Foreword
So far in this year’s Olympic Games, China has won the most gold medals in weightlifting. But this project has neither high ornamental nor high value players, and is destined to become a cold and warm project.
Foot cramp in weightlifting: “I’m sorry for my country”
In the early morning of August 11, Beijing time, 90-year-old Xiangxi girl Xiang Yanmei just finished her 69KG class final.
She whispered to the coach complained about the injury on her body, “I can’t squat now ……” coach Zhou Jihong touched her back and whispered, “It’s good to spell down, it’s good to spell down!” The bruises on her face also made her gold medal look full of color.
When the third snatch failed, the barbell fell on the back of Xiang Yanmei’s head and rolled over her head to the ground, knocking her face on her knees. There were shouts of surprise. She slowed down a bit and finished the clean and jerk, taking the fourth gold medal of this year’s Olympic weightlifting program. This is also Xiang Yanmei’s first Olympic gold medal.
After the match, Xiang Yanmei told reporters, “I was a little dizzy and had the feeling of stars next to me, and only now do I feel the pain.” When she was a guest on air, she told the host that after the first mistake, she asked to lower the weight, but the judge wouldn’t let her. The host asked why not to lower, to Yanmei said he did not understand, others can lower, but she can not.
Rio Olympics Yanmei’s shocking gold Rio Olympics Yanmei’s shocking gold
In this case to win the title, has been the greatest luck. The same Xiang athletes, Hou Zhihui and Chen Lijun are not as lucky as Xiang Yanmei, and Long Qingquan who also won gold.
Hou Zhihui had been selected for the Olympic list, but because of an accidental sprain in training in early July, coupled with Thailand’s Tanasan from the 53kg class down to 48kg class, was temporarily removed from the Chinese weightlifting team and replaced by 75kg player Meng Suping. The official reason is “let Hou Zhihui participate with injury, we can not do it”.
Hou Zhihui immediately broke down and cried for a midday, then continued to practice.
Although there is no way to participate in the Olympics, but she wants to cheer her brothers and sisters in this way, but the training is more difficult, because they all have goals, and her goal is instantly lost. She is only 19 years old, and no one knows what the future holds.
Chen Lijun, on the other hand, unexpectedly cramped up in the men’s 62kg weightlifting final and unfortunately abandoned the competition. He was interviewed in tears: “I’m sorry to the coach, sorry to the leaders, sorry to the motherland, I failed everyone! This kind of situation has never been encountered before, the reality is so cruel.”
Chen Lijun should have been the player who steadily won the gold medal Chen Lijun should have been the player who steadily won the gold medal
Lost the gold medal because he was 0.05 kg overweight after eating
In 1984, weightlifter Zhao Peishun came to Los Angeles with the national team as he wished. He was stronger than his teammate Zeng Guoqiang, but he had to lose 1-2 kg more than Zeng Guoqiang in order to reach the standard of “less than 52 kg” for the Olympic Games. On the day of the competition, the two weighed in and Zeng Guoqiang asked, “Are you enough?” “Yes, it’s still a little lighter.” Zhao Peishun 51.8 kg, 0.2 kg less than Zeng Guoqiang.
The two walked back to the dormitory and passed by the canteen. Perhaps they were already comfortable with their weight, or perhaps because they were a little hungry, Zhao Peishun suddenly proposed “let’s go have a drink”.
Zeng Guoqiang shook his head and said: “I weigh just enough, I dare not eat again, I want to go back to rest. So they parted in front of the canteen, Zeng Guoqiang went back to the Olympic village for lunch break, and Zhao Peishun went to the canteen.
1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Zeng Guoqiang won China’s first Olympic gold medal 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Zeng Guoqiang won China’s first Olympic gold medal
Years later, Zhao Peishun always felt that it was one of the worst decisions of his life. The organizing committee officially weighed Zhao Peishun 0.05 kg heavier than Zeng Guoqiang before the competition. The two were originally tied for first place in the competition with a total of 235 kg, but because of this 0.05 kg difference, Zhao Peishun came second and was dusted in history from then on.
A child in the weightlifting factory practicing to the limit of tolerance
Zeng Guoqiang became China’s first Olympic gold medalist in weightlifting, fellow countryman Chen Jingkai create China’s first world record, their hometown of Dongguan small town Shilong become “China’s weightlifting hometown”.
