Text/Beiqing Sports Chu Peng
Edit/Du Rui
This is the story of three generations pursuing the Olympic dream, this is the story of a family across the continents and oceans, inheriting the sports gene, this is the story of how ordinary people have built a sports building with talent, enthusiasm and dedication since the founding of New China.
Tokyo Olympic Stadium, women's heptathlon venue. China's Zheng Ninali, after finishing four items on the first day, temporarily ranked tenth with 3754 points. In the fifth long jump, Zheng Ninali jumped 5 meters 88 in the first jump, 5 meters 87 in the second jump, and reached 6 meters 12 in the third jump, and scored 887 points, after this round, Zheng Ninali continued to rank tenth with 4641 points. In the sixth javelin, Zheng Nina li threw 42 meters 60 in the first throw, but unfortunately the last two shots were all fouled, and this one scored 717 points. Before the last women's 800m race, she was 11th with 5358 points. In the end, Zheng Ninali ran 2 minutes 10 seconds 35 seconds, and also set a personal best. At this point, Zheng Ninali won the 10th place with a total score of 6318, and the two-day trip to the Tokyo Olympic Games ended in victory.
At this moment, Zheng Ninali's grandmother, Zheng Fengrong, China's first former high jumper to break the world record in athletics, and her grandfather, Duan Qiyan, the champion of the first National Games high jump, are watching her granddaughter's performance through television broadcasting in Beijing. At the same time, her mother, Duan Li, who used to practice high jump in the Bayi Athletics Team, and Zheng Ninali's brother, Zheng Enlai, who was selected for the Kunlun Hongxing Ice Hockey Team in China, were also paying attention to their little Nina's performance.
Zheng Fengrong
Watching the TV broadcast, Nina, Zheng Fengrong and Duan Qiyan, who were competing in the Olympic games, came to mind twenty years ago, when Little Nina had just toddlered, she was going to follow her brother and run over on the grass in Vancouver.
"Tiger (Zheng Enlai) learned to skate at the age of three, when he rollerbladed, little Nina (Zheng Ninali) ran behind Tiger, and we found that don't look at Nina, sometimes Tiger can't run her. Nina is also bold and dares to try new things. More than 1 meter high platform, little Nina when she was very young, she dared to jump directly down, and we picked her up below. Zheng Fengrong said: "From a young age, it can be seen that these two children have good sports genes and have shown a certain talent since childhood." ”
At that time, Zheng Fengrong's grandson and granddaughter lived far away in Canada. In order to help their daughter take care of their two children, Zheng Fengrong and Duan Qiyan did not stop after retiring and went to Canada. "We didn't have any money, so we bought plane tickets for that little pension." Zheng Fengrong recalled.
Zheng Fengrong's old partner Duan Qiyan is also a famous high jumper. At the first National Games in 1959, he won the championship with a time of 1.97 meters. After retiring from the army, Duan Qiyan was assigned to the Beijing Athletics Team as a coach and accumulated rich training experience. It can be said that grandson Zheng Enlai learned to skate at the age of 3, played ice hockey at the age of 5, and played the Canadian Professional League at the age of 16; granddaughter Nina practiced athletics from an early age, and the youth pentathlon was achieved step by step by Duan Qiyan in accordance with the scientific training plan.
Zheng Fengrong recalled that his grandfather was particularly rigorous in training. Nina's training will be made into a form according to the daily, weekly, and monthly, which is still preserved to this day. With a little foundation, the whole family would drive and send Nina to the race. Sometimes the race place is not in Vancouver, and the whole family has to brave the wind and snow for several hours. Zheng Fengrong said that whenever this time comes, the palms of her hands will pinch sweat.
But in Grandpa's memories, it was a particularly beautiful day. He said that although the training environment is difficult and the competition place is far away, on the one hand, the children regard training and competition as a kind of enjoyment, on the other hand, he also enjoys training his grandson and granddaughter. My granddaughter's grades have been good since childhood. "In Canada, it costs money to participate in a youth competition, 80 yuan to participate in one, and if you win, you get a medal. I got a lot of medals, and we keep them until today. ”
Zheng Fengrong recalled, "The more Nina wins in the youth competition, the more famous she becomes. There are also many parents who inquire and want to give their children to my wife and train together. He refused. Our training conditions were really too rudimentary. Where there is any training equipment, running, jumping is easy to do, practicing high jumping, nailing nails on the wall to pull a rope; there is no sponge pit, I unload the mattress, put it on the grass of the courtyard as a cushion, and put a small bench as a springboard for her. ”
Creating training conditions in a harsh environment is the life that Zheng Fengrong and Duan Qiyan's generation of sports people are accustomed to. In December 1953, 16-year-old Zheng Fengrong was selected for the national athletics training team and practiced high jump with Huang Jian, who returned from suzhou. The training equipment of the national team is rudimentary, the high jump pole is a bamboo pole, and the buffer is by the bunker. A pair of imported high jump shoes were sent reluctant to wear, and as a result, Zheng Fengrong's barefoot jump became a must; training until the evening, so black that he could not see the pole and was reluctant to go, so he tied a white handkerchief on the bamboo pole. After practicing too late, the canteen did not have food, so she used hot water to make rice and put some sugar. 50 years later, they passed on such a hard-working spirit and love for sports to the third generation of sports people in the family.
