August 1 news, today's Tokyo Olympic Games women's shot put final, 32-year-old Chinese player Gong Lijiao won the championship with a career best of 20 meters 58. And for this moment, she waited for a full 21 years, experienced 4 Olympic Games, and took it from the 4th to the 1st. After winning the championship, Gong Lijiao burst into tears on the spot: People must have dreams, what if they are realized?
On January 24, 1989, Gong Lijiao was born in Luquan, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, to a poor peasant family.
Since childhood, Gong Lijiao has followed the boys in the village to climb the wall tree, play yo-yo, jump the leather band, these girls play she does not like, Gong Lijiao said, "The girls do not do the things, I did everything." ”
When she was a child, Gong Lijiao had short hair and a chubby face, she did not like sports at that time, compared with the same age, Gong Lijiao was much stronger, for which she would be ridiculed by her peers. Her parents took her to weight loss treatment, but with little effect.
Gong Lijiao has a lot of strength since childhood, and her mother revealed in a show that at the age of 8 or 9, her daughter can easily lift a car rut.
When she was 11 years old, Gong Lijiao was first exposed to the sport of shot put, "When it was the sixth grade, I was a small haircut with me, and every time after school, I would accompany her to throw shot put, she was training, I was the one responsible for picking up the ball." One day, when the PE teacher looked back, I just threw the shot put back to him. Because I thought the shot put was so cute when it rolled at me, I said, 'Hey, what's it like for me to throw it?' I threw it back at him. As soon as the result was thrown, the physical education teacher Sai said, you will practice shot put with her in the future. ”
Therefore, under the recommendation of the physical education teacher, Gong Lijiao entered the amateur sports school in Luquan County and began to practice shot put.
Speaking of Gong Lijiao's first Bole, his name is Fan Huanwen, a national athletics coach of Shijiazhuang Sports School, in the past 40 years of coaching career, he has trained Zhang Cunbiao, Li Meiju, Gong Lijiao, Guo Tianqian and other Hebei athletics stars.
In 2001, Fan Huanwen went to Luquan Sports School to select materials, when he selected the "tomboy" Gong Lijiao at a glance in the team, "At that time, she was young and not tall, but I saw that her movements were completed quickly, so I selected her." ”
Fan Huanwen introduced that he led the team members, paying special attention to basic training, not rushing to produce results, but the basic skills must be practiced solidly, which is conducive to the athletes to quickly improve their performance in the future. He told reporters that 365 days a year, he only did not lead the team to train on the first day of the New Year every year. Gong Lijiao embarked on the formal training road, under the high-intensity and large-capacity devil training of Coach Fan, the average child was tired and fell on the bed, except for Gong Lijiao, who had to go to the playground to run 3 laps at night, when Gong Lijiao was only 13 years old.
At that time, Gong Lijiao's family was poor and faced the problem of raising tuition fees, but her father was very supportive of Gong Lijiao's practice of sports, "as long as she wants to go to school, if she wants tuition, she will pay for tuition." Dad rode an 8-kilometer bicycle and sent Gong Lijiao to Shijiazhuang Sports School.
When her mother saw gong Lijiao training so hard in the sports school, she was still distressed and wiped away tears. Gong Lijiao improved rapidly under the tutelage of Coach Fan, and soon got the opportunity to go out to participate in national competitions, but she needed a lot of money to train and compete, her father went out as a small worker to move bricks, and her mother also sold all the wheat and corn planted at home, and barely paid for Gong Lijiao's tuition.
Father Gong Wenquan recalled, "Our rural family, the conditions are not good, although Gong Lijiao is the youngest child in the family, but has always been very sensible, from a young age do not let parents worry." At that time, the family had no money, so they had to borrow money to send her to the game. ”
In October 2004, Gong Lijiao, who had been training in the sports school for 3 years, was successfully selected for the Hebei Athletics Team, under the former national player Li Meisu. Under the careful tutelage of Li Meisu, Gong Lijiao made rapid progress, one step a year, and soon had the strength to participate in international competitions.
In 2007, she was selected for the national team and participated in the Osaka Athletics World Championships, where the 18-year-old Gong Lijiao played well and finished seventh with a brilliant score of 18.66 meters. In January 2008, 19-year-old Gong Lijiao threw a personal best of 19.13 meters.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 19-year-old Gong Lijiao ushered in her first Olympic journey in her life. "I was most impressed by the 2008 Olympics, which was particularly tense, because I wasn't yet 20 years old, especially in China, and it was at the Bird's Nest," she recalls. When I entered the field, my legs were shaking. When I tried to shoot, I had already reached my personal best, but I was still a bit unable to let go of the final, and I was nervous. ”
In the end, Gong Lijiao won the 5th place with a score of 19 meters 20. Later, the two Belarusian athletes Mikhnevich and Ostapchuk, who won the second and third places in the 2008 Olympic Games, were successively found to be taking banned drugs, and Gong Lijiao won a bronze medal.
But when she got the bronze medal, it was already 2019. At that time, Li Lingwei, a member of the International Olympic Committee and former badminton queen, awarded Gong Lijiao a replacement medal. After getting this bronze medal that was 11 years late, Gong Lijiao sighed: "Justice and fairness may be sooner or later, but it has never been absent, the third place in the Beijing Olympic Games, good luck, the dream has always been on the road!" ”
Since entering the provincial team, Gong Lijiao has begun to receive a salary, and she can also help her parents slowly pay off the debts they owed before. But she was farther away from home. After entering the national team, she trained in Beijing for a long time, playing back and forth around the world, and her parents could only see their daughter on TV.
