Text | Wang Zhenyi
Edit | Noisy
In 2001, at the Fukuoka Swimming World Championships, Wu Minxia and her partner Guo Jingjing were very strong opponents, they were the Russian players Parklina and Irina, who had won the women's double 3m springboard at the Sydney Olympic Games the previous year.
In the face of a strong opponent, Wu Minxia was a little nervous, Guo Jingjing helped her ease her emotions, she said to Wu Minxia: "It's okay, relax, you just train like usual, don't have any baggage." ”
Guo Jingjing's words, Wu Minxia listened to her heart. She and Guo Jingjing calmly coped, and finally defeated Parklina and Irina to win the women's double 3m springboard championship.
This year, Wu Minxia was 16 years old, which was her first world championship.
At that time, no one would have imagined that this young girl would surpass guo jingjing and Fu Mingxia's records a few years later, winning 5 Olympic gold medals and 29 world championships.
Everyone did not expect that compared with Fu Mingxia and Guo Jingjing, who married into the rich, Wu Minxia chose an ordinary man.
Now that Wu Minxia has retired, what kind of life is she living? How did she become a legend in the diving field? What kind of love story does she have?
01
Wu Minxia was born in 1985 in an ordinary family on Longhua Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, her family house is only 14 square meters, the family has built a loft, sleeping in the attic, eating under the attic, and there is no separate bathroom in the home.
Although the house is small, Wu Minxia when she was a child also enjoyed herself, she liked water very much, when she took a bath when she was a child, she often soaked in the bathtub and did not come out.
At the age of 7, the Barcelona Olympics were held. At this Olympic Games, 14-year-old Fu Mingxia won the gold medal in the women's 10m platform, becoming the youngest champion in Olympic history.
Watching Fu Mingxia win the championship on TV, Wu Minxia excitedly said to her parents: "Daddy! Mom! Look, Fu Mingxia won the championship! She also said: "I will be like her in the future, to win the Olympic championship!" ”
The year before that, Wu Minxia had embarked on the road of diving.
At that time, Coach Yuan Lianying of Shanghai Junior Sports School went to Wu Minxia's kindergarten to select good seedlings suitable for diving, and after measuring the figure and toughness of more than 100 children, Wu Minxia became the most outstanding one.
Coach Yuan Lianying took a fancy to Wu Minxia. It was just that at that time, more than one person liked Wu Minxia, and the teacher of the dance class also took a fancy to her.
Do you go diving or learn to dance? Wu Minxia's parents must make a choice. In the end, considering that the Shanghai swimming pool was closer to home, they decided to let Wu Minxia practice diving.
It's just that Wu Minxia's diving path is not smooth, because congenital anemia and congenital trans and hip joints are prominent, and her athletic ability is much worse than that of ordinary people.
But even so, the young Wu Minxia did not choose to give up. She insists on training in sports school every day, and if she is left behind other children, she will be unhappy.
One morning, Wu Minxia's father had a high fever and could not get out of bed, which meant that he could not send Wu Minxia to the sports school for early exercise. He said to Wu Minxia: "Dad is really uncomfortable today, we are not going today, okay?" ”
For this, Wu Minxia said firmly: "No, you hurry up." ”
What touched Wu Minxia's father was that later, because the coach was too strict, many parents took their children home, but Wu Minxia persisted.
Wu Minxia's persistence and hard work have been rewarded, and in 1995, at the age of 10, she entered the Shanghai diving team and received professional training.
02
Shortly after joining the Shanghai diving team, Wu Minxia encountered an unfortunate incident, during which her right hand joint was fractured.
Although she eventually recovered, Wu Minxia was no longer suitable for training for the jumping platform project with a large impact on both arms, and Wu Minxia switched to springboarding.
For the practice springboard, Wu Minxia is still very serious and desperate. This led her to enter the national diving team in 1995 when she was favored by the national diving team leader Zhou Jihong.
When she first entered the national diving team, Wu Minxia clearly realized that she was the youngest and the least capable of the team.
She was not intimidated by such a gap, she thought, "I practice more every day, God will not fail me, right?" ”
So she used high-intensity training to make up for the gap between her and other team members, and she rotated in the diving pool, canteen, and dormitory every day.
