On Weibo, Zhong Qixin's number of fans is 730,000, which is the same as his personality and belongs to the "low-key" category. But Zhong Qixin's Weibo certification has a string of titles - five-time World Climbing Championship champion, six world climbing speed race records, climbing Grand Slam winner... This is a standard "climbing god". In fact, this certification is also somewhat "outdated", last October, Zhong Qixin has broken the world record for speed climbing for the seventh time, so it should not be an exaggeration to call Zhong Qixin "China's first rock climber".
Zhong Qixin's "status" was verified in the live broadcast of the video number on the evening of July 6 - as soon as Zhong Qixin appeared, he attracted the cheers of a group of "fans". Of course, Zhong Qixin's handsome appearance is also an important factor in his attraction to "fan sisters", but more people are still attracted by his "gecko life"...
The first time I competed, "foreign athletes hate to kill me with their eyes"
As a world champion with 7 world records and many honors such as the first person in the world climbing Grand Slam, Zhong Qixin's career looks like smooth sailing. However, like all excellent athletes, the outside world sees his brilliance and brilliance, but few people know the hardships behind this, let alone the late-night tossing and turning when encountering problems, and the despair and helplessness when almost giving up.
During the live broadcast, the host asked Zhong Qixin, "In the 16 years of practicing rock climbing, you have set a new world record 7 times, which one is the most impressive?" His answer was only a few words: in 2011, he won his fourth championship title in 6.26 seconds, breaking the world record at that time. But then the host asked, "In 2007, you won the world championship for the first time, the first gold medal in Asia." What are your memories of that game? For this question, Zhong Qixin instantly opened the conversation box.
"Yes, in 2007 I played at the World Championships for the first time and I won the gold medal and came in first place! And I know that gold medal is also the first gold medal in Asia in the field of rock climbing. In fact, looking back now, in addition to pride, the deepest impression on me and still 'heart palpitations' is the lingering nervousness - I am very, very nervous! Remember, before the game, in the athletes' quarantine area, the only Asian faces were me and an athlete from Hong Kong. No one knew me at the time, I was an Asian face, and to be honest, the foreign athletes looked at me with strange eyes. I felt like they weren't very friendly to me, and my nervous palms were sweating. But at this moment, I heard a piece of music that instantly soothed my emotions. I made it to the top four and, as one of the only two Asian athletes, I reached the final with a Venezuelan athlete and two Russian athletes. Haha, I remember when I was waiting for the final, these three haters couldn't kill me with their eyes....... Finally, at 8.76 seconds, I was an underoped Chinese to set a world record for this track! ”
Zhong Qixin said frankly that as an athlete, there is no smooth sailing. For him, in addition to the pressure of the fledgling, there will be technical challenges. In 2017, he was depressed for a long time because of an upgrade of a technical action. Even at that time, because this technical action was not mature enough, it lost for the first time to a "defeated general" who had a huge difference in strength in the past. Therefore, Zhong Qixin said: "Not only for me, for athletes, and even for everyone in life, lows and bottlenecks are inevitable, but as long as you have the courage to endure the tempering, the sense of achievement when you finally overcome difficulties will take you to a higher mountain in life." This is also a setback education, and not being afraid of suffering is also my basic professional quality as a climber. ”
At this moment, in the live broadcast room, a series of English bullet screens appeared repeatedly, which attracted the attention of Zhong Qixin. He smiled and replied, "This is the Russian athlete who wanted to kill me with his eyes!" Zhong Qixin recalled that at that time, after the race, he came to provoke me as the first of the original track, obviously unconvinced. Every time I met him, I was like a divine possessor, and I won him in every game, and even I singled out a team. Later, through one game after another, I became very good friends with him and the Russian team behind him, and they also agreed with me! Speaking of this, Zhong Qixin also said hello to the other party in Russian: Hala Shao (good)! The Russian friend also typed "Hahaha" on the screen, and the atmosphere in the live broadcast room was instantly happy.
My promise to my daughters: "Persevere, work hard, don't give up"
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As the "big brother" of Chinese rock climbing, Zhong Qixin is not only the captain of the Chinese climbing team, but also the image ambassador of China's youth climbing project. But in his personal opinion, what fascinates him the most is the identity of "father" - his lovely twin daughters!
Speaking of his two daughters, he proudly told everyone that he would often take them to climbing: "At first, they were afraid and afraid to climb, but later, I took them to the top, which not only eliminated their fear, but also established their trust in me." 」 Speaking of this, he proudly revealed a little secret: "It is precisely because my daughter trusts me, so now as long as I go out together, they will all stick to me and not look for my mother!" ”
As we all know, Zhong Qixin retired for a period of time after the Rio Olympic cycle, and the reason why he chose to return to the arena under pressure, rock climbing became an olympic event is an objective inducement. But more importantly, it was his love for the sport and the support of his family: "They are the source and motivation for my efforts!" Zhong Qixin said that he and his wife and daughter have a "Morse code" - that is, whether they encounter difficulties in daily life or in their own training competitions, they will say to each other "perseverance, hard work, do not give up", and use this as a slogan to motivate each other. Whenever this slogan sounds, the motivated person will work harder to complete the goal.
In the process of preparing for the Tokyo Olympic Games, Zhong Qixin encountered unexpected difficulties - due to the impact of the epidemic, the original planned Olympic trials were cancelled, which made him suddenly lose the opportunity to prove himself when he originally planned to qualify for the Olympic Games through this competition. As the first person to climb rock in China, the comeback is running for the Olympic Games, but now he is watching the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Games "pass by" with himself because of "non-war transgressions", and this loss and even despair can be imagined. However, soon, Zhong Qixin was revived with the support and encouragement of his family - missing Tokyo, and Paris! Coincidentally, speed rock climbing at the Paris Olympics three years later just happened to become an independent competition, which also made Zhong Qixin, who has always been good at this project, see more hope. So now he has set his sights on the Paris Olympics ahead of schedule, although he knows better than anyone that he will be 35 years old at the "senior age". However, in the most recent meeting with Olympic champion Zhang Ning, he also received new inspiration: "Zhang Ning was 33 years old when he won the badminton women's singles Olympic championship for the second time in Beijing. ”
It can be said that it is precisely because of this confidence and determination that Zhong Qixin has gained more motivation - last October, he broke the world record for speed climbing with 5.346 seconds in the National Climbing League Finals and National Games Qualification Tournament, which is the seventh time he has broken this record.
In the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games, two young players in China, Pan Yufei and Song Yiling, have qualified for the competition. For these two players, Zhong Qixin is also full of expectations: "I hope that they can treat this Olympic Games with a good attitude, not only enjoy the competition process, but also strive to harvest good results, and show the world the power of Chinese rock climbing!"