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A few days ago, the State General Administration of Sport issued the "Decision on Commending Collectives and Individuals for Outstanding Contributions to the National Sports Cause in 2020", awarding 92 collectives and 187 individuals the honor of "2020 National Sports Outstanding Contribution Award". Zhou Lijun, a 22-year-old Yichun girl and taekwondo athlete at the Jiangxi Provincial Heavy Athletic Sports Management Center, is on the list.
Zhou Lijun (TV screenshot)
Zhou's mother showed reporters the medals her daughter had won
Zhou Lijun is a native of Yifeng County, Yichun City, at the age of 9, entered the Jiangxi Provincial Sports School to study taekwondo, and then went to Beijing Sport University to train, and won a number of domestic and international championships in her sports career for more than ten years. In December 2019, she won the Olympic ticket with the world's first cumulative points of two championships and one Asian Grand Slam, and in April 2020, she qualified for the Taekwondo event at the Tokyo Olympic Games on behalf of the Chinese national team.
From an ignorant little girl to the current world champion, what kind of experience has she had? On February 2, this reporter went to Zhou Lijun's home in Yifeng County to listen to her mother Hu Yixiu talk about her growth experience.
Mother: Owes her daughter a childhood
Hu Yixiu told reporters that Zhou Lijun, who was unusually "fierce" on the field, was a "well-behaved little girl" of her parents at home. "Sending her to sports school at that time was entirely my idea." Hu Yixiu said that when her daughter was a child, she participated in the school sports meeting and her grades were always very good, so she chose the future life path for her daughter.
At the beginning of 2008, under the recommendation of Zhang Gaofeng, then the principal of Yifeng County Sports School, with the mentality of trying it out, Hu Yixiu alone took Zhou Lijun, who had just entered the third grade of primary school, to report to Jiangxi Provincial Sports School.
"The first month of arriving at sports school was the hardest." Hu Yixiu told reporters that when her daughter, who was only 9 years old at the time, had to do thousands of special exercises such as ligament stretching, physical fitness and footwork every day during training, she was sore and sore, and she could hardly sleep at night. The cruelty of the training made many children retreat, watching their peers quit school and leave, Zhou Lijun did not call her mother to "beg for forgiveness". In order not to let her daughter give up halfway, Hu Yixiu had to coax her to insist on it.
Until one day, Hu Yixiu, who came to visit the sports school, watched the children practice footwork in the snow one by one, and her daughter's toes were cracked and bleeding, and the tears in her eyes could no longer be stopped. She looked at her daughter with pain, so she immediately went to find her daughter's coach.
"At that time, I just wanted to ask him if my daughter was this piece of material, and if she couldn't practice, I would take her back to school early." However, what Hu Yixiu did not expect was that the coach was very optimistic about Xiao Lijun, bluntly saying that he was a good seedling who was born to practice taekwondo, had a good sense of body for the project, and his psychology was relatively calm and composed, if he gave up, it would be a pity.
"I owe my daughter a childhood." When it comes to the original decision, Hu Yixiu still feels regretful, but she has always believed that her daughter's efforts will eventually be rewarded.
First crown: Ten years of sharpening the sword A blockbuster
Zhou Lijun's outstanding performance gradually attracted more attention. In 2012, she trained with her new coach at Beijing Sport University.
"Although the conditions are better over there, she is a little uncomfortable and her grades are unstable." Hu Yixiu admitted that her daughter's state at that time made her particularly worried, but she did not dare to call more for fear of disturbing her. There was no way, she had to run at both ends of Beijing and her hometown, and if there was a competition, she often went with her to cheer for her daughter.
In order to maintain her weight, Zhou Lijun sometimes even ate only one meal a day, often hungry. But even so, she still insisted on high-intensity training without any slackness. In addition to sweating, injuries in training and competitions are commonplace. In 2015, she was plagued by injuries while recovering, while competing, the results were not satisfactory, but did not make excuses, but continued to train harder.
Perseverance and hardship will eventually lead to success. In November 2016, at the Canadian Taekwondo World Junior Championships, Zhou Lijun, who participated in the world-class competition for the first time, won the women's taekwondo 55 kg championship, which was a big hit.
Hu Yixiu told reporters that on the day of the final, Zhou Lijun's mobile phone was out of battery, and it was not until after winning the championship that everything was settled, and her daughter remembered to give her good news. So I borrowed my teammate's tablet to log on to WeChat, and found that it was all my mother's anxious message, and Zhou Lijun replied with two words "champion", and there was no more to say. "She's actually the kind of person who doesn't want to be overly concerned about her grades, and she wants to calm down and do her own thing." Hu Yixiu said.
Dream: Successfully defend the title straight to the Olympics
December 19, 2019, this is a day worth remembering Zhou Lijun.
On the same day, Zhou Lijun once again defeated two-time Olympic champion and British star Jade Jones in the world taekwondo Grand Slam final, and successfully defended his title.
In the 2017 Taekwondo Grand Slam final, Zhou Lijun, who stood on this stage for the first time, faced Turkey's rival Irene Yaman, and was sentenced to a highly controversial foul in the final 0.38 seconds of the third set, losing the opponent in extra time. Hu Yixiu admitted that the defeat was not a small blow to her daughter, but it gave her more motivation.
The following year, Zhou Lijun, who once again advanced to the final, finally lost his shame and defeated the British star Jones to crown himself on this stage for the first time. In the 2019 final, he faced his old opponent for the second time, and in the first set, Zhou Lijun suffered a clean sheet. In the second set, Zhou Lijun pulled back a city with three "headshots". In the last inning, Jones slammed Zhou Lijun in the head, causing more than ten extremely threatening attacks, but all of them were blocked by Zhou Lijun. In the last second of the game, Zhou Lijun kicked and killed and won a thrilling victory.
The points system of the Taekwondo Championship Series, which is outside the Olympic points system, is held once a year, and the top runners in each Olympic cycle can qualify for the Olympic Games, so this competition has a high gold content and is particularly interesting. Zhou Lijun competed for three consecutive years, winning two championships and a runner-up, ending her first taekwondo Grand Slam series and qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics with a cumulative world number one record, which will also be her first Olympic journey.
Hu Yixiu told reporters that Zhou Lijun is currently training in Hainan and preparing for the Tokyo Olympic Games, she said: "My daughter's biggest dream is to win the Olympic championship and let the five-star red flag fly on the field!" ”
Source: Yichun Daily
Author Affilications:Yichun Daily Newspaper
Editor-in-charge: Zeng Lan Zhou Ying