On the evening of August 6, in the women's javelin final in athletics at the Tokyo Olympic Games, China's Liu Shiying threw a personal best of the season of 66.34 meters in the first throw, and finally won the gold medal with this result. The Shandong girl made history without being favored, winning the first Olympic javelin gold medal by a Chinese athlete.
Born in the "land of athletics", he once broke the Asian record
Liu Shiying, 28, was born in a village in Muping District, Yantai City, her parents run a restaurant, and she has little energy to accompany Liu Shiying, which has made her develop a strong self-care ability from an early age. In May 2005, 13-year-old Liu Shiying was selected by the Muping District Sports School and began her training career with javelins. In July 2007, Liu Shiying was selected to be sent to Yantai Sports School, according to Liu Shiying's enlightenment coach Li Xiuhu, during which Liu Shiying participated in two provincial games and won the championship.
Liu Shiying won the javelin event at the Tokyo Olympics According to IC photo
After that, Liu Shiying stood on the stage of the competition, including the National City Games, the National Athletics Championships, and even the Asian Athletics Championships, and the lightning-fast javelin was in her hands, winning the championship for her again and again. On May 21, 2017, Liu Shiying let the world witness the strength of the Chinese javelin. In the women's javelin competition at the World Athletics Challenge in Kawasaki, Japan, Liu Shiying threw 66.47 meters, breaking the Asian record and winning the championship easily. At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Liu Shiying won the championship with the first throw of 66 meters 09 and set an Asian Games record.
Yantai is known as the "hometown of athletics", and Yantai Sports School was rated as "National Athletics Olympic High-level Reserve Talent Base". The women's javelin project of Yantai Sports School is well-known in the world sports world, and has trained many outstanding athletes such as athletes Liang Lili, Geng Aihua, Li Lingwei, Sui Liping, Liu Shiying and so on. Over the years, coach Guo Qingxian has insisted on leading the team by himself, not only undertaking the competition task of Yantai City Team, but also undertaking the competition task of Shandong Provincial Team and National Team.
Among the athletes who participated in the women's javelin event at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Li Lingwei and Liu Shiying were personally trained by her. As a coach at a prefectural and municipal sports school, he directly trains high-level athletes to participate in the Olympic Games, which is also rare in the history of Chinese athletics. In that competition, Liu Shiying only threw 57.16 meters and failed to advance to the final; but five years later in Tokyo, Liu Shiying shocked the world and rewrote the history of the Chinese javelin sport.
The Chinese players in the javelin event have formed a group advantage
At the Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese javelin was pinned on high hopes, but whether in the eyes of the industry or the media, if the Chinese javelin can break the history and win the gold medal, the veteran Lu will be the one who hopes for a bigger one. This Olympic Games is the third time that Lu Huihui has participated in the Olympic Games, with more experience and more stable achievements. But it was in this situation that Liu Shiying threw a personal season best of 66.34 meters in the first throw. In the fifth throw, Liu Shiying chose to be free of throw due to the result of the second throw, and finally when all the other players finished the game, she had already locked in the gold medal.
Liu Shiying in the women's javelin final in athletics at the Tokyo Olympics. Image according to IC photo
Affected by the epidemic last year, Chinese track and field athletes generally adopted a closed training approach. Even so, Liu Shiying's performance is still eye-catching, and at the 2020 Athletics National Championships, she set a new personal best with a score of 67.29 meters. This score is ranked second in the annual world ranking of the project. With a high level of performance, Liu Shiying quickly determined the qualification for the Olympic Games.
Liu Shiying's progress is rapid, inseparable from her teammate and opponent Lu Huihui, there is a goal around, more conducive to their own progress. Of course, the outside world will inevitably compare the two. For this topic, Liu Shiying did not shy away from it, she said: "As a Chinese athlete, whether it is a sister or me, it is worth being happy to achieve good results in the Olympic Games, and the more outstanding athletes participate in the competition, the more they can achieve results, and they are very lucky for the entire track and field team." At the Tokyo Olympic Games, Lu Huihui finally won the sixth place with 63 meters 41, and she also congratulated Liu Shiying at the first time.
At the Olympic Games, Chinese athletics ushered in breakthroughs in many events, especially the women's throwing event, winning two gold medals in the shot put and javelin. Like other projects, Liu Shiying's gold medal is not only due to her alone, but also to Lu Huihui and many javelin predecessors. It is the efforts of generations of people that have allowed the Chinese javelin to form a group advantage and finally realize the dream of success in the Olympic Games.
Red Star News reporter Li Bo
Edited by Ou Peng
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