In the men's 73 kg event at the Tokyo Olympics on the evening of July 28, Rio Olympics men's 69 kg champion Shi Zhiyong won the gold medal with a snatch of 166 kg, a deadlift of 198 kg and a total of 364 kg, and set a new world record.
Winning gold in two consecutive Olympic Games, equaling his life mentor Zhan Xugang, completing the inheritance of Zhejiang weightlifting; surpassing his life idol Dashi Zhiyong when he changed his name; and also paying tribute to his competitor Liao Hui, who has always inspired him and spurred him.
Because of the adjustment of the project, Shi Zhiyong maintained the world record in the men's 73 kg class. "The more optimistic you are, the more pressure you will have." Tang Deshang, the coach and fellow countryman who accompanied Shi Zhiyong to prepare for the game, said in a pre-match interview, "From Rio to Tokyo, after five years, how much sweat and youth, how many people around the people expect to look forward to it, saying that they are not nervous is false." ”
Twice in Zhejiang, twice in tears
During the game, Shi Zhiyong had three bars on his head "Chuan", many people did not know what was going on, according to Shi Zhiyong team doctor Shen Yi said that when the game began to advance, Shi Zhiyong felt a little stuffy, and then Dr. Shen shaved him, scraped his head a few times, and then scraped a few times on his neck, so Shi Zhiyong appeared on his head with a Sichuan character, which is also a kind of king's style, but this king word became a horizontal "Chuan".
"Shi Zhiyong came with me from Guangxi to Ningbo to practice weightlifting at the age of 11, and his achievements today come from his strength not to accept defeat." Shi Zhiyong's enlightenment coach Li Dongyu talked about his love for his apprentice after the Chinese weightlifting team went to the Tokyo Olympics.
Since he started practicing weightlifting at the age of 8, Shi Zhiyong is known for his strength. No matter how intense the training was, no matter how serious the injury, Shi Zhiyong never bowed his head. The tough guy on the weightlifting platform twice shed tears in Ningbo.
The first tears were in the men's 69 kg category at the 2016 National Men's Weightlifting Championships & Rio Olympics Trials, in Quzhou, Zhejiang. This is a peak duel between Shi Zhiyong and Liao Hui. Shi Zhiyong represented the new generation of forces, and Liao Hui was already the overlord of this project. In the end, Liao Hui won three gold medals with a total of 158 kg in the snatch, 196 kg in the deadlift and a total score of 354 kg, meeting the Olympic selection criteria of 350 kg in total; Shi Zhiyong was second in the competition with a total score of 352 kg.
In an interview with reporters after the game, Shi Zhiyong cried. Although he trained very hard in winter and fought at home in Zhejiang, Shi Zhiyong actually underwent a lot of pressure. Under the watchful eye of the cheering group, he could not let go. Fortunately, he finally went to the Rio Olympics, lived up to expectations, and won the championship in one fell swoop.
The second tear was in Ningbo, at the 2019 Asian Weightlifting Championships and tokyo 2020 Olympic Qualification Tournament. In the snatch competition, Shi Zhiyong broke the world record for grabs twice in 2 minutes. The straight lift was Shi Zhiyong's strong point, but Shi Zhiyong failed two consecutive attempts.
Weightlifting competitions, grab lift and deadlift each have 3 chances, is the real success or failure in this "lift". After Yuan Chengfei successfully lifted the last 193 kg, Shi Zhiyong had no choice but to continue to aggravate the last one. Fortunately, Shi Zhiyong withstood the pressure and lifted up, and the total score also created a new world record. Facing the reporter's interview after the game, Shi Zhiyong once again shed tears. He felt that he might have wanted to do better than that, and the first 2 attempts were unsuccessful. "This kid is especially able to fight open-mindedly during the game," head coach Shao Guoqiang told this writer after the game.
After that, in the 73 kg category, Shi Zhiyong broke his world record several times and became the king of this level.
Two zhejiang celebrities, twice hand in hand
In 2014, Zhan Xugang, a legendary figure in the history of the Chinese weightlifting Olympics who participated in the Olympic Games three times and won the Olympic championship twice, felt that he was a rare seedling after seeing Shi Zhiyong. He came to the weightlifting team to concentrate on coaching Shi Zhiyong.
Careful viewers will find that Zhan Xugang and Xiaoshi Zhiyong's uplift techniques are relatively rare "squatting". Under the guidance of master Zhan Xugang, Xiaoshi Zhiyong perfectly inherited Zhan Xugang's "unique trick". At the Rio Olympics, when Shi Zhiyong successfully lifted the 190-kilogram barbell overhead, people saw a shot that was enough to be remembered: the two-time Olympic weightlifting champion, 42-year-old Zhan Xugang hugged his 23-year-old apprentice Xiao Shi Zhiyong, and the two of them used 16 years to continue the glory of Zhejiang weightlifting to win the Olympic championship again. This gold medal is also the first Olympic gold medal in the history of Ningbo.
Facing the media, Shi Zhiyong said the most is to thank Zhan for guidance. From 2013 to 2016, Zhan Xugang personally guided Shi Zhiyong and passed on his experience, especially the experience of participating in the Olympic Games three times. Zhan Xugang said: "Zhan Guidance has always told me that training should be like a game, and the game should be like training. I won the championship, and the director was happier than he was when he won the championship. ”
With the changes in the Olympic weightlifting event, Shi Zhiyong's event changed from the men's 69 kg class to the men's 73 kg class. Coincidentally, Zhan Xugang's two Olympic victories also underwent changes in the sport, from the men's 70 kg class in the 1996 Olympic Games to the men's 77 kg class.
