Xu Mengtao, who won the gold, wanted to give herself 6 words

"Life is a one-way journey,

Let finite life create infinite possibilities. ”

Author: Yu Bing

On February 9, in the just-concluded Asian Winter Games freestyle skiing women's aerials (hereinafter referred to as aerials) competition, 35-year-old "veteran" Xu Mengtao won the championship, which was the first Asian Winter Games gold medal in her career!

Airskill is the game of the brave.

After practicing this project for 23 years, "Warrior" Xu Mengtao has many scars on her body, including a rupture of the anterior cruciate belt of the knee, a sprained medial collateral ligament, a deformation of the posterior angle of the medial meniscus, multiple bone contusions, and joint effusion...... Still, she has a lot of affection for this brutal but glamorous project.

"Nature has brought a lot of uncertainty to the sport, but I still love the white and still have a lot of love for the sport." Xu Mengtao told the Global People reporter.

Snow, blood, sweat, tears

On February 7, the 9th Asian Winter Games were held in Harbin. This is another major international comprehensive ice and snow event held by China after the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Three years ago, Xu Mengtao surpassed all competitors with a score of 108.61 points and won the women's freestyle skiing aerials championship at the Beijing Winter Olympics. After the game, she couldn't believe the result, clutching the five-star red flag in the field and shouting: "Am I the first? Her excited look touched many people.

Looking back on the scene now, Xu Mengtao still can't hide her excitement: "It was not only my first Olympic gold medal, but also the proof of my four Olympic competitions, and the testimony of all the snow, blood, sweat, and tears." ”

On February 14, 2022, Xu Mengtao won the gold medal in women's freestyle skiing aerials at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Previously, Chinese athletes had missed out on gold medals in aerials at the Winter Olympics several times. The gold medal won by Xu Mengtao is actually the first gold medal of the Chinese women's aerials team, plus it is a competition at the "doorstep", so the significance is even more special.

The Winter Olympics gold medal is not the end, but a new beginning. After a short break, Xu Mengtao quickly entered a new Olympic preparation cycle.

Xu Mengtao is training.

With less than a year to go until Milan 2026, the Asian Winter Games are an important training opportunity. After several selections within the team, Xu Mengtao was finally selected for the Asian Winter Games squad to participate in the women's individual, women's pairs and mixed team aerials competitions.

The Asian Winter Games aerials will be held at the Yabuli Ski Resort, where Xu Mengtao has never competed before, so preparation before the competition is particularly important.

"Affected by many external factors such as weather, wind direction, wind speed, snow quality, etc., the conditions for each jump will be different, especially the change of snow quality, which will make the softness of the landing site different for the athletes, and everything on the scene has been changing, which also increases the difficulty of completing the action." Xu Mengtao said.

In addition to keeping an eye on the environment, she also discusses the details of the competition with the team, but ultimately relies on her years of experience to decide how to complete the task safely and better.

Strict requirements for their own "ruthless role"

Xu Mengtao was interviewed by a global figure reporter on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. In the Northeast, dumplings are eaten on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. But due to the preparation for the competition, Xu Mengtao couldn't go home for the Spring Festival this year, and she didn't eat the sauerkraut stuffing and leek egg stuffed dumplings made by her mother.

Maybe even she can't count how many Spring Festivals she has left home.

In 1990, Xu Mengtao was born in an ordinary family in Anshan, Liaoning. What many people don't know is that this name was taken by her aunt, Liu Lanfang, a famous storytelling performance artist, from "The Story of the Peach Blossom Spring", which means "meeting Tao Gong in a dream, laughing at the red dust", hoping that she can grow up happily and be carefree forever.

Xu Mengtao's father, Xu Xuejun, is a sports fan and likes to watch all kinds of events broadcast. When Xu Mengtao was 4 and a half years old, she was sent by her father to a local sports school to learn gymnastics. "I don't have a choice what a child of that age can understand." Xu Mengtao said with a smile.

Xu Mengtao in childhood.

