Standing up where you fell may be the perfect way to redeem yourself. Late at night on August 2, Beijing time, two Zhejiang fellow Huang Yaqiong and Zheng Siwei defeated Korea's Kim Won-ho/Zheng Nayin in straight sets in the final of the Paris Olympics, and finally won the long-awaited Olympic gold medal and made up for the regret of losing Tokyo. It took them less than 40 minutes to win the final, but they waited for 3 years and 3 days, which was 1,099 days and nights.
The "IELTS" combination, which is popular with fans, is not a native of Hangzhou, but both have a deep bond with this land. Huang Yaqiong was born in Quzhou, came to Hangzhou to practice at the age of 8, and became a "Hangzhou athlete" when she entered the provincial team at the age of 9 because of the relationship between the transportation place. And Zheng Siwei, a native of Wenzhou, not only spent his childhood in Hangzhou, but also married a Jiande girl when he grew up and became a "son-in-law of Hangzhou". From 2017 to the present, the mixed doubles pair who have gone through the "seven-year itch" have finally achieved the legend of the "Grand Slam".
Why did you shatter your dreams of Tokyo when you were invincible?
Before the Paris Olympics, they opened their thick book of honours and found almost all the champions, except for one Olympic gold medal. Originally, this most important gold medal could have come earlier, but this is the case in competitive sports, even if you have won 100 games, no one can guarantee that you will win the next one, and the "IELTS" combination must have a deeper understanding of this.
In 2017, the two began to form a team, and that year, Huang Yaqiong was 23 years old and Zheng Siwei was 20 years old. They didn't seem to need much to run into, and in 2018 they won almost every major mixed doubles title, including the World Championships and the Asian Games in Jakarta, and quickly rose to the top of the world rankings. In the second year, there were 9 championships and 3 runners-up, and the World Championships also successfully defended the title, and it was in the limelight for a while.
However, getting off to a too smooth start in your career can be both good medicine and poison. "When you're winning all the time, no one thinks you're going to lose." Zheng Siwei once recalled that during that time, they would think more about how to make the game more perfect, and the changes in mentality and body led to ups and downs in results, "It's not a bad thing to have some problems, if it has been smooth sailing, it may be a problem in itself." ”
Subsequently, "IELTS" began to suffer from frequent injuries, and although this is a difficulty that every athlete experienced, the impact of this will be multiplied by the double blow of the pandemic and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. In 2020, Huang Yaqiong was injured while training in the United Kingdom; In 2021, Zheng Siwei suffered arm and abdominal injuries, resulting in intermittent training. The competition is imminent, because she can't maintain the consistency of the joint practice, it even caused Huang Yaqiong to have an emotional breakdown and cry urgently.
finally survived the Tokyo Olympics, and what fans saw was that "IELTS" was still strong and successfully reached the finals, but what many people didn't know was that Zheng Siwei took two injections of anesthetic, and finally failed to reach the end when facing Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping, who was very familiar with each other. Although "IELTS" maintained a very high winning rate of 13 wins and 2 losses against "Yellow Duck" before, there were no secrets between teammates, and their physical condition could not allow them to play to their full strength.
Moreover, not only physically, but also mentally tight, they were unable to perform at the level they should have. "In the last Olympics, I may have wanted to win this gold medal too much, and I felt very anxious, and I might want to 'blow up' at any time." Huang Yaqiong said that she rarely has such a state, "Actually, I am a very Buddhist person. ”
In the cliché of the sports world, they lost to themselves under pressure and aura.
The real metamorphosis begins with the dismantling of pairs
Needless to say, the Tokyo Olympics were just the beginning of a "nightmare". Two months later, at the Western Security Games, they lost the final again, and then the World Championships, at which time Zheng Siwei's injury was no longer serious, but he surprisingly fell in the second round. Losing in consecutive major tournaments is the biggest bottleneck since they were paired, and it is not an exaggeration to call it the lowest point of their careers. At that time, Huang Yaqiong cried in front of Zheng Siwei for the first time, and even thought about retiring.
