Data Map: On July 15, 2012, the Chinese Gymnastics Women's Team set out from the State Sports General Administration for London. Cheng Fei abducted and gave him a hug to see his teammates. Image source: Osports All Sports Pictures

  China News Service Client, Beijing, May 29 (Xing Rui) In the history of Chinese gymnastics, there has never been a shortage of elite soldiers. At the World Championships in Gymnastics 15 years ago, a little girl named Cheng Fei turned the body with a shuttlecock back 180 degrees and then straight forward 540 degrees, completing this unprecedented vault. The International Gymnastics Federation has since named it "Cheng Fei Jump".

  Today, time flies. At the time of this feat, only the 17-year-old girl ushered in her 32nd birthday on May 29th. From ignorance to maturity, Cheng Fei contributed her best years to the gymnastics career, and her growth experience is also a microcosm of the road ahead of Chinese women's gymnastics.

Data map: Vaulting Queen Cheng Fei (middle). China News Service issued by Tan Daming

  At the 2004 Athens Olympics, people who were not familiar with gymnastics did not yet know the name "Cheng Fei". That year, she stood on the stage of the Olympic Games for the first time. However, the Chinese team at that time was defeated in almost all superior projects. Because the players frequently dropped equipment, the media jokingly called them "Chinese Wrestling Team". In the end, the Chinese gymnastics team won only 1 gold and 2 bronze medals.

  As a newcomer to the Olympics, Cheng Fei was at the forefront. She won the free exercise fourth, and the vaulting project also showed potential. At that time, Cheng Fei was only 16 years old and had just entered the national team for 3 years.

  Speaking of her relationship with gymnastics, Cheng Fei's growth path is no different from most gymnasts. She started training at the age of four, and then entered the provincial team through selection and then into the national team.

Cheng Fei jumped.

  Cheng Fei's childhood was not accompanied by glass marbles, Super Mary and Japanese manga. She only remembers that she wants to get up and run in the dark in winter, crying while running. If you don't practice well, your father will "learn" her.

  This kind of day can't see the head, and little Cheng Fei doesn't know why he has to do these things. At the age of 5, Cheng Fei asked her mother: "Mom, can you do gymnastics? If you don't want me to practice, I will study hard." But at that time, no one took the child's words seriously, and her mother only told her: "All the money in our family is invested in you. If we can't practice it, our family will have nothing."

  Perhaps not wanting to disappoint his parents, Cheng Fei gritted his teeth and persevered. She felt she had a responsibility to reward her parents with achievements.

  After the Athens Olympics, Cheng Fei and his coach decided to shift their focus to vaulting and floor exercise. Lu Shanzhen, the coach of the women ’s team at the time, designed freestyle gymnastics for her “back-to-back tumbling for 720 degrees” and vaulting “Cheng Fei Jump” Since then, Cheng Fei began to shine and embarked on the peak of his career.

Cheng Fei in the free exercise competition.

  In 2005, she became famous in the Melbourne World Championships with "Cheng Fei Jump" and won the first gold medal for women's vaulting in the history of Chinese gymnastics. The "Cheng Fei Jump" also became the first female vaulting movement named after the Chinese in the history of gymnastics.

  In the next few years, Cheng Fei won the 2006 and 2007 World Championships vaulting champions continuously with this highly difficult action, and became the well-deserved leader in the world women's vaulting project.

  At this time, Cheng Fei had grown from a little girl who had never been known to a "first sister" of the Chinese women's gymnastics team. Her photos were also posted on the championship wall of the Gymnastics Training Hall of the General Administration of Sport.

  Although Cheng Fei has won a lot of honors on the field, she is not a competitive person. Cheng Fei once described himself: "I am not a person who loves competition, but the sense of responsibility makes me feel that I must do so."

  In 2007, Cheng Fei became the captain of the National Women's Gymnastics Team. She had another responsibility on her shoulder, and she felt the pressure from her face.

In the 2007 World Championships, Cheng Fei was in the vaulting competition.

  While preparing for the Beijing Olympics, Cheng Fei experienced a period of desperate attempts to back down. Sometimes when she practiced well, she would suddenly burst into tears, sorrow and do not know where it came from, and suddenly Cheng Fei could not control her emotions.

  After crying, Cheng Fei will still go to the training ground because she knows that in addition to taking the gold medal in the Olympics, she has no other escape route: "Even if we can comfort ourselves, the gold medal will not ruin your life, and failure does not matter, but In fact, the gold medal is your only one. "

  In the 2008 Olympic Games at home, Cheng Fei and his team members won the first women's team Olympic gold medal in the history of Chinese gymnastics. This achievement, which has created history, is already perfect in the eyes of many people. However, at this Olympic Games, Cheng Fei also left the biggest regret in his career.

Cheng Fei made a mistake in the Beijing Olympic Games vaulting.

  In the vault single finals, Cheng Fei made a mistake in her proud "Cheng Fei Jump" action, losing to North Korea's Hong Enzhen and only scoring a bronze medal. In the subsequent floor exercise finals, Cheng Fei made another mistake and missed the medal.

  After the game, she almost cried to the point that "soul out of the soul". For a long time after that, Cheng Fei recalled that bitter experience again and again: "It's too much regret." She wanted to stick to another Olympic cycle, but her body lit up a "red light."

  At the age of 20, he is already "old" in the gymnastics team. Over the years of hard training, Cheng Fei has been struggling with injuries: ligament strain, cracked fingers, hydrocephalus ... She once told her mother: "Do n’t think I am young, but I am already an old bone."

  She insisted on training while daring not to work as hard as before. A month before the opening of the London Olympics, her suddenly broken Achilles tendon completely buried her career. In June 2012, Cheng Fei announced his retirement.

  After leaving the field, Cheng Fei gradually faded out of people's vision. There are occasional reports about her, and the media has also focused on her body of fortune.

  However, after reviewing Cheng Fei's career, we discovered that she is undoubtedly one of the most important figures in the history of Chinese gymnastics. With her own talent and efforts, she pulled the Chinese women's team from the "Waterloo" of the Athens Olympics, and led her teammates to the peak of 2008.

  In the "post-Chengfei era", the Chinese gymnastics team once again experienced the "Olympic pain" in Rio. Today, it seems that we have not waited for the second "Cheng Fei" of the Chinese women's gymnastics team. (Finish)