For Wu Minxia's fighting spirit, Zhou Jihong especially appreciates it. In Zhou Jihong's view, Fu Mingxia is a talented player, Guo Jingjing is a player who combines talent and hard work, and Wu Minxia is a player with "special willpower".
This strong willpower has created Wu Minxia's brilliant achievements in diving career after that.
However, in front of her real independence, she gained a bad title, many people say that she is the "second millennium oldest", because when she competes with Guo Jingjing, she is always second, and Guo Jingjing is the champion. Even many people lament that being in the same era as Guo Jingjingsheng is the misfortune of Wu Minxia.
For these remarks from the outside world, Wu Minxia frankly said in an interview with the media: "You are not Guo Jingjing, you are not Fu Mingxia, my name is Wu Minxia, what Wu Minxia wants, can not say that I practice diving, I will become Guo Jingjing, or my name will become them, it is impossible!" I am still Wu Minxia, what I want to understand is me, and what kind of road Wu Minxia wants to take is my own decision. ”
Wu Minxia knows better than anyone what path to take, and the relationship between her and Guo Jingjing is also very harmonious.
When they formed a combination, they were invincible in jumping water.
In 2002, they won the women's doubles 3m board championship at the 14th Asian Games.
In 2004, they won the women's doubles 3m board at the Athens Olympics.
In 2007, they won the Women's Doubles 3m Board Championships at the World Championships.
In 2008, they won the women's 3m board at the Beijing Olympics.
What many people don't know is that after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, because of injuries, Wu Minxia once thought about retiring, And Zhou Jihong and the coach all hoped that she could stick to the 2012 London Olympic Games, and because of the regrets in the Olympic women's springboard singles event. In the end, Wu Minxia gave up the idea of retiring and decided to fight again.
It was also in this year that she met the right person in her life.
03
At the Beijing Olympics, Wu Minxia was impressed by the commentators who gave Chinese and English commentaries on diving competitions, and she felt that the commentators were fluent in English and their voices were very magnetic.
She specifically asked Guo Jingjing, "Which TV station is this narrator?"
Guo Jingjing told her: "His name is Zhang Xiaocheng, he doesn't seem to be a professional announcer, and he went to our team two months ago to get information." Not only does he have a good voice, he is also super handsome. ”
What Wu Minxia did not expect was that when the award was over, Zhang Xiaocheng actually took the initiative to find her for a group photo and asked for her contact information, she did not know that Zhang Xiaocheng fell in love with her at first sight.
However, for whether to pursue Wu Minxia, Zhang Xiaocheng also hesitated for a long time. He was wondering how a big star in the sports world could look at a college student who had just graduated. In his various hypotheses, their relationship ended in tragedy.
However, no amount of assumptions can resist the feelings in the heart.
In 2010, Wu Minxia was injured in the Diving Series Qingdao Station, and Zhang Xiaocheng, who learned the news, sent a message of concern for the first time.
Originally, he wrote a long paragraph, which was finally condensed into four words: Are you okay?
Receiving Zhang Xiaocheng's text message, Wu Minxia was very surprised. In the days that followed, they texted each other every day, and Zhang Xiaocheng sometimes cared about her and sometimes sent her a joke to relieve boredom.
Back and forth, Wu Minxia found that Zhang Xiaocheng not only had a good voice, but also a very humorous voice, which always made him laugh. And Zhang Xiaocheng's cooking skills are also very good, when Wu Minxia casually said that she likes to eat meat sandwich steamed buns, Zhang Xiaocheng went to Shaanxi to learn the most authentic meat sandwich steamed buns.
For Zhang Xiaocheng's situation, Wu Minxia also had an understanding. A year younger than Wu Minxia, Zhang Xiaocheng, a native of Fuping County, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province, was a former college entrance exam winner and graduated from the Communication University of China majoring in broadcasting and hosting arts.
Zhang Xiaocheng's family situation is very ordinary, but he is willing to work hard and be self-motivated.
For such Zhang Xiaocheng, Wu Minxia did not dislike it, and they became boyfriend and girlfriend.
