Text: West Kowloon
Editor|Uncle Yu
At the Asian Games, Chen Jiapeng was the last stick in the men's 4×100m relay final.
Using the breath-holding running method, he overtook the first place Japan and finally won the championship.
Holding your breath and running is a gamble with your life, and if you are not careful, the ligaments below the waist will all be broken.
This in turn results in lifelong disability.
But for the honor of the country, he gambled.
During the post-match interview, reporters asked him what he was thinking.
He said: "Raise the national flag and play the national anthem. ”
It can be seen from this that wearing the national flag and playing the national anthem is a sacred thing for the athletes who win the championship.
However, in the history of mainland sports, there is such an Olympic champion.
When she excitedly crossed the finish line to win the gold medal, no one in the audience celebrated her and no one presented her with a national flag.
She is the "loneliest Olympic champion" in the history of the mainland Olympics - Wang Liping.
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she won the gold medal, why didn't anyone celebrate her?
01 The self-redemption of a girl in the deep mountains
Before winning the halo of the Olympic champion, she was either cold or sick behind her back.
Born in a small city in Dandong, Liaoning Province, surrounded by mountains.
Her mother worked as a farmer at home, and her father was the sole breadwinner for the family.
In Wang Liping's memory, her father got up early and worked at a coal and tobacco purchasing station.
The mother was with the land, the family income was meager, and the family was always living tightly.
Parents have not gone to school and have no plans for their children's lives.
Before the age of 13, Wang Liping herself did not think about the future.
Because for the children of the mountains in the seventies and eighties of the last century, the dream was too far away.
In school, Wang Liping's academic performance is average, and there is little hope of getting ahead through studying.
However, she loves to run.
When I run, I only hear the sound of the wind, and I seem to be able to forget all my worries.
She ran countless times from home to school.
Every time the school holds a sports day, she is the most active one, and she always wins the first place.
When he was 13 years old, the city's sports school came to the school to select people.
The teacher recommended her, but her parents "quit".
Because of the family's financial constraints, the parents did not know if they could afford to practice sports.
Wang Liping is also very sensible, she fully understands the difficulties and concerns of her parents.
So at the beginning, he refused the invitation of the sports school.
After the sports school teacher found out about her situation, she inquired around and applied for a subsidy for her.
Without the efforts of the sports school teachers, we would probably have one less champion in our Olympic history.
A girl who grew up in the mountains, finally with her own talent.
embarked on a path of hopeful life, and to some extent began self-redemption.
But at the age of 13, she didn't know that the road was also full of thorns and even dangers.
02 "foil" that is not favored
After entering the sports school, she began to receive professional training.
At the suggestion of her teacher, she switched from long-distance running to race walking.
I used to run at school as a hobby.
Now after starting professional training, Wang Liping has tasted the bitterness.
Endless practice, excellent people emerge in endlessly.
I seem to have become the most inconspicuous existence.
In the second year of entering the sports school, she was recommended by her teacher to coach Wang Kui.
This is a well-known "big man" in the Chinese race walking industry.
He used to be the first generation of race walkers in New China, and became a coach after retiring.
Because of this opportunity, Wang Liping entered the Liaoning team from the Municipal Sports School for training.
But at this time, it was only a trial, and Wang Kui had not decided to accept this apprentice.
So what made him decide to take in the apprentices?
Because he saw the persistence that an athlete should have.
Wang Liping has not been in professional training for a long time, so her achievements in terms of technology are far inferior to others.
But she's hard enough and hard enough on herself.
So Wang Kui decided to accept her, and since then she has become the same door as the famous race walkers Liu Hongyu, Wang Yan and others.
Since then, Wang Liping's training has been even harder.
She had a bad stomach and would vomit after a lot of exercise.
But without a lot of practice, it is impossible to improve race walking.
So you can often see such a picture in the stadium:
Wang Liping practiced for a while, and then she had to go to the trash can next to her to vomit for a while.
Sometimes I really vomit out my stomach, and I can only vomit yellow bile water.
Not only that, but long hours of training take a toll on the knees.
In 1996, she went home to recuperate with a knee injury.
Two months later, he quickly returned to the training ground for training, for fear that he would fall too far.
I practiced so hard and got some results.
In 1998, she won the third place in the women's 10km race at the National Race Walking Championships.
In the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, he won the second place in the national team with many masters.
With the Sydney 2000 Olympics just around the corner, participation in the Olympics is every athlete's ultimate dream.
For Wang Liping, the same is true.
However, although she has made some achievements, she is still too bleak in front of Liu Hongyu, Wang Yan and other "ace players".
How do you get a ticket to the Olympics?
There is an official list of athletes participating in the Olympic Games.
To determine this list, a pre-selection contest is required.
There are a total of four stops in the selection competition, and in the first two stops, Wang Liping is the first place.
Four days before the final race, she suffered a recurrence of her knee injury.
This seems to imply that she will not be able to make it to the Olympics.
Once! One more first place! She'll be able to get the right to participate.
But at this time, the old injury recurred, and Wang Liping didn't have time to regret it.
