Text | Wang Zhenyi
Edit | Noisy
In 1996, in the 5,000-meter long run of the Atlanta Olympic Games, for the sake of national honor and for herself, in the face of fever and diarrhea, Wang Junxia did not warm up and resolutely went to the starting line.
What made the Chinese audience angry at the scene was that Wang Junxia had not run for long before she was pushed by the black hand and almost fell. Fortunately, she coped calmly and began to accelerate in the last 900 meters, leaving the Kenyan runners in front of her with 2 corners.
In the end, Wang Junxia won the championship with a time of 14:59.88, making history for the Chinese team to win the first gold medal in long-distance running at the Olympic Games.
At that time, no one could have expected Wang Junxia to win the championship, and the delegation did not prepare the national flag. Fortunately, the international students in the stands had a national flag, and one international student threw the national flag to Wang Junxia, who ran high in the stadium and greeted the audience, which also became one of the most classic pictures in the history of Chinese sports.
However, what Wang Junxia did not expect was that after she returned to China, she did not face all kinds of glory, her coach Mao Dezhen was "forced to retire", her assistant coach and other team members were forced to leave the team, her food was reduced from the champion stove to a meal, and she could only queue up in the canteen with other ordinary team members.
Not long after, Wang Junxia retired and ended her career as a professional athlete.
For Wang Junxia's retirement at her peak, the outside world is very curious, what happened to make her make such a decision? How is she doing now?
It all starts at the beginning of the story.
01
Wang Junxia was born in 1973 to a peasant family in Qianyan Village, Jilin Province, her parents made a living from farming, and she didn't have much time to take care of her, and she learned to live independently at an early age.
Because her family was poor and did not have money to buy bicycles, and the school was far away, Wang Junxia walked and ran to school every day.
With this run, Wang Junxia's talent in long-distance running began to appear.
In 1988, Wang Junxia represented her school in the Dalian Primary and Secondary School Students Games, and without professional training and running shoes, she ran a good time of 4 minutes and 58 seconds in the 1500-meter long run.
This performance of Wang Junxia was noticed by the Dalian Sports School, which tested Wang Junxia, and one coach gave the evaluation: the conditions are average, and the hard work is OK.
Although the evaluation of Wang Junxia by dalian sports school was average, wang Junxia was still allowed to do a trial training at the sports school during the summer vacation, unfortunately, because Wang Junxia would not have various comprehensive training actions, and the daily endurance running could not keep up, Wang Junxia was returned.
It was a big blow to Wang Junxia, but she did not give up, and she won the second opportunity to enter the Dalian Sports School for training.
After 12 days of training, she participated in the competition, and the results were very good, which was appreciated by the sports school coach Wang Shizhong.
In the end, Wang Junxia officially entered Dalian Sports School without trial training.
Wang Shizhong conducted "happy" training for Wang Junxia, and he always said to her: "Relax and run, run happily." ”
Wang Junxia did indeed do this, and running made her very happy and happy.
She did not disappoint Wang Shizhong and won the long-distance running championship many times.
At that time, Wang Junxia did not think at all that after 3 years, her life would change drastically because of a man.
02
In 1991, the 18-year-old Wang Junxia achieved excellent results at the National Urban Games and was photographed by Ma Junren, the coach of the Liaoning Athletics Team, and Wang Junxia began to train with Ma Junren.
Ma Junren is different from Wang Shizhong, he is extremely strict in training, he made a team rule, not allowing team members to grow long hair, read, fall in love, and even forbid them to communicate with each other.
To the team members, Ma Junren often said, "You bastards, leaving me is nothing." You are a herd of donkeys, you are beasts, you are not human. I let you run the first few, I let you run as fast as you can, I let you run as fast as you want, I let you do what you do. ”
In such a "harsh" training environment, Ma Jiajun, led by Ma Junren, reached its peak of reputation in 1993.
This year, Ma Jiajun broke the national record, the Asian record, and even created a new world record for 66 consecutive times. Associated Press review: This is a shocking miracle in the history of athletics!
Among them, Wang Junxia is the most dazzling.
This year, at the Women's Athletics Qualifier and National Athletics Championships of the 7th National Games, Wang Junxia won the women's 10,000 meters championship, breaking the Asian record.
This year, at the fifth World Cup marathon, Wang Junxia won the championship.
This year, at the 7th National Games, Wang Junxia made 5 appearances in 6 days and rewrote the world record 3 times.
At the end of this year, Wang Junxia was named the first of the "Top Ten Athletes in China".
On February 1 of the following year, Wang Junxia won the Jesse Owens International Award, becoming the first Asian athlete to receive this honor. She is also known as the "Oriental Sacred Deer".
At that time, in the eyes of the outside world, Wang Junxia and Ma Junren were models of mutual achievement.
What everyone never expected was that 10 months after winning the Jesse Owens International Award, Wang Junxia did not hesitate to leave Ma Jiajun, which made her fall into the whirlpool of public opinion at that time.
