The Chinese cycling team, which is preparing for the Paris Olympics on Chongming Island in Shanghai, welcomed a heavyweight guest on May 18, who is the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach. When he met the athletes of the Chinese team, Bach asked the most: "Have you qualified for the Olympics?" Are you ready? ”
Zhou Yu, an athlete from Chongming, is the Asian Games and World Cup champion, and has already qualified for the Paris Olympics, and this time he can meet Bach at home, and he is about to participate in the Olympic Games for the first time, he is very encouraged, "This is the first time I have met President Bach, I have now qualified for the Olympics, I hope to perform well in the Olympic Games, and strive to give full play to my ability to stand on the podium!" Giving athletes a heart-shaped five-ring badge is a "fixed gesture" of President Bach, who wants to encourage athletes to work towards their Olympic goals, so Yuan Haidi, a 21-year-old athlete from the Shanghai team, also received the badge, and Bach hopes to see her at the 2028 Olympics.
Unlike most athletes meeting President Bach for the first time, the coach of the Chinese track cycling team, Dutchman Persia, met Bach for the second time. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Persia, who was competing in the Olympics as a Dutch athlete at the time, met Bach again, and reunited eight years later, Persia took out his mobile phone and invited Bach to take a group photo. When asked what he can bring to the Chinese men's cycling as a foreign coach, Persian confidently said that he wants to create a new history, "The gap between Chinese athletes and teams such as France, Britain and Japan is already very small, and I believe that the Chinese men's track cycling can make history and win medals in the Olympic Games." ”
Although the difficulties are not small, Persia and his lads have always set high demands on themselves and worked tirelessly towards this goal. Maybe a miracle will happen in Paris, just like Bach's sudden visit on this afternoon on Chongming Island, bringing infinite surprises.