The Paper's reporter Ma Zuoyu and Pu Yaolei are from Tokyo
"Another name for miracles is effort."
This is the motto that Liu Shiying wrote on her Weibo account. At the Tokyo Olympics, the 28-year-old interpreted the beautiful meaning of this sentence with the "one-shot" competition process.
On the evening of August 6, at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, when Poland's Andrei Chik, who threw the world's best result this season, was bound to win the gold medal, when the javelin event "China's first sister" Lu Huihui would not be in good shape on the field, Liu Shiying only used one shot to shoot this precious gold medal in the final.
Liu Shiying raised her arms and shouted.
"I didn't really think about it too much, and if I was overtaken, it would mean I wouldn't be able to get this gold medal yet."
Liu Shiying, 27, said these words calmly after the game, as if to attribute the victory to the favor of the "goddess of luck". But in the process of the rapidly changing competition, seizing the fleeting opportunity was originally because of her hard work.
This night, Liu Shiying's gold medal carried too much chinese athletics desire and expectation.
Liu Shiying is draped in the national flag.
With Gong Lijiao's joy, he won the gold medal
"I didn't expect to get the gold medal either, I'm just like a dream now."
After Liu Shiying herself won the gold medal, she used "accident" to describe her final performance. She threw a record of 66 meters 34 on the first shot, setting a new season best, while in the whole game, she actually only succeeded twice and gave up the last two throws.
All that's left was to wait, waiting for the other opponents on the pitch, including Andrei Chick, who threw the season's world best of 71.40, to catch up with her, but no one could surpass that result until the end of the final shot.
Liu Shiying posed on the spot.
"I thought the first shot was precious, so I thought I could do as well as I could." When asked how to win the gold medal on the first shot, Liu Shiying replied very sincerely, "It was still quite unexpected, I didn't think much about it, but the first shot was thrown (this result) very happy and excited." ”
In fact, the 66 meters 34 result was not safe to ensure a gold medal at that time, after all, there were three people who could throw more than 66 meters on the final stage of the women's javelin at the Tokyo Olympic Games, but this did not include Liu Shiying.
It is no wonder that the reporters who were originally waiting for the debut of the Chinese men and women's "relay group" were a little excited and helpless after witnessing Liu Shiying's victory - many reporters could only "endure the pain" and give up the opportunity to watch the women's 4× 100-meter relay on the spot, pouring into the mixed interview area, hoping to "explore" the secret behind Liu Shiying's victory.
And Liu Shiying attributed a large part of the credit for her breakthrough to her roommate Gong Lijiao.
"My sister (Gong Lijiao) and I live in the same room. After Sister Jiao won the first Olympic gold medal in the Chinese Athletics Competition, I said, Sister Jiao, I want to touch your joy. Then he sat down on her bed before going out. It seems that the house is really a treasure house. ”
Talking about her story with "gold medal roommate" Gong Lijiao, Liu Shiying herself laughed, "Although Sister Jiao has returned to China, I will go back to (Olympic Village) to talk to her on video." ”
In Liu Shiying's winning speech, this gold medal seems to have a lot of "luck" components, but in fact, if there is no Liu Shiying's stable mentality and good technical ability, she cannot carry heavy pressure and release her best state in the first shot.
This is also the most important instruction that Gong Lijiao told Liu Shiying before returning to China, "Relax your mentality, enjoy the game, don't worry, and compare according to your own rhythm." ”
Liu Shiying only used one shot to complete the dream in her heart.
During the game, the old injury recurred
Liu Shiying did it, she threw the first shot at her own pace that overwhelmed all the other players, and then quietly waited, waiting for the "Goddess of Victory" to call.
She even gave up the last few throws, like a spectator watching the performance of each opponent. Such a move is somewhat "Versailles", but the reason behind it is because her old injury in the game has recurred, which is why she will emphasize that "the first shot is very precious".
In fact, Liu Shiying's progress and achievements in the past three years are obvious to all.
In May 2017, liu Shiying broke the Asian record with 66.47 meters at the IAAF Kawasaki Challenge; in August 2018, at the Jakarta Asian Games, she won the championship with 66.09 meters; in October 2019, at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, she won the silver with a reversal of 65.88 meters; in September 2020, at the National Athletics Championships, she won the individual best with 67.29 meters.
Liu Shiying and Lü Huihui (left).
However, somewhat like the story of many Olympians, the one-year postponement of the Tokyo Olympics has allowed injuries to find her.
'At the beginning of the season, the injuries were a bit serious, which disrupted the pace of the games and training afterwards. In the post-match interview, Liu Shiying also revealed that her recurrent injury in the game was a strain of the intercostal muscle, which had a great impact on the throwers.
"This injury has a very big impact on the state, and I will not throw a good result in the case of pain, so I chose not to vote, I want to protect myself."
Liu Shiying herself said that when she became more and more serious at the beginning of the season, she once came to a low point in terms of performance and mentality, and even missed the Olympic Games, "At the beginning, I really couldn't accept it, and my mentality was not very good some time ago, but it was adjusted." ”
Objectively speaking, compared with Gong Lijiao, who is in a dominant position in the world of shot put, Liu Shiying does not have an absolute gold advantage in the women's javelin this season, but this Chinese athletics milestone that even Liu Shiying herself said was "accidental" is also the best affirmation of her own ability and dedication.
This victory is like a ray of light
Liu Shiying smiled after the game: "The Olympic Games is my dream, and now my dream is completed." ”
How beautiful this process of realizing dreams is, only everyone who has worked hard and struggled for the goal can truly appreciate.
And Liu Shiying also showed this happiness to the world early - when the broadcast camera of the competition was aimed at her, she either pointed to the red bracelet on her wrist, and then showed love to the camera, or directly sent a flying kiss.
When the Polish runner failed to surpass her on the last throw, she cheered excitedly, then put on the flag and circled the track, enjoying the cheers and applause of everyone.
"When we checked in, we saw Liu Shiying running on the runway, and we were really encouraged." Just as Liu Shiying was celebrating her victory, the Chinese women's relay team was preparing to stand on the stage of the final.
In the words of Liang Xiaojing, Liu Shiying's victory is like a light, "Seeing the breakthrough in Chinese athletics, I think we can also run well." ”
In that women's relay match, the women's "relay team" composed of Liang Xiaojing, Ge Manqi, Huang Guifen and Wei Yongli ran the best of the season at 42.71 seconds, finishing sixth, creating the best time in the history of Chinese sprinting in this event.
Although the Chinese men's "Relay Heavenly Group", who appeared just after them, made a small mistake in the process of handing over the baton and failed to stand on the podium as desired, they have run 37.79 seconds, equaling the national record.
"It was an exciting and shivering night!" A veteran journalist who has been covering Chinese athletics for decades lamented this at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.
"Like 30 years ago, also in Tokyo, the third World Athletics Championships, Xu Demei's javelin shot first, won the first gold medal in the Chinese women's javelin world championships! That year, Huang Zhihong won the gold medal in women's shot put! In that year, the men's relay championship time was also 37.50 seconds, the same as today's championship..."
Being able to tell the great moments of Chinese athletics in a number of families shows this old reporter's love for Chinese athletics. He also said, "This night, the light of hope in Chinese athletics is brighter." ”
Editor-in-Charge: Ascendas
Proofreader: Liu Wei