It is only as a diving star that Wu Minxia's love life has attracted much attention, and she is worried that the media will compare Zhang Xiaocheng with Fu Mingxia and Guo Jingjing's other half, and she feels that this will bring great pressure to Zhang Xiaocheng and "it is unfair to him." She is also worried that outside public opinion will affect her training.
In the end, after the two discussed, they decided to "hide their love" and wait until the right time to announce it.
Wu Minxia and Zhang Xiaocheng did indeed keep their mouths shut, and even Guo Jingjing did not know.
In 2012, Guo Jingjing married Huo Qigang of the Hong Kong magnate Fok Ying Tung family. As a sister-in-law, Guo Jingjing broke her heart for her brother Huo Qishan's emotional problems.
As Huo Qigang's second brother and Huo Yingdong's grandson, Huo Qishan has achieved little success in his career, but he is very emotionally unhappy.
He first fell in love with the actress Zhang Ziyi, but because the Huo family had a stipulation that the actress marrying into the Huo family must be married to the Husband and Son at home, he and Zhang Ziyi came to the end of the breakup.
After breaking up with Zhang Ziyi, he and Slovak model Leah fell in love for 4 years, because Grandma Lu Yanni did not want foreign women to marry into the Huo family, and the two had to break up.
After breaking up with Leah, Huo Qishan and He Chaolian, the daughter of the gambling king, had a story, but in the end the two had no connection.
In the face of Huo Qishan, who has such a bumpy road, Guo Jingjing thought of Wu Minxia, and she wanted to introduce Wu Minxia to Huo Qishan, if they were together, they could still become a family.
However, Wu Minxia refused Guo Jingjing's kindness and told her the fact that she already had a boyfriend, and Guo Jingjing promised to help her keep it a secret.
In this year, in addition to rejecting the giants, Wu Minxia got rid of the title of "millennium old man" in the diving career.
04
In 2012, at the London Olympics, Wu Minxia and He Zi won the gold medal in the women's doubles 3m board, and then Wu Minxia won the gold medal in the women's singles 3m board.
On the Olympic women's singles 3m board, Wu Minxia has no regrets. The gold medals she won at the Olympic Games reached a total of 4, equaling the records of Fu Mingxia and Guo Jingjing.
To this day, many viewers still remember that after winning the gold medal in the women's singles 3m board, Wu Minxia fell into the arms of the coach and she cried. Later, in an interview with the media, she said that at that time, "it wasn't that I cried at the thought of the gold medal, I just felt that I could stand up to the competition in the past two years, and today the competition played so perfectly, I felt that I did it!" ”
This year, Wu Minxia was 27 years old. She can retire without regrets.
Then after the game, Zhou Jihong had a deep conversation with Wu Minxia, and she asked Wu Minxia, "If you still have the ability, do you want to continue?" ”
Wu Minxia knew very well that this was Zhou Jihong's belief that she could continue to win glory for the country.
She thought about it and decided to participate in another Olympic Games, she told the media: "The Chinese diving team has not participated in the Olympic Games at the age of 30 before, and I think it is a very proud thing if it can become the 'first person'." Even if you can't go to the end, I think it is not easy to dare to challenge yourself and break through the limits. ”
Just choosing to fight in another Olympic Games also means that her relationship with Zhang Xiaocheng will be announced 4 years later, and she apologetically said to Zhang Xiaocheng: "You wait for me for another 4 years, okay?" ”
Zhang Xiaocheng chose to support her.
It's not easy to just want to win a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
At that time, Wu Minxia's physical quality could not be compared with the young people in the team, but she never relaxed in training. The coach was worried that she was working hard and her body could not eat, and he deliberately forced her to practice less.
But even so, Wu Minxia is not lazy. She said: "I don't have any noble ideas, I am afraid that if I practice a little less, I will regress." Sometimes I can't dance well, and I have no bottom in my heart, so I want to dance well over and over again. If you feel that you have not practiced in place, you will be particularly unhappy, and you will not be able to eat or sleep well. ”
At that time, because she was full of injuries, Wu Minxia had to undergo more than two hours of physical therapy after each training, and received psychological counseling for injuries and illnesses.
