At 5:30 a.m. Beijing time on August 4, when most people were still asleep, the Tokyo Olympic Women's Marathon Swimming, the 10-kilometer open water event, had officially begun.
Although this is not the earliest event at the beginning of the Olympic Games, nor is it the traditional advantage of the Chinese delegation, with the rise of Xin Xin in recent years, all walks of life are full of expectations for Xin Xin to win a medal. Although Xin Xin eventually missed the medal and won the eighth place with a time of 2 hours, 0 minutes and 10 seconds, she has been worthy of these years of hard work and perseverance.
In fact, at the 2019 World Championships, Xin Xin has already made history: when she won the championship with a time of 1 hour, 54 minutes, 47 seconds and 20 seconds, becoming the first world champion of the Chinese team in the open water event of the World Championships. For an ordinary person, walking 10 kilometers may be a long one, let alone swimming in the water for a million meters! But for Xin Xin, who was born in 1996, she already didn't know how many times she had swam this distance...
The women's 10 km open water swim at the Tokyo Olympics, Xin Xin in the race. Image according to Visual China
5 hours a day swimming + physical training
"Tired to the point of collapse is commonplace"
Since the age of 6, Xin Xin has embarked on the path of swimming. "In the beginning, I didn't particularly like swimming, I was thrown down by the coach." In fact, many world champions take the same first step in swimming as most people, but persistence and hard work eventually pour out the heavy gold medal on their chests.
After entering the professional team training, Xin Xin recalled that he had said in his daily life over the years, starting from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m., sometimes tired to the point of collapse. In addition to "underwater work", heavy physical training is the standard of daily life.
"I'm often so tired that I don't want to talk, and I can't eat." Xin Xin said.
In fact, in 2012, Xin Xin, who had already won the women's 800-meter freestyle national championship, had the opportunity to continue to show her talents in the pool, but unfortunately she only ranked 24th in the 800-meter freestyle preliminaries of the London Olympic Games. In 2013, she set the Asian record for the women's 800m freestyle at the National Games.
But Xin Xin finally decided to switch to the longer distance project of open water, because her physical condition did not perfectly match the standards of the world's top swimmers: smaller hands and feet than swimmers, so that her swimming process was not efficient.
The women's 10 km open water swim at the Tokyo Olympics, Xin Xin replenished her energy during the competition. Image according to Visual China
Rio experienced a low point after becoming famous in the First World War
Back at the Gwangju World Championships
At the Rio Olympics, xin Xin's participation in the women's 10-kilometer open water competition was known to more Chinese people through live cameras, but the Internet was also full of "boring, tedious, and unattainable" remarks. But Xin Xin used the fourth place to help the Chinese team achieve a historic breakthrough in the project, and also made Xin Xin and her sport "famous in one battle".
For most ordinary people, 10 kilometers is an unattainable distance even on land, and even such a distance may take more than two hours, let alone swim such a distance in open water. In fact, after achieving certain results, Xin Xin once entered the trough of her career, but fortunately, the encouragement of her family and coaches has made her persist until today.
At the 2019 Gwangju Swimming World Championships, Xin Xin won the gold medal in this project with a "pocket" advantage of only 0.9 seconds, helping the Chinese team achieve a historic breakthrough and directly getting tickets for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
There were also two anecdotes in that competition: first of all, in the sprint stage, Xin Xin was pulled by the opponent behind her, and the opponent's disgraceful move stimulated Xin Xin's fighting spirit, and finally let her swim out of the super fast speed; in addition, because she was not prepared to receive the medal suit in advance, Xin Xin's teammates almost trotted all the way to send her a new medal suit, and the shoes on the highest podium were even temporarily borrowed!
On July 14, 2019, in Gwangju, South Korea, Xin Xin won the gold medal at the Gwangju Swimming World Championships. Image according to IC photo
Through the peaks and valleys, Xin Xindu has perfectly grasped every challenge and honor in his sports career. Although she missed the medal at the Tokyo Olympics, we believe that this cheerful Shandong girl will be able to prove herself again, proving that her victory two years ago was not accidental.
You may have just woken up from your slumber when you see this, but please say a blessing to Xin Xindao, who is setting off in Tokyo Bay to meet the rising sun!
Red Star News reporter Li Bo Pei Han
Edit Bao Chengli
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