Sports Weekly special correspondent usually reports
On August 1, Beijing time, in the 1/4 final of the women's boxing flyweight (48-51kg) at the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Chinese female player Chang Yuan lost 1-4 to Bulgarian Stuka Petrova, a step away from the medal, but did not have the opportunity to get on the podium.
From martial arts families to taekwondo projects to boxing rings
Perhaps born in Changyuan, a martial arts family in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, when he began to learn martial arts like his grandfather and father, he had the dream of participating in the Olympic Games. But she probably didn't think that when she was 24 years old, she would appear in the boxing arena of the Tokyo Olympics.
The women's boxing 51 kg category is a level of boxing in the Chinese Olympic system, a level that is very promising to achieve a breakthrough.
At the Rio Olympics, veteran Ren Cancan had high hopes.
But in the end, Ren Cancan only won the bronze medal.
During the Tokyo Olympic cycle, the baton passed to Chang yuan.
Chang Yuan, who came out of a martial arts family, did not go directly from traditional Chinese martial arts to boxing. At first, the local taekwondo coach took a fancy to Changyuan and wanted her to practice taekwondo, and the ignorant Changyuan briefly put on the costume.
However, soon in 2008, with the help of social resources, the Hebei Boxing Team was established. In 2009, by chance, Chang Yuan saw the training of female boxers of the Hebei Boxing Team. Chang Yuan thinks that boxing is so handsome!
Moreover, Changyuan is soberly aware that if she wants to realize her childhood Olympic dream, it may be difficult for her to stand out from the taekwondo project. However, women's boxing, as an emerging Olympic sport, must have great promise in the future.
Therefore, Chang Yuan applied for special boxing with the coach. She entered the Hebei boxing team as she wished, studied boxing from Zhang Xiyan, China's first professional female boxing champion, and found her own direction.
In 2014, Chang Yuan, who became famous as a teenager, came to Nanjing and participated in the youth Olympic Games. Before the Start of the Youth Olympic Games, Chang Yuan and teammate Lü Ping met general secretary Xi Jinping on the training ground. At this Youth Olympic Games, Chang Yuan finally defeated the Italian players in the final and won the gold medal. It was also the first women's boxing gold medal won by a Chinese athlete at the Youth Olympic Games.
Four years later, at the Asian Games in Jakarta, Changyuan once again won the women's boxing gold medal for the Chinese team in a large-scale multi-sport event. This has also allowed Tokien's performance at the Tokyo Olympics to receive more and more attention.
From rio's sparring to Tokyo's protagonist
The process of preparing for the Tokyo Olympics was arduous for the young Tokien. However, under the tutelage of Zhang Chuanliang, the head coach of the Chinese boxing team, Chang Yuan made rapid progress and quickly understood the essence of Zhang Chuanliang's "Chinese boxing".
But excellent boxing talent is not a reason for Chang Yuan to relax and demand himself in training.
Unlike the previous Olympic system of women's boxing, which took four rounds per game and two minutes per round, the Tokyo Olympic women's boxing competition adopted a three-round, three-minute rule per round, which was consistent with the men's competition. This naturally puts forward higher requirements for the physical fitness and offensive and defensive rhythm of female players. But in training, Changyuan even often engaged in nine rounds of real combat confrontation with his teammates.
A nine-legged confrontation is three times the amount of movement equivalent to the game. After three rounds, Chang Yuan, who was fully committed, often had his hands shaking badly, and the sweat on his body was completely soaked in the training suit. Chang Yuan herself had calculated according to the weight difference before and after the start of the training, and after more than half an hour of nine rounds of actual combat, her sweat could be as much as 1 to 1.5 kilograms!
In addition to hard training, Changyuan pays special attention to details, and some minor problems must be continuously improved, and after continuing training, it is half an hour of personal planning time, and Changyuan carefully sculpts his technical actions in front of the mirror. "She formed this habit, even if the assembly is completed and the coach finishes the game, she still has to practice her deficiencies and the coach has taught her, but she can't do well." Zhang Chuanliang said.
Chang Yuan feels that in the past two years in the Chinese boxing team, her biggest change is that Zhang Chuanliang's new concept has given her and her teammates a lot of space for thinking, and she has also matured in technology, training, and especially mentally.
In March 2020, the Tokyo Olympic Boxing Sub-Region Olympic Qualification Tournament was held in Amman, Jordan. Although the sudden epidemic at that time brought unprecedented difficulties to Changyuan and his teammates to prepare for the competition, in the competition, Changyuan still played well, defeating Tajikistan youngster Kosimova, India's legendary veteran Kom and Japanese star boxer Kizukihai and others, as the champion of the qualification tournament for the first time to get the ticket to the Tokyo Olympic Games. “I am champion!” In an interview with the Olympic Channel after the game, Chang Yuan confidently shouted out her declaration.
Five years ago, Chang Yuan traveled to Rio with the Chinese boxing team as Ren Cancan's sparring partner, when she was worried that she could not go to the Olympics as an athlete. But five years later in Tokyo, she came.
Chang Yuan, 24, who is celebrating her life this year, said she was looking forward to standing on the top podium of the Tokyo Olympics and letting the five-star red flag fly high on the field. "I will do my best to play well in this Olympic Games and move forward in the direction of the championship." Believe in myself, trust in my coaches and my team! ”
Although at the Tokyo Olympics, Tokien was one step away from a medal, this experience was undoubtedly invaluable to the future for the young Tokien. I believe that in Paris three years later, we can see Changyuan again, and at that time, perhaps Changyuan will write a new glory for Chinese boxing in the women's flyweight (48-51kg) event like making history at the Youth Olympic Games.
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