Zhang Liang/Liu Zhiyu made a breakthrough in Chinese rowing. Photo/Osports
On July 28, the Men's Double Sculls Final competition at the Tokyo Olympic Rowing Competition began, and the Chinese duo Zhang Liang/Liu Zhiyu won the third place, achieving a breakthrough for Chinese rowing and winning the first men's medal in the history of the Olympic Games.
Break the monopoly of European players
On July 23, the preliminary group was the second to advance to the semifinals, and on the 25th, the semi-final group was the second to advance to the final, and in the final on the morning of the 28th, Zhang Liang and Liu Zhiyu's wish was to improve to another place.
Zhang Liang, who embarked on his fourth Olympic journey, had a very clear goal: to win gold. For Chinese men's rowing, this goal means an unprecedented breakthrough - in the history of the Olympic Games, the Chinese rowing team won a total of 1 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze and 9 medals, but all from the women's event, and the number of medals in the men's event was zero. This time in Tokyo, however, Zhang Liang/Liu Zhiyu became the favourites for the men's double sculls gold medal battle. Since five-time Olympic rowing champion Redgrave was hired in May 2018 as the director of high-level athletic performance of the national team, the Chinese rowing team has received greater help and drawn more convincing results.
Since the formation of the team in 2019, Zhang Liang/Liu Zhiyu won the men's open double sculls at the World Championships, winning the gold medal for the Chinese rowing team in the men's Olympic event of the World Championships for the first time, and successfully locked the Olympic ticket. The Rowing World Cup (second leg) in May this year, which made the Chinese team achieve a last-minute victory and pushed Ireland to win the championship.
At the Sea Forest Water Arena, although Zhang Liang/Liu Zhiyu did not finish first in the preliminaries and semi-finals, they were close to their best results. In today's final, the Chinese combination ranked third in the first 500 meters, starting from 700 meters, surpassing two opponents and once ranking first. In the 1000m stage, they went hand in hand with the two racing boats of France and the Netherlands, and the more powerful opponents finally crossed the finish line first. Although not the expected medal color, Zhang Liang/Liu Zhiyu has done well enough in the Olympic men's rowing event, which has been dominated by European athletes for a long time.
Zhang Liang (right) and Liu Zhiyu's efforts have finally paid off. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
Devil training brings breakthroughs
Zhang Liang, 34, is a veteran of the Chinese rowing team, and Liu Zhiyu is the leader of the younger generation of the team. The two-partner collaboration project, tacit understanding is extremely critical, Liu Zhiyu has long expressed his absolute trust in Zhang Liang: "I believe in Brother Liang, I just follow him." As long as our brothers are together, we can do anything. ”
Zhang Liang is known for his endurance, Liu Zhiyu's advantage is explosiveness and speed, two people with different ages and personalities have gone through the run-in stage in training, "mutual understanding and tolerance" is the run-in trick given by the two, because on a boat, the two people are working hard for a common goal.
Zhang Liang, who has been practicing rowing for 20 years, knows what he wants, the National Games champion, the Asian Games champion, the World Championship gold medal, the World Cup champion, and his rowing career is missing only one Olympic gold medal. In a previous interview, Zhang Liang said frankly: "It is indeed very difficult to get to where it is now, I don't want to have regrets in my sports career, and being able to stand on the Olympic podium is the yearning of every athlete." ”
Zhang Liang, who had a clear goal, began "devil training" after qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, and even had the "desperate behavior" of training until 12 o'clock at night and 5 o'clock in the morning, and finally the coach could not look at it and drove him back to sleep. The postponement of the Olympics hit Mr. Zhang, who said he didn't sleep the night he heard the news because "I'll be 34 next year." However, age has never been a short board, and after the initial emotional impact, Zhang Liang began to think about his shortcomings and used the postponed one-year period to make up for the shortcomings.
On June 6 last year, Zhang Liang challenged the land slide dynamometer marathon, and finally completed the challenge in 2 hours, 19 minutes and 20 seconds 8 seconds, which greatly broke the world record. This is a reward given after getting older, Zhang Liang said: "Now I can mobilize every link and muscle of my body at any time. These cannot be mobilized and mastered at a young age. Like practicing Kung Fu, kung fu is too shallow. ”
In today's men's doubles sculls final, the accumulation of the previous ones showed its effect. They were not greatly shaken off by their opponents from Europe, not only once in the lead, but also able to continue to "bite" after being overtaken. The bronze medal is a new beginning after a long period of hard work, and Chinese rowing is writing a new history.
Beijing News reporter Zhou Xiao Editor Wang Xichong