03
On December 12, 1994, Wang Junxia and eight other members of Ma Jiajun's main team submitted a collectively signed resignation letter to Ma Junren.
In the early morning of the next day, they collectively ran away from the Dalian training base and completely broke with Ma Junren, known in history as the "Ma Family Army Mutiny".
Before Wang Junxia left, Ma Junren and relevant leaders did Wang Junxia's ideological work and gave promises for bonuses, houses, and villas, but Wang Junxia was not moved and wanted to leave.
When the "Ma Jiajun Mutiny" was reported by the media, Wang Junxia became the target of public criticism, and many people accused her of not reading the friendship between master and apprentice and betraying her teacher.
Seeing these accusations, Wang Junxia cried every day at that time. At first she tried to argue, but then she found that "it is futile to do these things, because people's positions and things they understand are fundamentally different." ”
Indeed, at that time, the outside world could not understand the truth, until 1998, when the writer Zhao Yu published the book "Ma Jiajun Investigation" to uncover Ma Jiajun's unknown secrets.
In the book, Zhao Yu revealed that Wang Junxia told her that Ma Junren had beaten and abused ma family army members for many years, and even lured and forced them to take illegal drugs.
Wang Junxia told Zhao Yu that they were worried about the reputation of the motherland being damaged and worried about the "gold content" of the gold medals they fought. She also said: "We are still a group of children, we are people, not a machine, not a livestock, we need to live a human life, we have the right to be human, we need freedom!" ”
Only before these were disclosed, Wang Junxia was inevitably excluded and threatened by Ma Junren at that time.
At that time, for the safety of her life, Wang Junxia submitted a petition letter to the relevant departments, and she wrote at the end of the letter: Finally, we boldly proposed to the leaders to protect our personal safety and prevent Ma Dao from retaliating and murdering.
At that time, Wang Junxia was retired to the provincial team, and for various reasons, no coach dared to teach her until she met Mao Dezhen.
04
When Mao Dezhen saw Wang Junxia, it was already half a year after Wang Junxia was returned to the provincial team, and Wang Junxia's mental state at that time was particularly poor, and she said to Mao Dezhen: "I am already an incurable person." ”
Mao Dezhen did not give up on her, constantly enlightening her, encouraging her, and letting her regain her confidence. Years later, recalling this past, Wang Junxia confessed: "When I just left the 'Ma Jiajun', my spirit almost collapsed, and it was Mao's guidance that made me return to the arena and become a normal person. Without him there would be no Olympic champion for me. ”
At that time, Mao Dezhen and Wang Junxia were preparing for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Wang Junxia attaches great importance to this Olympic Games, she has never attached such importance to a game, she wants to prove herself, to prove that she can still leave Ma Junren.
What many people don't know is that it is not easy for Wang Junxia to walk on the field of the Atlanta Olympic Games.
At that time, when Mao Dezhen and Wang Junxia were training, there were always unknown people coming to the venue to make trouble and hinder the training.
In order to allow Wang Junxia to train normally and protect her personal safety. When Wang Junxia runs, Mao Dezhen will let the male team members gather around the perimeter for protection.
Mao Dezhen would also watch the team members boil soup and chinese herbs, and he was worried that someone was doing tricks inside.
He even put a dagger under his pillow for self-defense. Years later, he told Zhao Yu, who interviewed him: "I was very low-key, I didn't want to cause trouble, but I still couldn't escape. ”
Finally, in order to avoid harassment and threats, Mao Dezhen and Wang Junxia ran to Nanjing for training.
When the Atlanta Olympics approached, some people even paid 3 million yuan for the heads of Maode Town and 5 million for Wang Junxia's heads, and made death threats against them.
On the eve of Wang Junxia's expedition to Atlanta, when she was on the phone with her family, Wang Junxia learned that someone had made a threatening phone call to her home and wrote a threatening letter, saying that she wanted Wang Junxia's life, that she was crippled, and that her whole family was not good.
Faced with such a situation, Wang Junxia's mother asked Wang Junxia not to participate in the Olympic Games and let her hurry back to her home to live an ordinary life.
Wang Junxia did not flinch, she said to her mother: "If I have any accident, everyone will understand who did it." You don't have to worry, he's just scaring us and interfering with my game. ”
Wang Junxia bravely stepped onto the olympic field in Atlanta, and in the case of physical discomfort, she won the gold medal in the women's 5,000 meters and the silver medal in the women's 10,000 meters.
Wang Junxia proved herself and won glory for the country.
It was just that after returning to China, she never expected it to be so serious.
05
Soon after Wang Junxia returned from Atlanta, Mao Dezhen said to her: "I am leaving, the team has informed me that my retirement procedures have been completed, and they have restricted me to leave the track and field team within three days. ”
Immediately after her assistant coach and other players were forced to leave the team, she could no longer eat the championship stove, and she could not give interviews, send and receive letters, and train.
Coupled with years of mental pressure, Wang Junxia began to be unable to eat anything and suffered from nervous vomiting.
