In the Olympic history of Chinese men's track and field, in addition to the well-known Liu Xiang who won the gold medal in the men's 110m hurdles, the other two track and field gold medals came from the men's 20 km race walk, they were Chen Ding at the 2012 London Olympics and Wang Zhen at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Race walking has always been an advantageous event in Chinese athletics, but also the main gold medal of the Chinese Olympic team, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games men's 50 km race walk, tomorrow's final, China's "Shenxing Taibao" Luo Yadong, will fight for the dream!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="31" >, born for race walking</h1>
Luo Yadong was born on January 15, 1992 in Shuitan Village, Longmen Town, Lintao County, Gansu Province, the son of a coal miner and his mother working as a farmer. "Poor children have long been homemakers", Luo Yadong was very sensible since he was a child, and when he was 7 years old, he began to help his mother harvest wheat in the field until it was dark.
At the age of 14, Luo Yadong was admitted to The Tawan Middle School in Lintao County to attend junior high school, the school is almost 10 kilometers away from the village, every day to and from the rugged mountain road, it takes more than 2 hours to walk, there is no means of transportation, you can only walk on your feet, God seems to want to exercise Luo Yadong's outstanding endurance through such an arrangement.
In the third year of junior high school, when the county sports school came to the school to select sports seedlings, Luo Yadong only ran 2 kilometers, and was looked at by the sports school coach, but Luo Yadong's idea of wanting to go to the sports school was opposed by the whole family, who thought that when the athletes were too bitter, too tired, and easy to be injured, they did not want their children to suffer. When they couldn't stand each other, they finally relied on Luo Yadong's grandfather to support him.
After graduating from junior high school, Luo Yadong was successfully admitted to Lintao Sports School, specializing in race walking.
Race walking is a very technical sport, ordinary people walk about 100 to 120 steps per minute, and race walkers can reach 180 to 200 steps, its punishment is also very strict, vacated, bent legs, a little careless will "eat cards", from "wild walking" to "professional walking", Luo Yadong suffered a lot, in order not to let the family worry, he always reports good news and does not report worry.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="35" > second, race walking career</h1>
In the county sports school, Luo Yadong trained very hard, strictly implemented the coach's training plan, race walking practice for a long time, actually had the feeling of flying close to the ground, he gradually liked this sport, his goal is to win the national race walking championship.
Luo Yadong knows that if you want to reach the advanced level of race walking, you have to endure pain and loneliness from the beginning, constantly challenge yourself, break through your limits, if you don't even have this spirit, you won't get any good results, you feel tired, everyone will feel tired, and victory is often produced in "stick with it again".
For most people, race walking, like marathons, is an endurance event, but race walking seems more tiring, more restrictive, more boring, and even boring. But it is also more able to temper people's will, without the spirit of hard-working, it is difficult for ordinary people to stick to this project.
In 2009, Luo Yadong entered the Gansu Provincial Sports Brigade with excellent results.
Athletes are sometimes like soldiers, except that their battlefield is in the arena, and if they want to win, they need to move forward, tenacious fighting spirit, and strong will quality. In order to achieve results faster, Luo Yadong focused on training, in 2009 he spent the last reunion year with his parents, and then every year's Spring Festival, he was busy on the training ground.
At the 2011 National Race Walking Championships, Luo Yadong won the 3rd place, which was also the first time in his career that he won a national award.
In 2013, Luo Yadong was selected for the national team, and as his training level continued to improve, he won more and more championships.
In 2014, at the National Race Walking Grand Prix, Luo Yadong won the men's 20 km race walk.
In 2015, at the National Race Walking Championships, Luo Yadong won the men's 50 km race walk.
In 2016, at the National Race Walking Grand Prix, Luo Yadong won the men's 20 km race walk.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="28" >3, at the Tokyo Olympics, fighting for dreams</h1>
In 2019, at the World Championships in Athletics in Doha, Luo Yadong finished fifth in the men's 50 km race walk with a time of 4 hours, 06 minutes and 49 seconds, and Japan's Yusuke Suzuki won the championship. This Tokyo Olympic Games, Japan as the host, occupy the time, location, people, from Japan Yusuke Suzuki to win the championship is very high, is our main competitor.
After the game, Luo Yadong said: "The Olympic Games is my goal, I have been fighting, and the fifth world championship has given me more confidence." I am currently fully prepared to achieve a desired result in the competition. ”
In 2019, at the World Championships Trials, Luo Yadong won the third place with a time of 3 hours 41 minutes and 15 seconds, and also improved his best time by 7 minutes and 33 seconds, but from 50 kilometers down, Luo Yadong's toes were also worn.
On March 21, 2021, at the National Race Walking Championships and Olympic Trials, Luo Yadong won the championship in 3 hours, 46 minutes and 51 seconds, and together with Wang Qin and Bian Tongda, he qualified for the men's 50 km race walk at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Since this year's Men's 50 km race walk at the Tokyo Olympics is held in the last year and will be cancelled starting next year, one less than one, so the athletes of each event cherish every race and fight as the last.
Tomorrow (4:30 a.m. on August 6) will usher in the final of the men's 50 km race walk at the Tokyo Olympic Games, Luo Yadong said: "The opportunity is reserved for those who are prepared, I will bravely move forward and fight for my dreams!" ”