In 2006, Shilong built the first weightlifting museum in China, which displays the genealogy of Shilong weightlifting. Zhou Enlai received Chen Jingkai, Samaranch and Chen Jingkai together, Chen Jingkai, Chen Manlin and Ye Haobo have broken the world record 16 times in the history of the photo, Zeng Guoqiang, Chen Weiqiang, Lai Runming in the Olympic Games winning photos ……
Along the secluded path next to the museum, into a small, inconspicuous red building, that is the “Shilong School”, is also the training base of the Shilong weightlifting team.
Weightlifting hometown of Shilong weightlifting hometown of Shilong
In 2014, there are more than 50 young players training here, woken up by the bell at 5:50 in the morning, after a short warm-up to start running, followed by about an hour of weightlifting training. Tie the belt, hands rubbed with anti-slip powder, feet slightly crossed to stand firm, hands grabbed the 80 kg barbell, adjust breathing, force to lift the barbell overhead, and then put down.
This is the complete snatch action, they have to repeat dozens of times every day.
At the end of the morning training, all the athletes’ clothes are soaked with sweat. From 3:00 to 5:00 pm is the daily training time, the weightlifting hall barbell “clang clang” hit the floor of the muffled sound. The team members each repeated the snatch action on a piece of ground less than 2 square meters. As the training deepens, the weight of the barbell also increases, until the body reaches its limit.
The young boy Wu Haozhang was sent to Shilong Gymnastics School by his parents four years ago, not long after his hands blistered, so painful that even the barbell could not grasp. Wu Haozhang once told reporters, just practice every day too tired to eat, back to the dormitory to fall asleep, they also secretly cried. “But my parents insisted that I practice, plus the coach often enlighten me, so I have been persisting.”
Here weightlifting children, most from poor families, looking for a chance to get ahead, seems to be the only doorway parents can think of. But it takes about 10 years to train a good weightlifter, and kids are likely to be unable to withstand the ordeal and become deserters.
Shilong gymnastics school coach He Xingliang said, “Practice weightlifting is hard work, and the process is very boring, without a strong will is difficult to persevere.”
Students of Shilong Gymnastics School in training Students of Shilong Gymnastics School in training
More than 50 students in the school, almost no local people, and only one person in Dongguan. Shilong Gymnastics School can only go to the mainland to “buy” seedlings, providing them with free training, food and housing, as well as cultural education. Despite this, the children’s parents often refuse.
Every year, the coach runs around Guangxi, Hunan and other provinces, only to collect a list of less than 10 people, from which the selection of good seedlings can be said to be a rare. The sports industry is gradually transforming into a market-oriented operation, focusing on “results with impact”.
These years from the Shilong gymnastics school out of the athletes, not to say on the world stage, can stay in the provincial team, the 81 team and other professional teams are not many. There was a group of 13 young players at the same time into the Shilong gymnastics school, but less than half a year away a large part. The process of becoming a champion is like a big wave of sand.
For the sake of the motherland, give up the gold medal as requested by the superiors
Former women’s weightlifting champion Chen Xiaomin once recalled that in order to obtain the first gold medal in the national competition, she did not eat or drink for three days and nights to reduce weight. To lose the excess water, she had to take a sauna at night in a steam room with a temperature of up to 90℃.
The climate in Beijing was unusually dry, and the water ban for several days made her lips dry and cracked, her saliva turned into powdery white foam, and her throat was as uncomfortable as fire.
On the last day, Chen Xiaomin’s weight exceeded 0.5 kilograms, so she had to endure the pain of dry mouth before taking the sauna. The unbearable heat made people dizzy, and finally they did not even have the strength to sit up, so they lay on the wooden board in the steam room and let the sweat of their bodies flow slowly. Insisted until the weight was 54.2 kg, she only slowly walked back to the hotel with the help of her teammates to rest and wait for the last 0.2 kg to be consumed after one night to qualify for the competition.
Sydney Olympic Champion Chen XiaominSydney Olympic Champion Chen Xiaomin
In the Chinese women’s weightlifting program, there is a strategic abandonment of the championship “national policy”.
Because China is to carry out the women’s weightlifting project earlier countries, in order to make the project as soon as possible to become the official Olympic competition project, the Chinese Weightlifting Association from 1993 began to “let the gold medal”. The implementation method is in 9 levels, the Chinese team to give up 3 levels of gold medals, the purpose is to improve the enthusiasm of women’s weightlifting teams around the world, to promote women’s weightlifting to join the Olympic family as soon as possible.
