the way of competition training, and only participated in 3 games.
At that time, people did not think of the seriousness of the matter, after all, in their eyes, Liu Xiang was a "god".
How can "God" be hurt?
Just ten days before the game, Liu Xiang could still greet reporters with a smile, but on the day of the game, Liu Xiang kept kicking his feet against the wall, trying to "relieve the pain with pain".
After the start, Liu Xiang knew that he would not be able to win the Olympic championship, so he regretfully retired from the race.
This retirement made him fall to the bottom completely.
Until now, there are still netizens who are angrily spraying the reason for "Liu Xiang's withdrawal".
"Forget Liu Xiang, the country spent billions to train him alone. 08 Before he didn't heal his own injuries, he took over commercials, and he saved tens of millions, and he knew that he couldn't run at all for the Beijing Olympics, for the sake of tickets and advertising fees, alas. ”
But is the truth really as netizens understand?
In fact, Liu Xiang has been injured in his foot for six or seven years, because he has been training at the highest intensity, so it is only a matter of time before the injury erupts.
At the press conference, the coach choked up to explain to the media the circumstances of Liu Xiang's injury.
Could it be that from the perspective of netizens, athletes' desire for gold medals is not as high as the so-called "advertising cost"?
Definitely not!
Coaches are saying:
"He's running with his life!"
Compared to the world champion, what is the advertising cost?
After this retirement, Liu Xiang did not give up, and he is actively recovering every day after the operation, looking forward to returning to the track one day.
Although he does not have the physique of a "god", he has the will of a "god".
After a year, Liu Xiang caught up with his former self again.
In 2011, Liu Xiang ushered in the most important game of his comeback.
At that moment, the rain stopped, the wind calmed down, Liu Xiang ran into 13 seconds again, and everything that once belonged to him came back.
Before Liu Xiang's comeback, a reporter interviewed him:
"Do you think you can get back to 100%?"
Liu Xiang replied:
"You should ask me if I can go above 100 percent, then I still feel a little hopeful."
Liu Xiang is such a person who likes to challenge himself and the world.
When you think that a perfect score is the pinnacle of his, he has already regarded a perfect score as his passing mark.
Therefore, Liu Xiang broke through his best time in the Diamond League after his comeback, shortening the time to 12.87.
There is no athlete in the world who has been able to surpass his best time even after a major surgery.
Only Liu Xiang has done it, he is truly unprecedented.
The match gave Liu Xiang a lot of confidence, and he believed that he could take back everything that once belonged to him from the Olympic arena and prove to everyone that he was not a "deserter".
On August 8, 2012, Liu Xiang withdrew again in this day of his own exclusive number.
originally thought that Liu Xiang would regain the Olympic championship this time, but he didn't expect him to usher in a ruptured Achilles tendon.
This time, there was no way for him to get back into the ring like he had done before.
When Wu Yanni talked about her idol Liu Xiang, she said:
"Liu Xiang won 40 championships for the country, but everyone only remembers that he retired twice."
The world only saw Liu Xiang crowned as king, but never thought that he would overcome obstacles.
"As long as the athlete accepts the endorsement, it becomes an excuse for not winning the championship."
After so many years, Liu Xiang has also come out of the cyberbullying for more than ten years, and in the face of children's questions, he just said "no" lightly.
Liu Xiang didn't cry, he won't cry, no matter how many people oppose it, he is a hero.
"Queen of self-loathing" Li Na
After talking about Liu Xiang, let's talk about another star in the Chinese sports world, Li Na.
If Liu Xiang single-handedly completed the challenge of the yellow race against the black race in the sprint event, then Li Na was the first Asian face to reach the women's singles final of the French Open by herself.
As a badminton player, his father became Li Na's first teacher.
Speaking of her childhood, Li Na still remembers the track where she ran in the park in the morning with her father.
In the sentences, you can feel how happy Li Na was when she was a child.
This happiness did not last, and 14-year-old Li Nabi returned home after the race, only to learn the news of her father's death.
This has undoubtedly become the most painful memory of Li Na's life.
In order to pay off her father's medical treatment, 14-year-old Li Na began to earn money by playing matches.