If it hurts, it thinks, and when it thinks, it changes. The national team made a seemingly simple and crude decision, but it was meaningful: split the pair. On the one hand, the two need to calm down, just as couples need space for distance to be beautiful, and they can try to regain their old feeling by partnering with different players. On the other hand, the national team also needs mature athletes like them to bring a group of mixed doubles newcomers to help the young players grow. In this regard, Zheng Siwei said that it may be that since the cooperation, the good times have always been greater than the bad times, and he has not thought much about how to solve the problem in the face of adversity.
As a result, Huang Yaqiong was paired with Ou Xuanyi, who is also in men's doubles, and Zheng Siwei became a new partner with the young Zhang Shuxian. During the winter training, Zheng Siwei took Zhang Shuxian to win the first place in the team training match, but in the subsequent Germany Open, Huang Yaqiong, who did not play well in the team competition, and Ou Yuyi won the runner-up in Germany. Huang Yaqiong said that compared to singles, the complicated part of mixed doubles is that it takes a process to change to a new partner and playing style, and their physical condition may not always be at their best.
Although the effect of temporary partnering with newcomers is average, for "IELTS", a short 3-month split has made them have advanced changes, which is the beginning of the transformation. Later, at the All England Open, considering the need to protect Olympic points, the "IELTS" regrouped the team, and they could clearly feel each other's growth. Especially Huang Yaqiong, she has become the person who took the initiative to stand up and cheer up when Zheng Siwei lost confidence, and she can also feel that they can understand each other more and more. "I used to stay in my comfort zone and not think too much about how I was going to change. Now, I feel like I need to step up and stop running away. ”
After the reorganization, in 2022, "IELTS" regained its peak form, defeated "Yellow Duck" to win the Asian Championships for the first time, regained the world championship, and once won 38 consecutive victories, shocking the world badminton world again. That year, they won 55 and only lost 2, with a winning rate of 96.5%, and re-reached the realm of "seeking defeat alone". The difference is that they feel that they know how to enjoy the game better than they used to, that they are more comfortable than before, and that the defeat is no longer so unacceptable. This kind of transformation is quite similar to Ye Shiwen.
Paris's dreams come true
In the past two years, from the Sudirman Cup to the Hangzhou Asian Games, from the BWF Tour Finals to the Ningbo Asian Championships, "IELTS" has never let the champion of the competition fall aside. Zheng Siwei, who has experienced marriage and childbirth, has become more and more mature, although he has said many times that he no longer has absolute dominance as in the past, but this sentence is obviously said to them to themselves, to reduce their burden and pressure.
When I interviewed the Asian Championships in Ningbo this year, I was deeply impressed by Huang Yaqiong's answer to the question of the Paris Olympics: "Except for the Olympic Games (champions), we have taken everything we should take, and we don't need to prove ourselves with results, and we won't be too obsessed with the results." Before setting off, she said that it no longer matters what the result is, and she only hopes to leave no regrets in the process of chasing.
Because of the experience of losing gold by two points in Tokyo, and because of the courage to rediscover themselves from setbacks, when they embarked on the Olympic journey again, the gears of fate began to turn. At the Paris Olympics, "IELTS" won all six matches without losing a game, proving that they are still the strongest mixed doubles pair in the badminton world today.
In fact, the scales of victory seemed to be tipped in their favor before the final. In the group stage, "IELTS" only needed 35 minutes to defeat Kim Won Ho / Jung Na Eun, and they have an absolute advantage in terms of both historical record and recent form. In the final, the "gold and silver" combination appeared again after a 72-minute break in the semi-finals, which was another big positive for "IELTS". Sure enough, with an infinite desire to win, "IELTS" suppressed his opponent throughout the match and successfully won the heavy Olympic title.
This year, Huang Yaqiong is just 30 years old, and she is no longer the little girl who couldn't walk when she saw badminton when she was a child. After the final, her teammate Liu Yuchen proposed to her, and the trip to Paris could well be her last Olympic trip, and the gold medal was the best wedding gift.