Sheng Lihao returned to his alma mater, and his students competed to "chase the stars"

Reporter Ling Xinwei

In the past two months, Suzhou's 16-year-old shooting youngster Sheng Lihao has made his personal Olympic and National Games debuts in a row. With a silver and a bronze achievement, yesterday, Sheng Lihao returned to his alma mater, Suzhou Sports School, visited the coaches and teachers of his alma mater, and shared with his students and sisters his mental journey of constantly breaking through and climbing the Olympic podium, encouraging everyone to persevere and bravely pursue their dreams.

The "Sharpshooter" returns with honors surrounded by "fans" when he appears

Yesterday afternoon, when Sheng Lihao appeared at the Suzhou Sports School, the scene was like a large "fan" meeting.

When he reached the door of the teaching building, he was surrounded by groups, and the students and sisters took out a variety of books and competed for signatures. Some students did not have time to take out paper and pencil, they asked to sign on the bag and mobile phone case they carried, and even some students directly took off their shirts... In this way, Sheng Lihao signed the autograph and walked while walking, surrounded by everyone, walked to the sharing meeting site. Not only that, but with Sheng Lihao, there were also enlightenment coaches and parents, who were also unable to resist the enthusiasm and were asked for autographs along the way.

At the school's Five Ring Theater, Sheng Lihao told his experience of competing in the Tokyo Olympic Games, inspiring the students to train hard and strive to win honors and add glory to their hometown. Sheng Lihao's parents, enlightenment coaches and homeroom teachers shared their lives and training on the spot, and the atmosphere was warm. Class teacher Zhang Cuihua said that Sheng Lihao was only in the sixth grade when he first arrived at the sports school, and he watched him grow from a "small point" to a young man, and he had a lot of feelings in his heart. "In my short 12 years of education, I never thought I would produce an Olympic student." Zhang Cuihua said that hard work and dedication are directly proportional, genius is not achieved overnight, I hope that children in school can have an Olympic dream by taking their teachers and brothers as an example.

Return to the old shooting range

The training is a memory of the past

After the sharing meeting, Sheng Lihao came to the shooting hall where he had sweated. Inside the museum, there are students and sisters training seriously. "This is where Sheng Lihao most often trains." Walking to the rifle training area, the enlightenment coach Shen Chao pointed to the target with the numbers "42" and "43" and said.

It is understood that when he was 13 years old, his father took Sheng Lihao to a shooting club in Zhangjiagang to play, and the first time he touched shooting, he played like a good look. The owner of the club used to be a member of the Suzhou shooting team, and seeing that Sheng Lihao was making rapid progress, he recommended him to the shooting team of Suzhou Sports School. In 2017, Sheng Lihao officially entered the shooting team training, under the supervision of Coach Shen Chao.

Shen Chao told reporters that when Sheng Lihao first arrived at the municipal sports school for training, he was small and thin, and the weight of a gun exceeded 4 kilograms, which was obviously overloaded for a thin child. "Compared to other children, his training process is very tiring, and the action of raising a gun cannot be in place at one time." Shen Chao said that in order to help Sheng Lihao make progress, the coaches made a special training plan for his personal situation, through sit-ups, push-ups, flat support, long-distance running and other sports, to strengthen physical function and increase weight. The training is boring, but he has no complaints, with perseverance, talent, after these years of experience, from obscurity to Jiangsu Provincial Champion, Second Youth League Champion, step by step into the national team.

Look back at the silver grab

The Junior will head for the gold medal

16 years old is the age when many people have just entered high school, and Sheng Lihao is already on the same stage as the top shooters in the country and even the world. At the Tokyo Olympics, Sheng Lihao won a silver medal in the men's 10m air rifle final and became the youngest athlete ever to win a medal in the Olympic shooting event.

Looking back on the journey of the Olympic Games, Sheng Lihao frankly said: "The first time I participated in the Olympic Games, there was definitely tension and pressure. The field is as strong as a cloud, and every shot is a test. "When he finished eighth in the preliminaries to reach the men's 10m air rifle final, he felt both lucky and particularly nervous. Compared with experienced athletes, Sheng Lihao's way of stabilizing his mentality on the field is still very immature: "Mainly by giving yourself psychological hints, cheering and cheering, saying to yourself to cheer up, you must be careful." ”

And when he stood on the Olympic podium and watched the five-star red flag rising, Sheng Lihao was even more determined in his heart of the Olympic champion dream. "I started training on the shooting team in the sixth grade, and every day my life revolves around shooting, which is actually boring, but I think it's shooting that changes me." Sheng Lihao said that when he was a child, he did not have any concept of competitive sports, but he just thought shooting was fun and interesting. What really made him understand that winning the shooting championship can stand on the highest podium and raise the national flag is at the 2018 Jiangsu Provincial Shooting Championships, where he won the men's 10m air rifle individual championship. Since then, he has been working towards his dream of winning the championship. "The Olympic champion is my goal, and during the training process I firmly believed that I could achieve a breakthrough in this project, and I persevered for five years. Now I am one step away from the highest honor, but there is still a long way to go, and I will continue to work hard. Sheng Lihao said.

In preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, Sheng Lihao has not rested for nearly a year. After this recent holiday, he will return to the national team in mid-October to prepare for the IU President's Cup in Poland in early November.

Editor-in-charge: Wu Hao