(Tokyo Olympics) "Old Gun" Pang Wei: Once a "genius teenager" is now comparable to "legend"
China News Service Shijiazhuang, July 27 Title: "Old Gun" Pang Wei: Once a "Genius Teenager" Is Now Shoulder to Shoulder to Shoulder "Legend"
Written by Li Xiaowei
On July 27, Beijing time, in the 10-meter air pistol mixed team gold medal battle at the Tokyo Olympic Games, Chinese shooting veteran Pang Wei partnered jiang Ranxin to defeat the Russian Olympic Committee combination and won the gold medal. After 13 years, Pang Wei, the "elder of the four dynasties" of the Olympic Games, finally realized his dream of gold medals, and also equaled the record of two Olympic gold medals by his mentor and legendary Chinese gunner Wang Yifu.
On July 27, local time, in the 10-meter air pistol mixed team gold medal battle at the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Chinese team Jiang Ranxin / Pang Wei won 16:14 in the "Grab 16 Battle" to win the seventh gold medal for the Chinese team. The 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team is a new Olympic event, with 20 teams participating. Image source: Visual China
In front of the TV set at Pang Wei's home in Baoding City, Hebei Province, Pang Wei's family was still nervous about the anxiety of the game a moment ago, and Pang Wei's mother, Cai Dongfang, even hid and did not dare to watch the game. But all the anxiety, with the announcement of the final shot results, turned into cheers and joy.
"The child has survived so many years of stress." Pang Wei's father, Pang Yanhong, couldn't help but sigh.
Pang Wei, once a genius teenager in the eyes of the world, "debut is the peak": in 2006, the 20-year-old Pang Wei represented China for the first time in an international competition, and won the 10-meter air pistol world championship in one fell swoop; two years later, at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, he participated in the Olympic Games for the first time and won the gold medal and became famous in one battle.
However, after "one step to the sky", the Hebei player gradually faded out of the public eye. Although he is still a regular in world-class competitions, there are no more impressive results to prove that he is still a sharpshooter. At the 2012 London Olympics, Pang Wei only ranked fourth. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, his result was bronze.
"After two Olympic setbacks, he was under a lot of pressure." Pang Yanhong recalled that after a period of lows, because of injuries, but also in order to spend more time with his family, Pang Wei lived a semi-retired life and became a shooting coach.
However, as a traditional advantage of the Chinese team, the men's air pistol has not achieved ideal results in recent years. In the face of the Tokyo Olympics, china's men's 10-meter air pistol project even faces the dilemma that no one can pick up the girder. At the beginning of 2019, Pang Wei, who had not trained for more than two years, chose to pick up the pistol again and continue to compete on the field.
"I still have some feelings, and I want to come back and play again." In particular, our project has encountered many difficulties in recent years, and I hope to contribute to the project. Pang Wei once told the media. At that time, he was 33 years old, facing many problems such as family and injuries, and how to return to competitive status as soon as possible was crucial.
"It's really not easy for him to stay here." Zhang Shengge, Pang Wei's coach at the provincial team and deputy director of the Shooting and Archery Sports Management Center of the Hebei Provincial Sports Bureau, said that high-level shooters like Pang Wei have to shoot at least 40,000 bullets a year in training. As a veteran in his 30s, he also has to overcome the problems of waist and cervical spine injuries, as well as fully enclosed training under the new crown pneumonia epidemic, family difficulties, etc. "Since the closed training, he has only seen the children three times in total, and the children are only in the third and fourth grades of primary school."
Fortunately, the suffering pang Wei had suffered slowly bore fruit. In the men's 10m air pistol final of the 2019 INTERNATIONAL SHOOTING FEDERATION Rifle Pistol World Cup, he won the gold medal and achieved the three major grand slams of the 10m air pistol world championship, the Olympic Games and the World Cup finals. This time, although Pang Wei only won a bronze medal in the men's 10m air pistol competition at the Tokyo Olympics, he did not have any regrets in the 10m air pistol mixed team competition.
If you win the gold medal again, will you continue to play? Pang Wei did not give a clear answer after the game. Earlier, in an interview with the media, he talked more about hoping that more athletes would grow up as soon as possible, because "so that there is hope for this project in our country." However, Zhang Shengge revealed that after the Tokyo Olympic Games, Pang Wei will also devote himself to the preparation for the 14th National Games this year.
Pang Wei's future is to be continued. But for now, the mother Cai Dongfang is more looking forward to her son coming home to "hug him" and then make him a meal of fennel stuffed dumplings that he loves. (End)
Source: China News Network