In the 1996 World Weightlifting Championships, Chen Xiaomin was placed as a member of the team sacrificing individual gold medals, and the organization only allowed her to break one snatch world record and obtain gold medals in snatch and overall, while giving up gold medals in clean and jerk. After Chen Xiaomin broke the snatch world record, she needed to work out the weight arrangement with her coach in order to give the clean and jerk gold to her opponent.
Chen Xiaomin is not the only one who has made sacrifices for China’s Olympic cause. They miss the chance to create glory and may never have a chance to make a name for themselves again.
Weightlifting champion dies of poverty and illness after retirement
Becoming a champion is not the end of a weightlifter, but rather the beginning of another tragic life.
In both gymnastics and weightlifting, although they compete in the Olympics as a team, the athletes are largely self-funded as they grow and train. In contrast, their post-retirement bonuses are very meager.
Many people have been shocked by the “death of a weightlifting champion” published in the Southern Weekend in 2003, in which reporter Li Haipeng recorded the undignified death of Asian Games champion Caili.
As “Asia’s No. 1 powerlifter”, the most that Caili earned was the 20,000 yuan bonus he received at the Asian Games. The long term training of big level athletes will have sequelae, Caili’s body strain is very strong, and suffers from respiratory sleep apnea syndrome, after retirement became a fat man who is drowsy all day.
According to the system of the Liaoning Sports Institute at that time, he was assigned to the Shenyang Public Security Bureau as a police officer. The public security director wanted to meet the Asian Games champion personally, but only after two minutes of conversation did Caili fall asleep. He had no way to be a police officer.
Caili was unable to earn a living and finally died of poverty and disease, dying at the age of 33. On the table was a bowl of unfinished cabbage soup and half a bottle of shrimp paste.
The after-effects of weightlifting left on Chen Xiaomin’s body were necrosis of three vertebrae, and he could not stand for more than 10 minutes or his body would go numb. But Chen Xiaomin is much luckier than Caili.
After retiring, she worked as a secretary of the league committee in Yangcheng Evening News newspaper group, then business-minded Chen Xiaomin took the opportunity to buy houses and speculate in stocks, turned to business, and now moved to Australia and became a partner of an immigration investment company. 2016, after plastic surgery, Chen Xiaomin advanced to the top 10 of the 10th China Breast Model Competition, returning to the media in another capacity.
Today’s Chen Xiaomin, a successful businessman Today’s Chen Xiaomin, a successful businessman
Women’s weightlifter Huang Yanlan, after retiring from the military and repeatedly looking for a job with no way out, opened a barbecue brine store with her husband. She thought it was the best livelihood for herself.
In 2001, while preparing for the 9th National Games, Huang Yanlan was unfortunately injured during training and was identified as a Grade 9 disability. After missing the 9th Games, Huang Yanlan insisted on training with the injury for 4 years, but there was no improvement. The team doctor said to her: “You absolutely can’t practice any more. If you practice again, you will not only fail to achieve results, but you will probably be partially paralyzed.” Huang Yanlan said, as long as she kept the same posture for a longer time, her back would be very painful and swollen.
In 2005, the then 23-year-old Huang Yanlan took the team sent her 40,000 yuan retirement money, leaving the weightlifting team that fought for more than 2,000 days and nights. At that time, she was one of the first group of retired athletes who bought out their working years to find their own way out of the weightlifting team.
The inspirational image of Huang Yanlan, who retired with a disability card to open a food store, is not realistic to rely on the state to support her, has moved the nation.
Another weightlifter, Zou Chunlan, broke the big news in 2006 that shocked the nation: she earned 500 yuan a month by giving back rubs in public bathrooms.
Zou Chunlan won nine gold medals during her athletic career, but after retiring from the sport, she has been in financial distress. She only went to third grade and could do little else but physical work.
In 1987 to enter the first Jilin provincial sports team, Zou Chunlan just turned 16 years old, from that day on, she began to take “vigorous supplement”, 1 capsule a day, until 1993 to retire, for six years. “The only time I stopped taking it was half a month before the game, and I took a ‘masking agent’.”
Because of this, her body developed many male signs. She felt very satisfied to be able to employ herself in the bathhouse.
On August 11, men’s 77kg player Lv Xiaojun, who was misjudged by the referee to drop a gold medal in full view of the public, also said he was very satisfied.
His satisfaction is probably: the way to come is unbearable, and the future is lost, but at this moment can stand on the field, has been a weightlifter the best time.
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