Hard training and athletic talents pay off handsomely. On October 20, 1957, Zheng Fengrong participated in the Sino-Soviet Athletics Friendly Competition, with the goal of skipping 1 meter 75 and breaking the national record. But before the game, when he learned that Premier Zhou had come to watch the game, Zheng Fengrong was both excited and nervous. "I want to jump 1.75m so that I can both break the national record and hit the world record. The result did not play well, not three times."
64 years have passed since that day, and Zheng Fengrong is still vividly remembered. "After the game, Premier Zhou shook my hand and took a picture with me. I said Prime Minister I didn't jump well this time, the Prime Minister said very good, you are still young, time is still long. You will definitely be able to break the world record, because we are a socialist country, not only Zheng Fengrong, but also Li Fengrong and Zhang Fengrong in the future. Zheng Fengrong said that it was Premier Zhou's words that made her determined to dedicate everything to the sports cause of New China.
A month later, at the Beijing Athletics Games, "it was winter but it was warm, I was wearing a red vest and white shorts, and I was in good shape." Skip from 1 meter 56 all the way to 1 meter 72. When the pole rose to 1.77 meters, the first jump was not made. The second time I ran and swung my legs, I felt like a little swallow and jumped over. "The first world record in athletics in New China was born.
Unfortunately, in order to defend the national interests, the Chinese Olympic Committee withdrew from the International Olympic Committee in 1958, and Zheng Fengrong, who was the world's first person in the women's high jump at that time, never appeared on the Olympic field again. Zheng Fengrong and his wife have since trained their eldest daughter Duan Li to practice high jumping, and was once selected for the Bayi team. Later, when he discovered the athletic talents of his grandson and granddaughter, Zheng Fengrong hoped that they could help him and continue to pursue his Olympic dream.
Therefore, Zheng Ninali, who was in Vancouver, Canada at the time, actually accepted the orthodox Chinese athletics training concept and the orthodox Chinese track and field athlete training model. But after the age of 13, she was no longer satisfied with her grandmother's "old-fashioned" training methods, and began to consult professional books and networks to design and formulate training plans for herself. "After Nina returned home, her grandfather still wanted to be a coach, and Nina said that your training method is outdated. I had to find my own training method that suited me. Today, Zheng Ninali, who has joined the Chinese athletics team, still maintains the habit of making training plans for herself.
But the quality of the will of the Chinese athletes of the generation of grandmother and grandfather still affected her. When Zheng Ninali returned to China to compete, she once said: "My spirit, technology and state all come from my grandmother. Grandma used to be a very fierce trainer, training almost 330 days a year, 365 days a year. Every time I feel tired from a game, I think about how she trained and competed. ”
Two new Chinese first-generation sports people passed on their pure love for sports to the third generation. Two years ago, he chatted with Zheng Enlai and learned that after graduating from high school, he gave up the invitation to the top university in the United States in order to play ice hockey. "I have a plan for myself and can't play for money. I don't think you can do it for the sake of money. You have to like it to be pure and do it best. I just love to play hockey. He said.
Nina did the same. In the face of several American universities issued invitations, and scholarships offered. Nina chose the University of Georgia, which has the least amount of scholarships. "We asked her why, she said, because she knew that the athletics coach at the University of Georgia was very famous and wanted to practice well with him to improve her ability to do all-hoc." Zheng Fengrong said.
Although Zheng Fengrong has always hoped that the two children can play for China, on the one hand, he does not have the conditions, and on the other hand, he also respects the choice of the two. Because he has never instilled the idea of returning to China after completing his studies and serving the motherland. Both children eventually embarked on the road of naturalization and return to China to serve China. "I never said anything like Nina's return to China, and as a result, when I participated in the Tianjin National Games in 2017, Nina said in her speech on the spot, I know that my grandmother has an Olympic dream. I hope to represent China in the Olympic Games and realize my dream for my grandmother. At that moment, my tears fell. Zheng Fengrong said.
In Canada, Zheng Ninali's track and field road was originally very smooth. She broke records in lower divisions during high school and won a sports scholarship from Kansas State University. She won the heptathlon for the first time in the National Collegiate Athletic Association of Canada, setting a Canadian record under the age of 20 and achieving the third best result in the world at that time. In 2018, Jenna Cheng was selected for the Canadian team and won a silver medal for Canada with a total score of 6133 points in the Women's Heptathlon at the Commonwealth Games, only 122 points behind the championship-winning British star Johnson Thompson.
