Meng Guanliang: "Boat" China battle Paris

Beijing, August 25 (Xinhua) -- "From now on, our goal is to 'boat' China and fight in Paris!" Meng Guanliang, the two-time Olympic men's double rowing champion in 500 meters, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency reporter recently.

Meng Guanliang has a magical "gold medal trait". In 2004, he and his partner Yang Wenjun turned what everyone thought was a myth of "heaven and night" into the first gold medal in the Chinese water sports of the Olympic Games; in 2008, Meng Guanliang, who had retired from retirement and married and had children, returned and won the gold medal with Yang Wenjun in this project. After that, Meng Guanliang retired from the military and returned to Zhejiang to become a manager, in addition to serving as the director of the Zhejiang Provincial Water Sports Management Center, he also served as a deputy mayor of Jiande City. His life, from the previous chopping waves, has become uneventful and the years are quiet. However, at the Tokyo Olympics, he returned to a familiar place, only this time, he was the head coach of the Chinese kayaking team and the head coach of the women's rowing team. The result was the same, and the disciples Xu Shixiao and Sun Mengya won the gold medal in the women's double rowing 500 meters - the "gold medal trait" was inherited.

"I was very excited, more excited than I was to win the championship myself, especially when they came back and hung the gold medal around my neck." Recalling the scene of the day, Meng Guanliang was still upset, "They basically did not play international competitions in two years, and the Tokyo Olympics did not have much confidence in winning the championship at the beginning." But in fact, I have always had confidence, and my confidence comes from my usual training. During training, we asked them to always benchmark the champion model, and we thought we were ready. ”

As a two-time Olympic champion, Meng Guanliang has also been passing on his experience. "It's mainly management and self-discipline. Grasp the daily high-quality training, carefully paddle every paddle, and do a good job in detail. Xu Shixiao is characterized by self-confidence, stability, meticulous training in normal times, is the main backbone of this boat, and is Sun Mengya's big sister and role model. Sun Mengya is young, does not have much experience in competitions, and usually trains very hard, and both have very strong abilities. Meng Guanliang said.

He expects the pair to be comparable to the next Olympic Games, although Xu Shixiao is 29 years old, "Xu Shixiao should be able to play the next Olympic Games, and she herself is very confident." From now on, our goal is to 'sail' China and fight paris."

Women's rowing is a new event in the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Chinese team made a prediction from the Athens Olympic Games, experienced several twists and turns in the middle, but has been insisting on the development of women's rowing, and finally has a harvest. "Women's rowing is the first year to enter the Olympic Games, although our country started relatively late, but the starting point is relatively high, because most of the athletes come from other sports, have a solid physical fitness and water foundation. The women's rowing boat for the next Olympic Games must be the most important gold medal in our preparations. ”

In addition to the women's rowing boat, the men's rowing boat also won two silver medals for singles and doubles, the single breakthrough was gratifying, and the double silver medal left regrets, after all, Liu Hao and Zheng Pengfei were 800 meters ahead. "I think Liu Hao and Zheng Pengfei, whether single or double, already have a strong strength. Only because rowing is a unilateral sport, it is greatly affected by the wind direction, and the wind direction of the two events on the day of the competition is very unfavorable to our players, and it is already a very good result to be able to win the silver medal. Meng Guanliang said.

After the Beijing Olympic Games, the Chinese kayak team fell into a trough, and it became a luxury to reach the final in London and Rio, not to mention the competition for gold and silver, and now not only the rowing event stands on the podium, but the men's kayak has also entered the Olympic final - Zhang Dong won the sixth place in the 1000 meters of single kayaking.

"In recent years, the Chinese kayak team has formed a set of effective methods in scientific training, militarized management, scientific and technological assistance, Chinese-foreign rehabilitation training and systematic copywriting records, which can bring the level of outstanding athletes to a higher level." Taking rowing as an example, rowing itself is a physical fitness-based technical project, emphasizing that physical fitness is the basis of training. Compared with before, the current physical training is more scientific, reasonable and effective. Meng Guanliang said, "After the efforts of several Olympic Games, after strict management, scientific training, big data support, the Chinese team as a whole has reached a new height, I believe that in the Paris Olympic Games, we will definitely have a good performance." ”

Although Chinese kayaking has achieved good results in the Tokyo Olympic Games, Meng Guanliang has also set his sights on the promotion and popularization of kayaking, and his Zhejiang has made certain achievements in this regard in recent years, and he himself is full of confidence in kayaking and even the whole water sports.

"The popularity of a project first needs to have a brand, and this brand is the Olympic champion. Our champions have the responsibility and obligation to popularize water sports, participate more in water sports and cultural promotion, and let more people know, like and love water sports. I believe the future popularity of water sports, including the prospects for the aquatic industry, will be very good. (End)