Wu Jingyu won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Infographic/IC PHOTO
On July 24, the first match day after the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, Wu Jingyu will face Dina Pueryounes from the refugee delegation, which is the third place in the world last year, in the first round of the taekwondo 49 kg competition. For Wu Jingyu, this is a special competition - as the first female athlete in history to participate in the Olympic taekwondo competition four times, she has retired and returned before the Tokyo Olympics, and now she is once again standing on the field she loves as a mother athlete. In the interview of "The Road to Tokyo Attack" jointly produced by the Beijing News and Baidu APP, Wu Jingyu told the story of her mental journey.
He chose to make a comeback and hoped to continue to fight for his country
Time to return to the taekwondo arena of the 2016 Rio Olympics, Wu Jingyu stopped in the quarterfinals. After the defeat in Rio, Wu Jingyu announced his retirement, then became pregnant, gave birth to a child, and faded out of the field for several years. However, the fade out was only temporary, and in early 2019, she announced her strong comeback with the world taekwondo federation Fujairah Open.
Wu Jingyu said that even during the period of retirement, there was still a desire to continue to fight for the country, and the identity of "mother athlete" was an inspiration, "This is a different field, many people have not stepped into." I think Chinese athletes can also be like foreign athletes, and they can still do a good job in the career they love after becoming a mother, so I thought of making a comeback. ”
Comeback is not an easy task, behind the comeback debut to win the championship is extremely hard training, Wu Jingyu at that stage needs to adjust not only the physical state, but also the psychology of "whether to give up". She said frankly: "I think I should be at the top three level in the world when I come back, but I gradually found that my physical ability needs to be restored, and it has not reached the expected height." After excessive fatigue, there will be a feeling of frustration and self-doubt, because I find that the opponent I can fight before can't fight, or the state at that time can't fight, and I especially want to give up. ”
Coach Guan Jianmin wrote a training plan for the disciples at that time, and Wu Jingyu said with a smile: "It is to stretch the level I desire to achieve in one day to a few months, so that my mentality will be very stable." She began reading various books on exercise recovery, trying to avoid excessive fatigue according to her physical condition.
After the body and mind are adjusted to the ideal state, there is a comeback debut that is, the scene of winning the championship. Wu Jingyu competed intensively in 2019, won enough Olympic points, and finally locked up the qualification for the Tokyo Olympic Games at the World Taekwondo Grand Prix Finals.
Wu Jingyu competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Infographic/IC PHOTO
In preparation for the Olympic Games, the training plan was adjusted due to postponement
Even though she has experienced three Olympic Games before, the Tokyo Olympics still bring wu Jingyu many different feelings. In March last year, the Tokyo Olympics announced a one-year postponement, and upon learning of this news, Wu Jingyu did not have much emotional ups and downs, but immediately communicated with Guan Jianmin on the adjustment of the training plan, "At that time, it was already in the sprint stage of preparation, the string had been tightened, but it became more than a year to play, and this string had to be loosened." Guan Jianmin adjusted Wu Jingyu's rhythm to one training session a day, in order to make her forget the sprint stage and start preparing for the Olympic Games again.
Wu Jingyu was transferring training in Japan at the time, homesickness became her biggest psychological fluctuation, when she had not seen her family for 4 months - before she was able to prepare with a firm mentality, it was because of "hope", and after the Postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games was confirmed, the team changed its itinerary many times due to flight changes, and could not return home immediately, and the emotions of missing and worrying about her family immediately fermented, almost making her fidgety, but she had to always remind herself to concentrate so as not to be injured by wandering in training. Therefore, Wu Jingyu still remembers the moment when the team returned to China, "When we arrived in Shanghai on the flight and accepted the quarantine and did not see my family, I was already very down-to-earth, because I knew that I would go home." ”
Wu Jingyu, who had not recovered enough strength some time ago, no longer hesitated, because she remembered a scene from attending a party class to study and watch the documentary on the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea: "What I remember most clearly is Chairman Mao's words, 'You throw your atomic bomb, I throw my grenade, as long as we have firm conviction, there is no enemy that cannot be defeated.'" This sentence made my consciousness suddenly change, whether I am older or my ability has regressed, I must go all out, find a way to defeat the opponent, win the victory, this is what I should do. ”
A daughter was born, and her sharp personality became gentle
In July 2017, Wu Jingyu officially had the identity of a mother, and the arrival of her daughter Gloria was described by her as a proud thing in her life, and changed her personality, and the former fierce Wu Jingyu became warmer off the field.
The reason for the change is indeed the daughter, because "after having children, I learn to think differently". Wu Jingyu said that she was a particularly competitive person before, whether it was for herself or others. Her other identity is that of an assistant coach of the taekwondo national team, and when communicating with the players before, her way was simple and blunt, "I am a good athlete, I think I can do it, they can do it." 」 But after having a baby, I found that this is not the case, you have to look at the problem from the other person's point of view. Her daughter taught her this lesson - "You find that she can't talk, it's useless to be angry with her", so Wu Jingyu started learning again, to accept all kinds of information, change the way of thinking, and had a very good result: communication with children and team members became very smooth.
The support of her family is the spiritual motivation of Wu Jingyu, who took a picture of her daughter with her in the Tokyo Olympics, which was a family of three and a lot of small stars.
It's a mother and an athlete, Wu Jingyu said: "In this state of competition, I think more about training. What we're doing is about national honor, it's the Olympic spirit, it's a very honorable thing, so I basically put the role of mom a little lighter and the role of athlete a little heavier. ”
Beijing News reporter Zhou Xiao
Edited by Han Shuangming Proofreader Liu Baoqing