The coach hurriedly invited experts from Harbin to treat her.
Two days later, my knee improved.
In the fourth stop, she won the first place again, and finally got the Olympic ticket!
In four races, three of them were the first place.
I thought she would be regarded as the favorite to win the Olympic Games and be focused on.
But he didn't want to be a foil for others.
03 The hero who reversed his fate
Even if she entered the official list of Olympic participants, she is still positioned as a "foil".
Because the other two have a better chance of winning the championship in the past.
Liu Hongyu
Liu Hongyu won the 10km team championship in the World Cup race walking race race in 1995.
1998 13th Asian Games 10km champion.
In 1999, he won the 19th World Cup 20km and the 7th World Championship 20km.
Wang Yan, the women's 5km champion at the inaugural Youth Athletics Championships, is the youngest world champion in this event.
Champion of the 16th World Cup women's 10km.
Any trophy of the two is more important than the trophy in Wang Liping's resume.
So, when the coach made the battle plan, the focus was on these two people.
Especially Liu Hongyu, who was the captain of the race walking team at that time.
In the plan, Wang Liping only needs to do auxiliary work.
In the official competition, he disrupted the rhythm of others and helped Liu Hongyu win the championship to clear the obstacles.
Wang Liping knew that she was regarded as a foil, and she had no complaints.
At that time, she thought that as long as the Chinese flag was raised at the end of the Olympic Games, it would be fine.
As for whether it is draped on oneself or not, it is not so important.
As everyone knows, on the day of the official competition, accidents occurred frequently.
According to the coach's plan, Liu Hongyu should have followed the second echelon at the beginning.
On the one hand, it is to conserve physical strength.
On the other hand, the first echelon is more "dangerous".
The referee's eyes are generally fixed on the first echelon to see if there are any violations.
And Wang Liping should try her best to follow the first echelon and disrupt the rhythm of the first echelon.
But after the official competition began, Liu Hongyu went according to the plan at first.
But seeing more and more people surpassing him, he was a little anxious.
Quickly kept up with the first echelon.
Due to his impatience, he was awarded two red card warnings for action fouls.
With 6 kilometers to go, I violated the rules again.
The three chances have been used up, and I have no choice but to leave the game.
On the other side, Wang Yan also left the field because of many illegal actions.
In the blink of an eye, only the "foil player" Wang Liping was left on the field.
As the "hope of the whole country", Wang Liping did not dare to slack off.
You can only speed up while maintaining the standard of your movements.
Under the chase, when she was about to reach the finish line, there was only one runner left in front of her.
The player is from host Australia.
It could be at home, plus in first place.
The fighter was a little smug and had already begun to celebrate in advance.
But getting carried away with complacency.
Towards the finish line, the runner was also disqualified for a manoeuvre.
For a time, Wang Liping became the first place.
The contestant who was once willing to be a green leaf changed his life against the sky and became the hero of his own destiny.
When she crossed the finish line and won the 20km race walk, there was silence in the audience.
Viewers who have watched the Olympics know that after winning the championship, they must be wearing the national flag and cheering from the audience.
How did you get here, and it's silent?
It turned out that the coaching staff saw that the two generals all regretted leaving the field.
There was only one Wang Liping left, and she didn't expect anything from her.
Thinking that she would definitely not win the championship, they left early.
At that time, there were very few Chinese people who could watch the scene.
The faint applause in the audience could not fill the loneliness of no one cheering after winning the championship.
In this way, she failed to wear the national flag, which became an eternal regret in her heart.
In the award ceremony, she did not have a national flag on her body, and she could only identify her nationality by her team uniform.
Unfortunately, this is clearly a problem with the coaching staff.
After arriving in China, Wang Liping was "beaten upside down".
In an interview afterwards, the coach said amazingly: "This is the result of Liu Hongyu's sacrifice." ”
In the mouth of the coach, their original plan was to let Liu Hongyu clear the obstacles and help Wang Liping win the championship.
It's just the opposite!
However, the masses are not easy to fool, find the video of the game, and find clues from the subtleties.
This lie was easily exposed.
The coaching staff said this for two reasons.
The first is to try to cover up his dereliction of duty, so as not to become the culprit of "not being able to wear the national flag".
Second, once this statement is officially recognized, the bonus that originally belonged to Wang Liping will be divided among several people.
It's really embarrassing!
epilogue
Fortunately, in the end, Wang Liping retained her reputation as an Olympic champion.
After retiring, she went to Beijing Sport University for further study and stayed on to teach.
Now in terms of investment, it is also doing well.
Facts have proved that even if she was once used as a foil for green leaves, Wang Liping has enough resilience to be the master of her life.
This kind of spirit is the most worthy of our learning!
Some references:
Sina Sports|Defeat is defeat--Feeling the "sacrifice of Liu Hongyu" by a track and field official【2000-10-08】
Wang Liping: I gave my youth to the Olympics after retirement【2008-01-21】
CCTV Network - Wang Liping returned to the national team as an assistant coach: at least 1 gold in the 08 Olympic Games [2007-11-08]