But what really "hindered" Wu Minxia's victory at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics was an accident.
Just three months before the trip to Rio de Janeiro, during training, Wu Minxia accidentally stepped on the air, and the tibia of her right leg was cut by a springboard for a wound of nearly 10 centimeters.
She resumed her training before the wound was fully healed. As a result, under the intensive practice, the wound was repeatedly cracked, and the situation was very serious. Later, Wu Minxia said: "That place is the skin and bones, even the needles can not be sewn, can only endure the pain and slowly nourish." ”
The doctor directly ordered her to stop training and recuperate, but the wound healed very well after a month.
However, the wound healed, and Wu Minxia's waist injury recurred. This caused Wu Minxia to cry bitterly in the training hall because of the psychological pressure.
But even so, at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Wu Minxia and Shi Tingmao won the gold medal in the women's doubles 3m board.
This means that Wu Minxia became the Olympic hardware king, and her medals at the Olympic Games reached 7 (5 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze), becoming the first person in China's Olympic history. The BBC called her an "absolute legend" in the diving world.
It was also in this competition that Wu Minxia and Zhang Xiaocheng's lover relationship was exposed.
At that time, Zhang Xiaocheng went to Rio de Janeiro at his own expense to cheer for his girlfriend. During the women's doubles 3m board final, Zhang Xiaocheng sat in the first row of the stands, waving the national flag and cheering wu Minxia loudly.
Zhang Xiaocheng's performance attracted the attention of a reporter from the CCTV sports channel at the scene, who asked him: "Who are you Wu Minxia?" Why is there so much passion? ”
Zhang Xiaocheng smiled and said, "I am her boyfriend." ”
When the reporter heard it, he screamed and then said, "A pair of golden children and jade girls with good eyes." ”
05
After the love affair was exposed, Wu Minxia and Zhang Xiaocheng were guests on CCTV's "Face to Face with champions", and the host asked Wu Minxia: "Your two sisters Fu Mingxia and Guo Jingjing are married to giants, why do you choose ordinary people?" ”
Wu Minxia replied emotionally: "Everyone's pursuit of love is different, and Zhang Xiaocheng and I are very suitable." In my mind, he is a male god, very good. ”
After love saw the light, Wu Minxia also made a major choice.
On December 15, 2016, at the CCTV Sports Personality Preliminary Review Announcement Conference, Wu Minxia announced the news of her retirement.
She said: "If you insist on it, you are not responsible for yourself or your family. Now that the world is promoting healthy sports, we have to respond, don't we? Life can not only dive, I am too focused people, one day without retiring, I can not face a new beginning wholeheartedly. ”
After retiring from the army, Wu Minxia studied in school to improve herself while doing some publicity work on diving. She and Zhang Xiaocheng registered their marriage on May 17, 2017, and entered the palace of marriage, after which they had a daughter, nicknamed "Xixi".
And with the help of Zhang Xiaocheng, Wu Minxia found a new direction in life, she became a blogger, she shared her life experience and fitness strategies on the short video platform, carried out nutrition science, and had millions of fans.
Today, Wu Minxia calls herself an "ordinary housewife", and she is very satisfied and content with her current life. She and Zhang Xiaocheng are still in love, the two have never quarreled, Wu Minxia told the media bluntly: "You can't argue with him, he will first make you happy or talk about something else, and then analyze what is wrong after you calm down." I think it's a very comfortable mode of communication. ”
Now that Wu Minxia is 35 years old, looking back at her athlete career, she bluntly said that she never regretted it, "It taught me the rules of being a person and doing things, and taught me to constantly break through myself and help others." Sports have such a charm and can help a person grow physically and mentally comprehensively and healthily. ”
For the future, she has no limits on herself, as she said in a video titled "Champions Bloom" released on June 21, 2021: 30 years old will not be the end of life, and 35 years old will not be. There is no limit to young age, and there should be no limit for 30 years, 35 years old, and x years. It is better to be bold, to explore, to love, to pursue, to be born in Japan, you have unlimited possibilities.
I have to say that Wu Minxia is very worthy of respect, I wish her greater achievements in her new career, and I also wish her and Zhang Xiaocheng happiness.