The Paper's reporter Song Chengliang
Sir Steve Redgrave.
In the UK, there are not many sports athletes with the title of "SIR" (sir), and we are familiar with Beckham and "Old Lord" Ferguson.
But there is one man who is more legendary than the two of them — five Olympic games, five Olympic gold medals, and the picture of him carrying a diabetic body and taking insulin on the sidelines of the game will forever record the history of the Olympic Games.
He is Sir Steve Redgrave, the "totem" of rowing – now, Redgrave's title is Director of Sport for the Chinese Rowing Team, and behind the Chinese women's quadruple sculls gold medal and the men's double oars bronze medal, there is the "blueprint design" he brought to Chinese rowing.
Stephen Redgrave holds five Olympic gold medals.
The love affair that began at the Athens Olympics
On May 28, 2018, the Chinese Rowing Association held a signing ceremony for Sir Redgrave at the State General Administration of Sport. But in fact, the two sides may even cooperate more than a decade earlier.
It was also at the 2004 Athens Olympics, when Redcliffe finally stopped coming to the Olympics as an athlete – from Los Angeles in 1984 to Sydney in 2000, Redcliffe won five Olympic gold medals, becoming the only rower in Olympic history to win five gold medals in five consecutive Olympic games, and was knighted by the Queen of England.
Redcliffe was then working as a guest commentator at the BBC to analyse Olympic rowing competitions. In an interview with Xinhua, when asked what he thought of Chinese players, Redgrave thought that Chinese rowing was improving rapidly.
"In the women's lightweight double sculls and the women's eight-person single sculls, two events that have always been dominated by two or three countries, it is really not easy for the Chinese team to reach the final."
He also mentioned Chinese kayaking: "China's men's double rowing boat 500 meters has made rapid progress, which is impressive. ”
Redgrave (left) was knighted.
"Rowing in China needs to be improved across the board"
The Chinese athletes in the sport Redcliffe refers to are Meng Guanliang and Yang Wenjun, who won the championship by defeating world champion Poland in the World Cup kayak finals in Duisburg, Germany, in June of that year. This is the first world championship won by a Chinese male kayaker.
Four days after the interview, Meng Guanliang and Yang Wenjun made history – in the men's 500m rowing final, the two won the championship with a time of 1 minute 40.278 seconds, which was the first Olympic gold medal in China's kayaking event and the first gold medal won by Chinese water sports in previous Olympic Games!
While optimistic, Redgrave also pointed out the problems existing in Chinese rowing at that time.
"The gap between the Chinese team is still all-round. Taking the women's eight singles as an example, the paddle frequency is not fast enough, the timing of the force is not mastered, and it is too late to wait until later. ”
Redgrave also felt that the psychological state of the Chinese athletes was not stable enough - in the women's lightweight double sculls and the women's eight-man single sculls, both ranked third in the first 1,000 meters, but later failed to persevere.
"Everything depends on strength, and Chinese rowing needs to be improved in an all-round way", Sir gave Chinese rowing a big truth.
Talking about the possibility of working for the Beijing Olympics in four years, Redgrave smiled and said, "As long as you are willing to ask me, I will consider accepting." When the time comes, you are the boss and I am the employee. ”
Gentleman's Englishman also played humor and planted the seeds for future cooperation.
Redgrave signed with the Chinese rowing team.
The "Chief Designer" of Chinese Rowing
In preparation for the Tokyo Olympic cycle, the Chinese rowing team thought of Sir Redgrave.
Redgrave once talked about why he chose China in an interview with Hubei Daily: "Before the Chinese team looked for me, the British rowing team invited me out of the mountains. But I hit it off with the visionary Chinese Rowing Association, and since the Olympic complex is a lifetime, why not continue my rowing career in a new place? ”
Subsequently, Redgrave served as the director of high-level athletic performance of the Chinese rowing national team, fully responsible for the training and preparation of the Chinese rowing national team, and assisted the Chinese Rowing Association in the construction of the training system - including the construction of the youth development system, the coach training system and the scientific research system, which will open a new model for the comprehensive development of China's rowing project.
Liu Aijie, chairman of the China Rowing Association, said that after the substantive reform of the association, it adheres to the world vision, international standards, Chinese characteristics, and high-point positioning, absorbs international talents, learns from international experience, and serves me.
The Chinese team is bad at complementing physical fitness.
After starting to enter the working role, Redgrave's first move is physical training.
Chinese athletes train for a long time and have good explosive power, but as an endurance event, they need to maintain speed, and we have to work this.
During the preparation for the Tokyo Olympic Games, Redgrave led the team to complete thousands of kilometers of training, achieving a breakthrough in training volume.
The second is to exercise the mind of the athletes.
"To instill an idea in athletes, when you're on the water, you have to learn to think independently, because coaches can only be on the shore." Competitors such as the British team and the Italian team cannot be underestimated, "We can't influence other athletes, we can only control ourselves." I believe the Chinese team can go faster in the competition. ”
Third, he also used his experience in participating in the five Olympic Games to encourage the old man to continue to persevere.
"In rowing, as we get older, our endurance gets better and better, and we need to change the perception that the younger the athlete, the better the performance. I often encourage them to stick with it for a few more years, you see, Zhang Liang in the men's double paddles event is a veteran. ”
The Chinese rowing team celebrates Redgrave's birthday.
Chinese rowing will not lose to the Europeans
Under the leadership of Redgrave, the progress of the Chinese rowing team is obvious to all.
At the 2019 Rowing World Championships, the Chinese team won 3 gold and 1 silver, and won gold medals in the women's quadruple sculls and men's double sculls events, especially the men's event achieved a breakthrough in the World Championships.
Both events were also considered to have the strength to impact the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and Redgrave also shouted, "Our goal is to get the gold medal!" ”
"For the Tokyo Olympics, we are ready and now we are a strong team. But we should not be satisfied with the results in front of us, the Chinese rowing team still has a long way to go. ”
The Jazz's cooperation with the Chinese Rowing Association is long-term, and the two years of work experience have given him full confidence in the prospects of the rowing team.
"The training conditions of the Chinese rowing team are getting better and better, the support team is now the world's leading level, our Chinese coaching team are all Chinese rowing legends, and the athletes are not inferior to the Europeans."
In addition to the Tokyo Olympics, Redgrave said that the long-term goal of the Chinese rowing team is to build a strong team at the Paris Olympics, "Tokyo is just a process, our goal is to become stronger in Paris." ”
Editor-in-Charge: Ascendas
Proofreader: Luan Meng