After winning the championship, Li Na replied to reporters' questions:
"My biggest dream is to be in the top 10 of my career."
But not every athlete has a good coach behind them.
Yu Liqiao, the coach who single-handedly sent Li Na to the national team, is a "devil".
Li Na when she was a teenager was full of criticism from the coach:
"Why are you so stupid?"
"Are you embarrassed to cry?"
Any mistake will be verbally attacked by the coach, which becomes a fatal blow to Li Na's heart.
When Chai Jing interviewed Li Na, Li Na confessed:
"Actually, I'm a person with low self-esteem."
Chai Jing asked:
"Doesn't winning on the pitch help you feel confident?"
Li Na shook her head and said, "No."
It's hard to imagine that a world champion would say that he has low self-esteem, and he may be ridiculed by netizens as "Versailles" now, but Li Na at that time was really unconfident.
After all, the only one who supports her and affirms her father is gone, and the only ones left are the coach who speaks ill of her and her mother, who has remarried and is not close.
Tennis has become strange since then, and the tennis ball that once made her happy has disappeared, leaving only her scars and scars.
So, Li Na made a surprising decision.
In order to adjust his mentality, he announced his retirement at the age of 20, when countless people said that he had a good future.
After retiring, she entered campus life, studying, reading, and falling in love.
Leaving her as an athlete, she rethought her life.
The appearance of Sun Jinfang changed the trajectory of Li Na's life, and she became the person who supported Li Na to be herself.
Although Li Na has been improving since her comeback, what her coach said is still stinging her heart.
In her book, Li Na writes:
"I'll always be a second-rate player."
"Dog meat is not at the feast!"
"I've internalized the coach's anger and irritability into my mind."
It was this kind of verbal attack that made Li Na lose confidence in the face of a strong opponent.
Li Na conceded six goals in a row in the 2011 Australian Open tiebreaker and missed out on the title.
This defeat did not knock Li Na down, but only fueled her desire to win a Grand Slam.
So at the 2011 French Open, in the face of the same mistakes, Li Na did not completely lose her rhythm, but heard the voice of encouragement in her heart.
This voice of desire for victory made the 29-year-old Li Na play a "stroke of genius" on the court and win the championship, thus opening up a new era of Chinese tennis.
After the match, the 29-year-old made good on a promise she made at the age of 16, and Li Na moved up to No. 4 in the world rankings.
At this moment, we understand that the real charm of athletes is not the strength they play in the competition, but the support of their hearts.
epilogue
No matter what kind of competition, no one doesn't care about winning or losing, and only athletes who are really standing on the field can understand the desire for the championship.
We are inspired by the fierce competition of competitive sports, and we also have to accept the brutality of competitive sports.
No one wins all the time, and there are people who win all the time.
In addition to Liu Xiang and Li Na, Lin Dan, Sun Yang, Li Ning, and Deng Yaping, they have also increased the influence of Chinese sports.
Every athlete who wins glory for the country is our national hero.
We can't forget the fact that they are also ordinary people, maybe they have extraordinary talent, or maybe they have a stronger heart than others, but as spectators, we have to allow athletes to fail.
Since there are wins, there must be losses.
It is important to understand that the significance of the existence of Chinese sports stars is not the trophy of a certain world competition, but their dedication to competitive sports.
Some references:
Liu Xiang is worthy of the greatest contemporaries and won the slam and laughed at the three major rivals|Liu Xiang retired. NetEase Sports. [2023-01-12].
Foreign media: Liu Xiang is still the greatest athlete in Chinese track and field. Sina Entertainment. [2023-01-12].
Thank you Liu Xiang for bringing us joy and sorrow: the flying man is gone, the idol is goodbye . Sohu Sports. [2023-01-12].
12.87 seconds hurt Liu Xiang! Insiders reveal the truth: the two Olympics have concealed the injury. [2023-01-12].
Li Na held the cup to fulfill her father's last wish, and her husband Jiang Shan accompanied her to the top. Tencent Sports. [2023-02-21].
Li Na was officially inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, becoming the first person in Asia. Tencent Sports. [2023-02-23].