For track and field fans, when it comes to men's pole vaulting, the first person who will think of it may be the "pole vaulting tsar" Bubka, who has set a world record for pole vaulting 35 times and is the first male pole vaulter to jump 6 meters, and for women's pole vaulters, some people may think of Russia's pole vault queen Isinbayeva, who is the world's first female pole vaulter to jump 5 meters. However, the result of the selection of the world's most beautiful and sexy athletes initiated by the British media is China's "pole jumping goddess" Li Ling.
As the "face value bearer" of the Chinese athletics team Li Ling, white skin and beautiful long legs, height of 1.85 meters, has the figure of the world's supermodel, let her have a healthy beauty, and is known as the "most beautiful high jump goddess", appearance and strength fly together, has 7 years 4 times to refresh the asian record of women's pole jump, is the leader of the Asian women's pole jump, or the Olympic Games "four dynasties elders", the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will be Li Ling's fourth time to compete in the Olympic Games, she hopes that this time the ability to compete for good results.
Li Ling, born on July 6, 1989 in Puyang, Henan Province, to a sports family, the father is a basketball player, the mother is a volleyball player, under the mother's cultivation, Li Ling began to play single parallel bars from an early age, growing taller than most people.
When she was 12 years old, her height was 1.8 meters, her legs were long, and she felt that it would be wasted without practicing sports, so the physical education teacher who graduated from Beiti suggested that Li Ling go to the sports school and recommended her to Zhou Tiemin, the coach of the Beiti Athletics Sports School.
Li Ling originally wanted to practice high jump, but her physical condition is more suitable for practicing pole jumping, maybe this is the fate, she finally practiced pole vaulting with coach Zhou Tiemin. The same thing is that both the high jump and the pole vault end in a failed challenge, and for athletes, every time they jump over the high crossbar and touch the limits of the sky, it is a new test. She said: "From the first day I met the pole jump, I demanded myself by the standard of a champion and constantly challenged me to go higher. ”
Li Ling began practicing athletics at the age of 12, although the time was relatively late, but her progress was very fast, and she entered the registration of the sports team of Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, at the age of 14.
In 2006, Li Ling won the pole vault championship with a score of 4 meters 15 meters in the first match at the National Junior Athletics Championships.
In 2007, Li Ling began to officially transfer to adult competitions, and in the first year, Li Ling could only barely jump 4 meters 20 meters at the National Indoor Championships, but a year later, in the same competition, she jumped 4 meters 45. In a year's time, she became the third athlete to reach the Olympic standard after Gao Shuying and Zhang Yingning.
In 2008, at the Beijing Olympic Games on her doorstep, Li Ling, a 19-year-old fledgling, only jumped 4.15 meters in the Olympic Games for the first time, which was the first time she felt the atmosphere of the Olympic Games.
Later, the naturally beautiful Li Ling grew to 1 meter 85, sexy and stylish, whenever she picked up a long pole to compete on the track and field field, many people's eyes were attracted to her, making her a beautiful landscape on the track and field field.
In 2012, at the London Olympics, 23-year-old Li Ling competed for the Olympic qualification, but did not play well and failed to reach the final.
In 2013, at the 12th National Games, Li Ling won the women's pole vault championship with a score of 4.65 meters and broke the Asian record, but at the same time, breaking the record also brought her physical pain, because of the injury, her sciatica is still often attacked.
As an athlete, working hard and pursuing excellent results, injuries are almost inevitable, picking up the pole again and again every day to practice, rubbing the palms against the poles repeatedly, leaving her hands full of calluses and even blood bubbles...
Still, all the hard work is worth it.
On September 14, 2014, Li Ling became the first Asian to win the women's pole vault at the Intercontinental Cup in Athletics (formerly the World Cup in Athletics), and in the same year, she also won the pole vault at the Incheon Asian Games.
In 2015, Li Ling graduated from Beijing Sports University and became a teacher in the teaching and research department of Beijing Sports University. Li Ling not only has to train well, but also to undertake the teacher's scientific research, management and other work, for how to coordinate their own training and work, Li Ling and her team have made great efforts.
In order to improve efficiency, every morning before dawn, she has to go to the athletics hall for training, in the morning she has to be a teacher to teach, start training after the lunch break, and treat and read books in the evening, and the schedule is quite fulfilling.
If you ask Li Ling how good is her physical fitness? Many men can not complete the double force arm, Li Ling can do it easily, her swing pull-up can do up to 40 times, the sitting body forward flexion can reach 40 cm, the ligaments are also particularly good, all kinds of one-word horses are familiar, and all of this is the basic condition for her to break the Asian record.
In 2015, at the Asian Athletics Championships, Li Ling set a new Asian record with a score of 4.66 meters.
On February 20, 2016, Li Ling broke the Asian indoor pole vault record and Asian record held by herself with a score of 4.70 meters at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships.
On August 16, 2016, Li Ling competed in the Olympic Games for the third time, and she still did not reach the final in the women's pole vault competition in athletics at the Rio Olympic Games.
In the process of trying to chase her dreams, Li Ling also gained her own love, and in October 2017, Li Ling and Yang Yansheng, an athlete who is also a pole jumper, entered the marriage hall and had a happy marriage.
In 2018, Li Ling won the pole vault championship at the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.
On May 18, 2019, at the IAAF Diamond League shanghai station, Li Ling successfully jumped over 4.72 meters, breaking her Asian record for the women's pole vault.
From 4.65-4.66-4.70-4.72 meters, from 2013 to 2019, Li Ling broke the Asian record four times in 7 years.
Xu Huiqin and Li Ling
On June 25, 2021, in the women's pole vault of the National Athletics Championships in Chongqing, Xu Huiqin won the championship with 4 meters 65 meters, and Li Ling won the second place with 4 meters 60, and both were selected for the Tokyo Olympic athletics athlete list.
For the future, 32-year-old Li Ling is still chasing dreams, she has greater expectations, she even longs for one day she can jump 5 meters, she said: "I hope I can play to my limit, I don't know if I can jump to the height of 5 meters, of course, I have to jump the heights in front of me."
"Life Has No Limits" says, "If you know what you want, all sacrifices will become easy to accept." ”
As the current "Asian first person" in women's pole vaulting, Li Ling has dominated Asia for a long time, and this time competing in the Tokyo Olympic Games will be her fourth Olympic journey, and she strives to create better results!
Life goes on, the pursuit does not stop!