Gong Lijiao recalled, "When I participated in various competitions, everything that could be broadcast live on TV, even at two or three o'clock in the middle of the night, they would always stay in front of the TV set and cheer for me. But after reading it, they don't call me immediately, because they can't figure out what the jet lag is, afraid of affecting my rest, and always waiting for me to call. ”
At the 2009 Shandong National Games, Gong Lijiao threw a surprising result of 20 meters 35 in one fell swoop, and domineeringly won his first national games gold medal. After winning the gold medal at the National Games, Gong Lijiao received a bonus, she said at the time, "My parents were thrifty and reluctant to eat meat." My brother's children often look forward to my return and improve my diet. When the bonus came down, I bought a heated house for my parents in Luquan. The houses in the village are too cold in winter. ”
Although he could not accompany his parents, Gong Lijiao had always been worried about the second elder.
And on the field, she continued to pursue her dream of an Olympic gold medal. At the 2012 London Olympics, Gong Lijiao threw a season best of 20.22 meters on his first test shot until he finished third in the front round, while The Russian crodk, who had made a mistake in 3 shots, threw 20.48 meters and snatched almost the bronze medal from Gong Lijiao. Seven days later, the winner, Belarusian Ostapchuk, was found to have used illicit drugs and the gold medal was withdrawn. Gong Lijiao won the bronze medal. In August 2016, silver medalist and Russian women's Klodek tested positive for her sample after a new round of retests, and Gong Lijiao won the silver medal.
Gong Lijiao said, "The second Olympic Games is like a dream. But I really did a good job at the 2012 Olympics. I also think of the top three and attack to a better position. But in the end, I still feel that I am inexperienced in the competition. I finished 4th, and as a result, there was a dramatic change after the final, and I substituted for the 3rd place. So it was really like a dream. ”
After receiving the reissue of the silver medal, Gong Lijiao once said: "Looking forward to changing the medal for color next time!" ”
In 2013, the continuous injuries and the incompatibility of the technical actions brought about by the replacement of new coaches caused Gong Lijiao's performance to decline significantly.
In 2014, Gong Lijiao's coach was replaced by German Clarke, who had trained the women's shot put champion at the Atlanta Olympics. In the first year of the two's run-in, Gong Lijiao's results reached the lowest point in many years, and even made her wonder, "Am I taking this wrong step?" ”
After a period of treatment and rehabilitation, Gong Lijiao gradually got rid of the problem of injury, and after running in with the new coach Clark, the training became more and more felt, she lost fat, increased muscle, improved physical condition, greatly improved explosiveness, and the results of the game began to rebound.
In may 2015, gong Lijiao won the gold medal with a personal best of 20 meters 23 in Shanghai.
Subsequently, in the women's shot put final of the Beijing World Athletics Championships, Gong Lijiao, who sat at home, finally won the silver medal with a score of 20 meters 30, 7 cm behind Germany's Schwartz, which was her 5th highest place in the World Championships, which was also her third medal at the World Championships in Athletics.
On May 21, 2016, Gong Lijiao won the 20m 43 throwing competition in Halle, Germany. This result is not only the world's best this season, she herself has also improved her personal best by 8 centimeters, making an amazing breakthrough.
At that time, Gong Lijiao said, "I just think I can always do it, I can't stay on the number 20 meters 35, my best result was cast 6 years ago." In fact, I want to break through myself, I feel the greatest motivation for myself, and this year I feel particularly confident. This is my third Olympic Games, my dream is not completed, this year is the best time. ”
However, at the Rio Olympics, Gong Lijiao only finished fourth with a score of 19 meters 39, and she missed the podium again.
Gong Lijiao later recalled, "I wanted to win the championship too much, and I failed." That was probably the closest I was to the championship, and I didn't take the top three, which hit me harder. It was also my best year, 20m 43. Too much expectation, too much pressure is for myself, and it has nothing to do with others. I will remember that lesson, let alone 4 years, 40 years, and when I am seventy or eighty years old, I may not forget it. Failure is not terrible, what is terrible is that after failure, you don't know where to get up. I've failed, but I've gotten up, so I'm at my strongest time now. ”
In 2020, after learning that the Tokyo Olympics had been postponed for one year, Gong Lijiao felt that the sky was about to fall. "When I was fine, I listened to Liang Jingru's "Courage", and I always gave myself courage, everyone must insist on their dreams, maybe one day it will be realized!" 」
In the women's shot put final at the Tokyo Olympics on August 1, the 32-year-old Gong Lijiao faced almost no challenges, throwing a career best of 20 meters 53 in the fifth shot, and the last shot set a new personal best with 20 meters 58, winning the championship in one fell swoop.
It is worth mentioning that Gong Lijiao's final result crushed the opponent, 6 shots in the final, except for the second shot foul, there was no result, the other results were: 19 meters 95, 19 meters 98, 19 meters 80, 20 meters 53 and 20 meters 58. The worst result was 19.80 meters, while the second place Sanders was 19.79 meters, which was not as bad as Gong Lijiao's worst result.
After the game, Gong Lijiao was excited and tearful in an interview with CCTV on the sidelines, "I proved that I can!" At this moment, I waited 21 years, which is my 21st year of training in shot put. Therefore, people must have dreams, what if they are realized? And I did. It's too hard! It's really hard, as I get older, a lot of injuries and unexpected situations, I feel like especially after the 2016 Rio defeat, I calmed down for a long time before I got back on my feet. I got back out of failure, so I went through both failure and success, and now I'm not afraid of anything. ”
There is no ideal of being a person, what is the difference between it and salted fish? Gong Lijiao, with her 21 years of sports life, once again interpreted this truth.