Mention yang Xiuqiong's name, perhaps many young people are completely unfamiliar. But in the 1930s, she was a swimmer who knew everyone. In 1933, at the age of 15, Yang Xiuqiong and her sister participated in the Fifth National Games. For the first time, women's pentathlon swimming was included in the official competition, which attracted many female athletes, and Yang Xiuqiong was one of them.
As a result, she overpowered the crowd in five events and won five gold medals in one fell swoop. In this way, Yang Xiuqiong's name did not go away, and suddenly became a popular swimming star. Because of his good looks and great talent for swimming, everyone calls him a "mermaid". Now, in the blink of an eye, 87 years have passed, what happened to the "mermaid" Yang Xiuqiong?
Yang Xiuqiong was born in 1918 in Yangwu Village, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province. It is located in the lower reaches of the East River, the rivers are dense, and everywhere you see with the naked eye are large rivers and rivers. As a result, locals are extremely adept at dealing with water, especially swimming. It is said that when Yang Xiuqiong was just able to walk, her father took her into the water to learn to swim. As a result, she learned it in less than 10 days, which shows that she is extremely talented.
In 1928, at the age of 10, Yang Xiuqiong followed her father to live in Hong Kong, and then entered the Zun Tak Girls' School. Yang Xiuqiong's father was working in swimming at the South China Sports Association at that time, so he could take this opportunity to train his daughter more comprehensively. Yang Xiuqiong has good talent, is willing to endure hardships, has good physical conditions, and her level has grown rapidly.
Two years later, Hong Kong hosted a swimming competition, and the 12-year-old signed up for two freestyle events in the 50m and 100m with great anticipation. As a result, both of them won the championship, which can be described as a stunning moment. Then, in a very short period of time from 1931 to 1932, she won several championships. Because of this series of good results, she was also invited by the Australian Sports Association to perform in Victoria.
However, what really made Yang Xiuqiong famous in one fell swoop was at the Fifth National Games in October 1933. The biggest difference between this games and the past is the addition of women's pentathlon swimming, which naturally attracted the attention of female swimmers from all over the country, when Yang Xiuqiong and her sister participated in all five of them.
As a result, Yang Xiuqiong pressed Qunfang and won the gold medal in the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter backstroke, 100-meter freestyle, 200-meter topstroke, and women's 200-meter relay race, which was amazing. Coupled with the appearance of these female athletes wearing swimsuits, which is contrary to traditional Chinese morality and etiquette, it has aroused heated discussion among many people. As a result, Yang Xiuqiong's name, along with these honors and controversies, became instantly popular with media reports, and suddenly became a popular swimming "mermaid".
However, after becoming popular, Yang Xiuqiong began to neglect training, and shifted her focus to social pleasure. By the time of the Sixth National Games, she had unsurprisingly lost the 50-meter freestyle. By the 1936 Berlin Olympics, she had not even reached the final. After returning to China, Yang Xiuqiong was ridiculed by the crowd, and the well-known cartoonist Lu Shaofei specially drew a satirical painting for her called "The Fashion of eggs". In this regard, a generation of swimming "mermaids" fell.
Yang Xiuqiong's peak period was short, and soon after returning from the Berlin Olympics, she married the jockey Tao Boling. During this period, although she knew that her strength was no longer what it used to be, she still insisted on her swimming career. However, it was this move that caused her a huge problem. It turned out that after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Yang Xiuqiong was invited to participate in the national swimming competition held in Chongqing. In this competition, Yang Xiuqiong was humiliated and won the championship of eight events in one fell swoop. And this just made Fan Shaozeng on the side look in his eyes.
Numerous sources show that in 1937, Fan Shaozeng disregarded the fact that Yang Xiuqiong was already married, forcibly married her to the 19th aunt of the house, and forced Tao Boling to divorce her. However, this matter is actually a misinformation. Although Fan Shaozeng and Yang Xiuqiong had intersected in Chongqing, the relationship was innocent. The two later had a relationship in Shanghai, and they only greeted each other politely.
So, what happened to Yang Xiuqiong afterwards? In fact, Yang Xiuqiong's relationship with her husband Tao Boling was not good, and in 1947 she divorced him with two children, and then went to Hong Kong to develop, dedicated to poverty alleviation projects. During this time, she also met Chen Zhenguang, an overseas Chinese businessman, and the two soon fell in love and married. After marriage, Yang Xiuqiong followed Chen Zhenguang to move to Canada and never returned home. He died on 10 October 1982 at the age of 64.