Wang Junxia knew that her career as a professional athlete had come to an end. She approached the top level of the Liaoning Provincial Sports Commission and made a request to go abroad. She said: "Now I am facing a dead end, let me go abroad, go abroad, whether I am dead or alive I am responsible." ”
Subsequently, with the help of friends, Wang Junxia "fled" to the United States and left the land of right and wrong.
This year, Wang Junxia was 23 years old, and she "retired".
When Wang Junxia returned to China, it was already half a year later, and she entered the law department of Chinese University.
In this process, Wang Junxia met former Liaoning football player Zhan Yu through the introduction of friends. At that time, Wang Junxia was very helpless, and she wanted to find someone to lean on, and Zhan Yu became the one who could make her rely on.
Six months after the two met, on May 18, 1997, the two registered their marriage.
However, when the two held their wedding on February 24, 2001, their wedding was very lively, Zhao Benshan served as the wedding host, many leaders of Liaoning sports attended her wedding, and Ma Junren also came.
Ma Junren gave Wang Junxia a photo of her breaking the 10,000-meter world record in 1993, surrounded by 999K gold.
At that time, the relationship between Wang Junxia and Ma Junren had eased up a lot. Before this, because of the release of "Ma Jiajun Investigation", the doping problem and the departure of the main team members, the myth of Ma Jiajun was shattered.
Later, during the New Year's Festival, Wang Junxia would also send Ma Junren a new year's message.
In 2005, when Wang Junxia established the "Wang Junxia Health Running Club" in Shenyang, Ma Junren also rushed from Beijing to Shenyang to hug his former lover tightly.
Later, Wang Junxia said bluntly in public many times: "I will never deny that without Ma Junren, there would be no Wang Junxia, and I have understood that in that era, he could only do that." Wang Junxia also said: "I, Coach Ma, many people, we are the tragedy of the times." ”
It's just a pity that her original career as an athlete with unlimited possibilities was ruined at the age of 23.
What everyone did not expect was that after walking off the track and field, in the marriage arena, Wang Junxia was equally bumpy.
06
After Wang Junxia and Zhan Yu got married, the two had a son. In 2006, their marriage came to an end.
Zhan Yu couldn't stand the discussion of the people around him, and everyone always said to him: "Married an Olympic champion, a butt sat on the money bag." ”
One day, he said to Wang Junxia, "I have no feelings for you anymore. ”
Wang Junxia understood everything, she left the house, and her son, car, and house were all left for Zhan Yu.
When Wang Junxia had her second marriage, it was already 2008.
This year, at a banking event, Wang Junxia met Huang Tiantian. In fact, this is not the first time they have met, in 1999 at a banquet in the United States, they met, Huang Tiantian also took the initiative to find Wang Junxia for a group photo.
But this encounter sublimated the feelings of the two, and they entered the palace of marriage in October of this year.
Compared with Zhan Yu, Huang Tiantian's economic conditions were much better. He is a Chinese-American who studied music and is primarily in the environmental business in the United States.
The two had a daughter after marriage, but the marriage also came to an end in 2013.
This year, Wang Junxia announced the divorce from Huang Tiantian on her social media account, but their legal divorce was in January 2015.
In the past two years, after being introduced by friends, Wang Junxia met Li Huiyang.
When they chatted, their values were the same, which made Wang Junxia feel very comfortable getting along. But she did not tell Li Huiyang her true identity, and she got along with Li Huiyang under the pseudonym "Wang Xi". She hopes that the person she is in love with is not a celebrity, and she hopes to make the other person approve of her in terms of personality, qualities, including subtle feelings, while hiding her true identity.
Later, Li Huiyang was surprised to learn that he had found an Olympic champion, and they entered the palace of marriage in 2015.
At about the same time that Wang Junxia and Li Huiyang were married, Huang Tiantian released the book "Oriental Sacred Deer - My Wife Wang Junxia". The book mentions the feud between Wang Junxia and Ma Junren, and also exposes a lot of Wang Junxia's privacy.
For this, Wang Junxia posted on social platforms that Huang Tiantian's "Oriental Sacred Deer - My Wife Wang Junxia" was unauthorized and had a lot of untrue content.
For this reason, Wang Junxia and Huang Tiantian also tore each other apart for a while, making their marriage the last place of chicken feathers.
Fortunately, everything will pass, and now Wang Junxia and Li Huiyang are happy and loving, and they also have a child.
Although Wang Junxia is no longer a professional athlete, her life is still related to athletics, and she often appears in marathon events across the country as an image ambassador.
In July 2019, she was also unanimously elected as the president of Dalian Athletics Association and served as the image ambassador of Dalian "Running Dalian".
She also keeps pace with the times, releasing instructional videos on short video platforms to teach people about fitness exercises.
After experiencing the ups and downs of life, Wang Junxia now has a happy family and continues to engage in her favorite profession, which is a happy ending.
I wish her a better life in the future.