But while practicing, she fell in love with gymnastics, and when she had nothing to do, she learned from the players standing on the podium on TV, jumped up the steps at the door of the house, straightened her waist, looked ahead, and hummed the national anthem.

At that time, her family was living in difficult conditions, and the family depended on her father selling skewers to support her. In order to let Xiao Mengtao receive a better physical education, her parents gritted their teeth and transferred schools for her several times from Anshan to Changchun to Shenyang.

Xu Mengtao, who left home early, is also very sensible, knowing that her parents have given her the best things within her ability. She has said more than once that she works hard to make her parents' lives better.

Afraid that her parents would worry about her, Xu Mengtao always reported good news and not bad news when she talked to her family on the phone. "Our family has a clear division of labor, and my dad and I talk a lot about training and career planning. My mom is more about making sure that I have logistics, like clothing, food, and some things in life, I will share with her. ”

Xu Mengtao and her parents.

In 2002, 12-year-old Xu Mengtao won 3 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze in the Liaoning Provincial Games. But at that time, she was close to 1.6 meters tall, and there was little advantage in continuing to practice gymnastics. After consulting with the coach, Xu Mengtao transferred to the aerials team and learned freestyle skiing.

Xu Mengtao in the eyes of the coach is a "ruthless character" who is always strict with himself. Every morning at 5 o'clock in the morning, she was never late; In every cultural class exam, she is in the top two.

On the 16th day of "snow", Xu Mengtao stood on the jumping platform, overcame her fear, and jumped forward bravely. "I was like a popsicle, jumping straight down."

After the first jump, she thought it was a novel experience. With the addition of tricks, she enjoyed every acceleration, flying, somersault, and landing more and more.

"I'm doing what I really love"

In 2007, Xu Mengtao was selected for the national team. At the national championships in December of that year, she nearly ended her athletic career by rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee.

She didn't cry when she had the surgery. But when she saw her teammates playing and she couldn't play, she cried. After recovering, she quickly began to return to training.

Fate always likes to joke with this girl who loves to laugh.

In the 13th National Winter Games in 2016, Xu Mengtao fell to the ground due to a mistake in action, causing a rupture of the ligament in her left leg and removing 60% of the meniscus on the outside of her left knee; Not long after recovering from her injury, she participated in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, but after landing, she was injured again and had 60% of the meniscus removed from the inside of her left knee, "basically two bones rubbing". Until she stood on the stage of the Beijing Winter Olympics, she still had nails in her legs.

Xu Mengtao has had surgery on both knees.

Every time she stood in the snow field and looked at the snow, Xu Mengtao always had a special feeling. "That feeling of freedom, excitement excites me. I understand that I'm doing what I really love! ”

Five days later, February 14, is also Valentine's Day in the West. This day has a special meaning for Xu Mengtao:

On February 14, 2009, she won the first World Cup gold medal of her career;

On February 14, 2014, at the Sochi Winter Olympics, she won her first Olympic medal - silver;

Eight years later, on February 14, she finally fulfilled her dream of an Olympic gold medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

February 14, 2026 will be the date of the Milan Winter Olympics, and Xu Mengtao is also looking forward to winning gold again.

"In fact, no matter what time I am, I am always enjoying the charm of aerials and constantly breaking through myself in the process of having fun training."

Xu Mengtao is a girl who loves to laugh.

Xu Mengtao has the cheerfulness, optimism and straightforwardness of the Northeast people in her bones, and calls herself a "model worker of the aerials team" on Weibo, and she is always smiling in the video.

In the interview, talking about the future, she said: "Life is a one-way journey, we must let the limited life create infinite possibilities, cherish the beauty of the present, embrace the beautiful things around us, and love our families." ”

When the reporter asked Xu Mengtao to say another thing she wanted to say to herself, she paused.

After thinking about it, she said: "Xu Mengtao, although you are very hard, but through your own efforts, you have helped the people around you, reaped happiness and beauty, and made your parents and the people you love happier." I want to say to myself: 'Xu Mengtao, you are awesome! ’”

Producer: Zhang Mian

Editor: Sun Xiali

Editor: Xu Ye

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