Zhan Xugang's dream is to continue to write glory for Zhejiang weightlifting, and Shi Zhiyong is naturally his hope and sustenance for 21 years. Xiaoshi Zhiyong completed the dream handover with his predecessor Zhan Xugang, igniting the incense inheritance of Chinese weightlifting.
Two people with the same name and the same surname, twice passed down
At the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships in the United States, Zhejiang's Tomoyuki Koishi, born in 1993, won the 69 kg championship, achieving four consecutive championships for the Chinese team. Ten years ago, at the 2005 World Weightlifting Championships in Doha, Tomoya Oishi, born in 1980, won the event. This is the first time in the history of the World Weightlifting Championships that two overall winners with exactly the same name appear in the same class.
Tomoyuki Oishi was selected for the national training team in 1997, became a national weightlifting champion in 1999, and won the men's 62 kg weightlifting championship at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. According to reports, there were 263 Shi Zhiyong in the country in 2015, but the two Shi Zhiyong were not related. Tomoyuki Oishi is an Olympic veteran, and the moment of celebrating the backflip after winning the championship at the Athens Olympics is a classic moment of his career. At that time, Xiao Shi Zhiyong was only 11 years old, had just changed his name from "Shi Lei" to Shi Zhiyong, and came to Ningbo from Guilin to start weightlifting training.
Because of this name, Koishi Zhiyong is no less likely to be "brushing the sense of existence by name". In 2011, 18-year-old TomoyaShi won the 69 kg championship at the National Weightlifting Championships. In 2012, in the national weightlifting team, Xiaoshi Zhiyong's idol Oishi Zhiyong learned that there was a little disciple with the same name and surname in the team, and out of curiosity, he went to see Xiaoshi Zhiyong and encouraged him to surpass himself. Tomoyuki Koishi later recalled the meeting, saying that Mr. Ohishi wanted him to "be worthy of the name."
Between the two Shi Zhiyong, there is also an Olympic champion Liao Hui, whose weightlifting career is "entangled" with the big and small Shi Zhiyong. At that time in the national weightlifting team, Liao Hui liked to communicate with Dashi Zhiyong, and Dashi Zhiyong also liked this little brother.
In the 2008 National Men's Weightlifting Championships and Olympic Trials, 20-year-old Liao Hui defeated two Olympic champions Zhang Guozheng and Oishi Zhiyong in the 69 kg competition to win the overall championship with 355 kg, and Dashi Zhiyong won the silver medal at 346 kg. At the 2008 Olympic Games, Tomohiro Oishi and Liao Hui were selected at the same time, and Liao Hui won the 69 kg championship.
Since the 2013 National Games, Xiaoshi Zhiyong has begun to challenge the supremacy of Liao Hui in the 69 kg class. Liao Hui inadvertently became a story character of Big and Little Shi Zhiyong.
In the 69 kg competition of the 2014 National Men's Weightlifting Championships, Tomoyuki Koishi won 2 gold and 1 silver with a total of 155 kg in snatchlift, 185 kg in deadlift and 340 kg in total. In the 69 kg competition of the 2015 National Men's Weightlifting Championships, Tomoyuki Koishi defeated Liao Hui (2008 Olympic Games) and Lin Qingfeng (2012 Olympic Games) to win the event with a personal best of 352 kg. This is the first time that Xiaoshi Zhiyong defeated Liao Hui, which means that Xiaoshi Zhiyong has become a first-class master in China.
Rio Olympics Shi Zhiyong became famous in one battle. At the 2017 Tianjin National Games, Liao Hui and Shi Zhiyong staged a peak showdown of "Mars hitting the earth". The intensity of this peak showdown is still talked about to this day. At the beginning, the two people tried to overwhelm the opponent in momentum, and the grasp of the two people was very high, and finally the two people were caught and raised to a draw. The two men lifted the weight to 193 kg and 194 kg respectively, and the subsequent competition progress was even more unexpected by the audience. In the deadlift, Shi Zhiyong lifted a 198-kilogram barbell, leveling the world record held by Liao Hui. Shi Zhiyong came prepared this time, in addition to this National Games gold medal, his other goal is to surpass the world record. However, Shi Zhiyong was unable to lift the weight of 200 kilograms. Although he failed to achieve his goal, Shi Zhiyong defeated Liao Hui in this peak duel. The combined results of both exceeded the 352 kg record of the Rio Olympic champion.
Liao Hui once said that he especially liked Xiaoshi Zhiyong. Because before the small stone emerged, he won the championship by himself, broke his own record, and sought defeat alone. On the small stone, Liao Hui saw the shadow of his debut. Willing to endure hardships, have personality, and do not accept defeat. And Xiaoshi Zhiyong always has the topic of Liao Hui, after Rio won the championship, he also took the initiative to mention the influence of his predecessors on him, if it were not for Liao Hui's encouragement, Xiaoshi Zhiyong might not have burst out such a powerful force.
Big and small Shi Zhiyong and Liao Hui, rather than saying that this is a dragon and tiger fight between the three world's top athletes, it is better to say that the little brother of Dashi Zhiyong once led Xiaoshi Zhiyong to the peak of the world with the spirit of never giving up.
(The author is a 2020 student of the School of Competitive Sports of Beijing Sport University, and Chen Guoqiang, associate professor of Shanghai University of Sport, also contributed to this article)
Column Editor-in-Chief: Chen Hua Text Editor: Chen Hua Title Image Source: Xinhua News Agency
Source: Author: Chen Liqi