TOKYO, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- At the beginning of this year, on Liu Hao's daughter's second birthday, he wrote in the WeChat circle of friends: "Your 'superman father' will work harder. He had an idea in mind – to win the Olympic gold medal and become his daughter's "superhuman father".
On the 3rd, although Liu Hao and Zheng Pengfei failed to stand on the highest podium of the Olympic Games, the silver medal was enough for these two "superhuman fathers" to write a Chinese kayak legend after Meng Guanliang/Yang Wenjun won the Olympic championship twice.
China's Liu Hao (left) and Zheng Pengfei at the award ceremony on August 3. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xue Yubin
A split-and-match partner
Liu Hao and Zheng Pengfei have always been the two strongest individual players in the men's rowing group of the national team, Liu Hao is the right paddle and Zheng Pengfei is the left paddle. It is reasonable to say that the two are the best combination, but both of them prefer to lead the paddle, are not used to following the paddle, the position has changed back and forth many times, and the results have not reached the expectations of the team. Since 2018, Liu Hao has spent most of his time rowing tandem boats with Wang Hao, with Zheng Pengfei focusing on single boats. However, Wang Hao has been plagued by injuries since the winter training at the end of last year, and cannot recover to the best condition, and can only regret to bid farewell to Tokyo. As a result, Liu Hao and Zheng Pengfei joined hands again.
China's Liu Hao (left) / Zheng Pengfei in the men's 1000m double rowing event on August 3. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xue Yubin
"Paddles need to keep up with the rhythm of the oarsman and control the course, which is a big test for me." At first, I was a little uncomfortable, but I forced myself to adapt, slowly summed up the experience, and cooperated well. Zheng Pengfei said.
The two have worked together in the first half of 2019, and the results are also very good. The first stop of the Kayaking World Cup was held in Poznan, Poland, and Liu Hao/Zheng Pengfei won the gold medal in the 500 meters and the bronze medal in the 1000 meters. Moving to Duisburg, Germany, the two won the 1000m final and set a new world record. Although the later World Championships were cooperated by Liu Hao and Wang Hao, the two once again set a new world best and won the championship, but the "Haofei" combination still has a good basis for cooperation.
"I almost didn't want to practice"
Liu Hao and Zheng Pengfei were both born in 1993.
In 2006, 13-year-old Zheng Pengfei had the opportunity to go to Shunde, Guangdong Province, to practice kayaking. Although his knowledge of kayaking at that time was limited to meng Guanliang/Yang Wenjun winning gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics, Zheng Pengfei, who was good at running since childhood, liked sports and was willing to try this unfamiliar sport. "I went on a kayak, and before I went, I heard that I had to be able to swim to practice this project, so I found a coach at home for a month and could swim 50 meters before I decided to leave." Zheng Pengfei said. With the support of his family, the teenager Zheng Pengfei traveled south from Heilongjiang to Guangdong and entered shunde sports school.
In 2007, Liu Hao, who attended middle school in Yuxi, Yunnan, was selected by the coach of Yuxi Sports School, "I felt inexplicable that I began to practice sports, of course, I liked sports." Liu Hao said. Since he was a child, he has loved to play by the water's edge and is very interested in the water sport of rowing. "When I first went, I was very unfamiliar with the project, but I liked it when I touched it, and I thought it was fun if I mastered it relatively quickly." Liu Hao said that at that time, he was young and did not know that he was tired. When I really found that I was tired of training, I had already entered the national team.
The rowing trail for both men started smoothly, and after the 2013 National Games, they both entered the national team. But the twists and turns also followed, after entering the national team, Liu Hao did not adapt, there was a gap in ability, so he returned to the provincial team. In 2017, Liu Hao was hospitalized twice in half a year due to illness, and when he came out of the hospital, he was only more than a month away from the National Games. The arduous recovery training and the exciting pre-game training went together, and the hardship and pain were only known to Liu Hao himself. But he won the gold medal in the double rowing boat 1000 meters and the silver medal in the single rowing boat 1000 meters at the National Games.
Infographic: Liu Hao (left) / Li Jinda celebrates after winning the men's 1000m double rowing boat on September 7, 2017. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xue Yubin
Zheng Pengfei's setback occurred in 2016, "the deepest impression is that the tandem boat failed to qualify for the [Rio Olympics], and when he returned to the provincial team, he felt very frustrated and confused, and almost didn't want to practice." For a long time, Zheng Pengfei did not go into the water and wanted to retire and go home. Later, he began to prepare for the National Games with the mentality of participating in the competition for the last time, and won one of the heaviest gold medals in Tianjin , defeating Liu Hao and Wang Hao to win the men's single rowing 1000 meters event. It is this gold medal that gives him the motivation to continue practicing.
Entering a new Olympic preparation cycle, Mark, the "gold coach" who led Meng Guanliang/Yang Wenjun to win the Olympic championship twice, returned to China to coach. "I've heard that Mark has a lot of training before, but I've only heard about it and have never experienced it. He finally learned after he came, he was very demanding, very strict with us, almost not at all, every training session had to be 100% completed. ”
High-intensity training, pay close attention to physical fitness, men's rowing has once again had a rebirth-like change, the double rowing 1000 meters after winning the 2019 World Championships, has become the number one favorite to win the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Be your daughter's "Superman Daddy"
Liu Hao and Zheng Pengfei each have a lovely daughter.
Liu Hao's wife, Qin Lizhi, was his former teammate, and the two were the same team members at the Yuxi City Sports School, and later entered the provincial team together. "She's a little older than me, so I got married earlier." Liu Hao said, "I think that after getting married, the sense of responsibility is stronger, including the attitude towards training will be a little different." ”
When the daughter was about to be born, the national team was training in Guizhou and was preparing to transfer. The team gave Liu Hao a few days off to go home, and as a result, his daughter did not land until the day before he returned to the team. "Just looked at it and came back." Liu Hao said that now that her daughter is more than two years old, she has not seen her father several times except for videos. During last year's national championships, his wife took his daughter to see his father's game, and Liu Hao volunteered to bathe his daughter, but he was at a loss.
Zheng Pengfei's wife, an ordinary white-collar worker outside the sports circle, said he was lucky that his wife understood and supported him very much. "She kept telling me that you could do whatever you wanted. I feel that after getting married, I have a stronger sense of responsibility, I know more about what I want, and I may feel that the burden on my body will be heavier. ”
In June last year, Zheng Pengfei's daughter was born, and the team gave him a week off to go back to accompany the birth, but only three days after his daughter was born, he returned to Rizhao to start normal training. "I saw her at home twice, and once we transferred to Hongqiao Airport to transfer to the high-speed train, and she (wife) came to Hongqiao with her daughter on her back for 15 minutes." When he said this, Zheng Pengfei was a little moved.
For the sake of the Olympic Games and the honor of the country, the two fathers can only give up their small family first, and the number of times they see their daughters can be counted.
Liu Hao hopes to establish an image of a "superhuman father" for his daughter, "I think this title is quite interesting, and not everyone can have it."
Liu Hao said that the goal of the Tokyo Olympic Games is to raise the national flag and play the national anthem, and it is regrettable that the national anthem could not be heard. Zheng Pengfei also shed tears.
There are regrets, but they finally have time to accompany their families and accompany their children to grow.
The "superman dad" who did not become an Olympic champion is still a light in the hearts of children.
Produced by the Xinhua News Agency's Tokyo Olympic Games Reporting Group
Source: Xinhua News Agency