Competing for the country means giving up everything over there. In 2017, the State General Administration of Sport opened the door to naturalization of young chinese athletes abroad, and on November 12, 2018, Zheng Ninali submitted an application to the IAAF, announcing that she would join The Chinese nationality and no longer play for the Canadian national team. "That day was Nina's twentieth birthday. Because the IAAF requires athletes to be unable to participate in international competitions for three years and to be at least twenty years old. Nina submitted her application on the same day she was twenty years old. Mother Duan Li introduced.
However, Cheng represented Canada at the Commonwealth Games in April 2018 and was unable to compete until April 12, 2021. That means she missed the point in time to represent China at the Tokyo Olympics. A new crown epidemic forced the Tokyo Olympics to be postponed for a year, and also allowed Zheng Ninali, who originally had a shattered Olympic dream, to catch the last train of the Olympic qualification tournament.
Zheng Ninali's Olympic qualification is also extremely thrilling. In December 2020, Zheng Nina's mother and daughter withstood the epidemic and returned to China. After going through isolation, Nina hired Gong Lijiao's coach from Yuzhen to help improve the level of shot put, javelin, and invited Beijing coach Dai Li. The other five, she practiced on her own. In terms of nutrition, physical fitness, and strength, they are all self-planned.
At first, affected by the epidemic, Zheng Ninali went to train everywhere and asked for nucleic acid reports when she entered the door. She can only do nucleic acid the day before each training session, and then take the report to train. Fortunately, after following Cong Yuzhen for a few lessons, Zheng Ninali found the feeling of throwing. In the team's shot put test, Nina threw 13 meters 44 at once, an improvement of one meter from her original score. Because he wanted to improve his javelin skills, the director of the Training Bureau of the General Administration helped contact Dai Li, the coach of the Beijing Athletics Team. "Javelin we went to the first farm to train. Coach Dai is also very good, polite and patient. We go twice a week. This is arranged four days a week, and the other five are practiced by themselves in the training bureau. Duan Li introduced.
Even so, Zheng Ninali's time to train for the Olympics was still too short. Returning to China in December, on April 28, Zheng Ninali stood on the preliminary field of the National Games and began to attack the Olympic qualification. Although the first two were extremely good, Nina began to have muscle cramps from the third competition, which affected the performance. Although she finished first in the women's heptathlon in this competition, she did not meet the Olympic standards.
After that, Zheng Nina decided to walk on two legs, on the one hand, to impact the qualification line, on the other hand, to play more games, and strive to advance to the Olympic Games by standing points. By submitting an application to the State General Administration of Sport, Zheng Ninali's mother and daughter urgently completed their visas and participation permits to travel to Spain on June 13 to participate in the Arona All-Around Invitational Tournament. "In fact, the registration for this competition has long been closed, and as soon as the organizing committee heard that Nina wanted to participate, it gave the green light." Zheng Fengrong said.
The tournament is a heptathlon event organized by the IAAF, and the opponents are strong. Zheng Nina played well and won the championship again, and although the 6358 points did not directly qualify for the Olympic Games, it has ranked in the top eight of the world this season. Zheng Ninali's Olympic points have also improved to within 24th place in the world.
After the game, Zheng Ninali once told the media that she would no longer participate. During that time she stayed in Europe to continue training. But June is the deadline for Olympic qualifying, and the world's best heptathlons are desperately trying to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Nina noticed that her opponent's points had risen and decided to participate in another Estonian track and field competition. On June 27, Zheng Ninali won the women's heptathlon again in the Estonian Athletics Championships, firmly carrying the qualification for the Tokyo Olympic Games in her pocket.
Zheng Nina li and Gong Lijiao "in the same frame" training Photo / Zheng Fengrong
Since then, Zheng Ninali has cooperated with her team doctor, team, and successfully went to the Tokyo Olympic Games. Her grandmother stayed in Beijing and received videos from her tour leader every day to see what her granddaughter had practiced again. On August 1st, when he heard that Gong Lijiao had won the first gold medal in the athletics for China, Zheng Fengrong excitedly sent a voice to Gong Lijiao, congratulating her and asking her to "guide and guide our family Nina." At the Tokyo Olympics, when Zheng Ninali played a shot put match, it was Gong Lijiao's coach Cong Yuzhen who was guided on the sidelines. Zheng Nina li finally threw a good 13m 55.
Watching my granddaughter take to the Olympic stage. Zheng Fengrong said that this is a dream that has haunted him all his life, and now someone has helped to complete it. "I myself have not participated in the Olympic Games, in 2008 I participated in the beijing Olympic torch relay as a torchbearer, and this year and next, my family's relationship with the Olympics will continue." This is also a kind of compensation for the regret of that year. Zheng Fengrong said.
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