Author: Kunik
In this Paris Olympic Games, a familiar face appeared to us: Guo Jingjing.
When she came to Paris, she was invited by FINA to serve as the chief referee of the Olympic diving event. In the referee's seat, she wore a white shirt with black pants tucked into her long hair, affectionate and focused, and the whole person looked tall and capable.
Some viewers said that when watching the live broadcast, the camera swept to Guo Jingjing and her husband Huo Qigang who accompanied her, and the commentator said: "Diving star Guo Jingjing and her husband." ”
Huo Qigang, who has a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars, lost his name like this, he was originally a wealthy family, but he became Guo Jingjing's "son-in-law". Netizens commented: Huo Qigang, you are well married!
From the "Queen of Diving" to the "Giant Kuotai", and then to the chief diving referee of the Paris Olympics, Guo Jingjing has been constantly labeled as a new label.
The outside world has never stopped discussing her, and every time she is mentioned, she will show that indifferent and peaceful smile that has been the same for decades.
She once compared her life to an unstable ten-meter jump, no matter how her identity changes, she is still the athlete who stands on the platform and jumps again and again, and stabilizes herself again and again. Despite the unknowns faced before each entry into the water,
But she "always balances unstable conditions with a constant stable heart." ”
Before becoming the "Queen of Diving", Guo Jingjing was just a little girl who was afraid of swimming because she had drowned.
When she was seven years old, her parents sent her to learn to swim in order to improve her slow physical growth. Although there is a psychological shadow on swimming, in order to break through herself, Guo Jingjing still followed the coach to the Baoding training base, and only after arriving did she find that the practice here was diving.
The high diving platform is really a little scary for a little girl who is not yet ten years old, but Guo Jingjing, who wanted to retreat, was still left by the coach's sentence "Come here, try it", and since then, she has begun her 22-year diving career.
In four years, Guo Jingjing has grown rapidly. At the age of 11, he entered the national team and became a professional athlete. At the age of 13, Guo Jingjing won her first national championship, and at the age of 14, she won the world championship in women's doubles, teams, and mixed teams.
Behind the seemingly smooth start is a rigorous training that ordinary people can hardly imagine. Although she was gifted enough to do what others would have been training for two months in 20 days, she still had to endure very brutal physical torture. In order to correct the problem of protruding kneecaps, her 140-pound father sat on her knee and forcibly pressed her leg, and every time she cried and screamed in pain, she didn't give up, or gritted her teeth and persevered.
With extraordinary perseverance and determination, the 15-year-old Guo Jingjing participated in the first Olympic Games of her career. The young and ignorant girl followed behind her seniors, and as soon as she stood on the jumping platform, she immediately stood out and won the fifth place on her debut.
This is how the story of a generation of diving legends seems to have begun. When everyone thought that she would continue to show off on the stage of various events, she was severely broken in the middle of the way.
During a practice, due to a power outage, Guo Jingjing lost her vision in mid-air and fell straight from the springboard to the concrete floor, resulting in a fracture of the tibia and fibula of her right leg.
She stopped training and returned to her hometown in Baoding to recuperate. When she returned to the national team again, her legs had become different due to illness, and she weighed more than 20 pounds and grew five centimeters taller. No one in the team coach wants to take her, and this kind of physical fitness is "wasted" for diving.
But Guo Jingjing, who has already seen the sky of international competitions, can't accept that she will leave the arena like this. Fearing that surgery would affect her career, she endured pain in her right leg and continued to train at high intensity for a long time to become a sharp, indestructible arrow in order to lose weight and keep herself in the best competitive condition.
The desire for victory and the high demand for herself whipped her body and mind like a whip. But no matter how strong a person is, there will be moments when the strings will break. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Guo Jingjing lost to Fu Mingxia and missed the Olympic gold medal.
"That time, I lost to Fu Mingxia. I remember that after the competition, I didn't want to practice. ”
The world remembers the first, not the second. In the middle of the night in a foreign country, Guo Jingjing sat alone by the river and cried bitterly. This defeat was a huge blow to her, and it was also a key part of tempering her into Puyu. She began to learn to move forward steadily and practice steadily. The difference between the champion and the runner-up may be a fraction of a second, she precipitated herself, polished these details bit by bit, and then engraved them into the memory of every joint of her body.
At the 2001 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Guo Jingjing won the women's single 3-meter springboard, women's double 3-meter springboard and women's 1-meter springboard championships.
At the award ceremony, Guo Jingjing cried. She had stood on the top podium 31 times in her life, and that was the only time she cried.
No matter how turbulent the water is, it will be smooth and smooth again, faithfully and clearly remembering those years of hard work for her.
At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Guo Jingjing finally won her first gold medal in Olympic history. Unlike the excited spectators, Guo Jingjing, who was standing on the podium, was very calm.
"It took me eight years, and when I stood on the winner's podium at the Athens Olympics, a lot of people asked me why I didn't cry? I think it may be that I know that the results need a process to accumulate, and in the process of accumulation, I have shed too many tears, I know my level, and I am confident. ”
In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Guo Jingjing once again won the women's single 3-meter board and women's double 3-meter board championship, so far, Guo Jingjing surpassed Fu Mingxia with 4 gold and 2 silver Olympic results, became the first person in the Chinese diving team, and won the title of "Queen of Diving".
But behind this huge honor, her eyes have been close to blindness due to long-term training. In 2011, Guo Jingjing chose to retire because her body was overwhelmed.
Guo Jingjing participated in four Olympics and won 77 gold medals. Others may only see her dazzling aura of "the first person to diver", but in so many days of facing the water alone, only she knows what she has done.
"Wealthy Kuotai" is Guo Jingjing's next identity label after "Diving Queen".
After the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, the Chinese gold medal athletes' delegation visited Hong Kong, and Guo Jingjing, as the leader of the diving "dream team", was naturally sought after by many people. During the dinner, a man wearing black-rimmed glasses politely came over and wanted to take a photo with her, and Guo Jingjing was happy to take a photo. Unexpectedly, after the dinner, the man came to her side again and asked her if she could take a group photo with the stumbling "Gangpu".
Guo Jingjing expressed doubts: "Haven't you already taken pictures?" Only then did the man say shyly: "I just took someone else's camera, can I use my own camera again?" ”
This man is Guo Jingjing's current husband, the eldest grandson of Hong Kong's Fok Yingdong Group, and the heir to a fortune of 100 billion yuan, Huo Qigang.
Huo Qigang fell in love with the bright and moving Guo Jingjing on the field at first sight, and pursued her after this dinner. After the relationship between the two was confirmed, Huo Qigang often came to Guo Jingjing, like a little fan brother, with her career, carrying a long gun and a short cannon to take pictures of her offstage.
From Tencent.com
In this relationship, Huo Qigang gave Guo Jingjing enough companionship and love. He could only speak English and Cantonese, and for Guo Jingjing, he also went to practice Mandarin hard;
Guo Jingjing had to train, and he didn't have much time, so he often flew to Beijing to find Guo Jingjing, and his bag was full of her favorite snacks;
When they participated in an interview together, Guo Jingjing said, "I am Huo Qigang's wife Guo Jingjing", and Huo Qigang immediately said, "I am Guo Jingjing's husband".
It can be said that in this relationship that seems to outsiders to be "not the right door", Huo Qigang gave Guo Jingjing enough respect.
And Guo Jingjing herself has never felt that she has climbed to a high branch since then.
When the relationship between the two was announced, it caused a huge public opinion. Guo Jingjing is a child of an ordinary working family, while Huo Qigang is the eldest grandson of a wealthy Hong Kong family, worth more than 100 million, and he is also very good.
In interviews, Guo Jingjing is always asked similar questions: What do you think about a wealthy family like Huo Qigang?
There are even rumors that she is cheating and has a discordant relationship with her husband; Said that she was pregnant, her form was declining, and there was no way to continue to compete.
And Guo Jingjing replied generously every time: He is a giant, and I am a world champion.
Meanwhile, at the 2008 Olympics, Guo Jingjing responded to the chatter with a dazzling gold medal and a record high.
After retiring, Guo Jingjing and Huo Qigang got married. Huo Zhenting, the head of the Huo family, said bluntly at the wedding: "Guo Jingjing's marriage to the Huo family is a blessing for the Huo family. With her own strength, although she married into a wealthy family, she never lost herself.
After marriage, although the main focus was on raising children and taking care of the family, Guo Jingjing did not give up studying and working. She once said in an interview: "I definitely have to work, and a woman must have a job to live a better life." ”
She began to learn English, studied business management, and served as the chairman of the Nansha Cultural Association, a non-governmental organization. He has also been enthusiastic about public welfare for a long time, and has served as an ambassador for the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF.
When the epidemic occurred, she also joined the volunteer team, personally packing masks and assisting in the handling of anti-epidemic materials. Many of the content she posts on social platforms is related to environmental protection and caring for children.
Guo Jingjing has always been Guo Jingjing, she has not become "Mrs. Huo", and has always done what she wants to do.
In international competitions, the referee's decision often has a decisive impact on the outcome of the match. In recent years, controversies surrounding the fairness of referees have occurred from time to time, and the Chinese team has failed to achieve better rankings several times due to unfair judgments.
In order to fight for more fairness, to let more people join the international sports organizations dominated by Europe and the United States, and to have more voice and influence, Guo Jingjing left the diving platform and plunged into a new water: she began to prepare for the FINA referee exam.
Guo Jingjing did not reveal much to outsiders how many hardships and hardships there were during the period, but we saw her efforts: in 2021, Guo Jingjing appeared at the Tokyo Olympics as a member of the FINA Diving Technical Committee. Her job is to give a score to the referees and assess whether they are competent and fair.
A CCTV reporter asked her if she would continue to do it? She replied, of course, as long as no one drives me away, I will keep doing it.
She did it again, just like standing on the podium that year with her own gold medal in her hand, and now in 2024, she is standing on the field in Paris, holding the whistle press, standing at the front of the referee's bench as the chief referee, measuring fairness with her own hands.
Some netizens described Guo Jingjing: "Instead of waiting for the mercy of rights, it is better to go up and become the one who makes the rules." ”
The story of a "big heroine" seems to come to a successful conclusion here.
But Guo Jingjing's life is far from stopping.
"Water will isolate applause, and it will also isolate sighs"
At this moment, Guo Jingjing is 43 years old. The former youth has faded, but the gaze is still firm and dazzling. Whether it is the jumping platform, her family or the referee's seat, she seems to always be standing, never being knocked down by the waves stirred up by fate.
Different identity changes, all kinds of problems faced, others can feel from some sporadic narratives and interviews, and they need to bear extremely great pressure, not to mention Guo Jingjing, who is in the center of the whirlpool, but she persevered and succeeded again and again.
How did she go from an ordinary athlete to an Olympic champion and create a myth? How did you decide to devote yourself to a new cause, as a retired Chinese female athlete, to join the referee seat dominated by white men?
We don't know how much it will cost you to an unimaginable price. But Guo Jingjing has remained indifferent from beginning to end, and has never given up breakthroughs and efforts.
Just like a long time ago, she humorously counterattacked in front of the media's foolish question of "I have been without makeup, what if Huo Qigang cheats": "Mr. Huo dresses up well every day, so I won't cheat." ”
She also said after winning the World Championship: "If you get the title and you think it's okay, then you can't go far." ”
Self-confidence, self-esteem, and refusal to accept fate are her greatest weapons.
Maybe everything she went through was like diving again and again. From jumping to jumping into the water, she has countless opportunities to stop and look back, but she still chooses to stabilize her heart and calmly accept the test of success or failure in the face of unknown fate.
As she said in her speech: "When the body jumps into the water, the audience notices how many points the referee gives and whether the splash is good or not." And the moment I hit the water, I already knew what the outcome was. But for better or worse, the world is quiet, because the water will isolate applause and sighs. ”
(Excerpted from the WeChat public account Guoguan)