The 72-year-old King of Chinese Diving Kids: Cultivating Olympic Champions and Enlightening Youth
There are lovers, and then there are thousands of miles.
It is no exaggeration to say that Du Zhao, 72 years old this year, is one of the Chinese diving sports.
As a diving coach, he sent Zhang Jiaqi and Cao Yuan two gold medalists from Beijing to the Chinese Army in the Tokyo Olympics.
Deeply love diving, compose sports songs with youth
In February 1949, Du Zhao was born in the Prime Minister Hutong in Caishikou, Beijing.
The second elder brother Du Du is a famous diving athlete in New China. He has been fascinated by diving since he was a child. He also liked diving. In September 1965, he participated in the second National Games and won the honor of "Five Athletes".
In September 1970, the first national diving team of the People's Republic of China was established. Du Zhao, who has been insisting on training, became the first batch of national diving athletes because of his excellent basic skills.
"At that time, there were only more than 80 athletes practicing diving in the country, and only 4 players were selected in the end." Du Zhao said.
The first task of the national diving team is a nationwide tour to let the general public understand and like diving.
The players perform twice a day, one in the day and one in the evening.
They carried large slogans such as "Develop sports and enhance people's physical fitness", jumped off the platform, opened the slogans to the cheers of the people, and then fell into the water lightly.
At night, in the night sky with the lights off, athletes stand on platforms and springboards at different heights, holding lighted fireworks in their hands, and leap in depth, leaving colorful tracks in the air.
The tour at that time also went into the countryside. A 5-meter wooden platform was erected in the fish-cultivating pond, and the audience crowded and watched from the waist-deep pond.
In the past two years, the Chinese diving team has toured more than 20 cities in 7 provinces including Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Guangdong for hundreds of times.
In 1972, Du Zhao represented the Beijing team and won the runner-up in the men's platform and the runner-up in the men's team in the National Diving Championship.
When everything was going in a good direction, an accident happened. He broke his ankle during a training session.
After the operation, although he bid farewell to his career as an athlete due to injury, he stayed in the national diving team as a coach, and trained a group of outstanding champion athletes such as Peng Yuanchun with his colleagues.
Anti-cancer pick up the original heart to be the king of Chinese diving kids
When the time came to 1978, Du Zhao resolutely bid farewell to the relatively superior national team and returned to the Beijing diving team as an ordinary coach, hoping to win more glory for the capital.
"During that time, I rarely went home during the training of the adult team. Even if I went home, I waited for the athletes to rest, and then checked the venue again. After the training plan for the next day was made, I would ride home from the workers’ body. The next time I got home, it was in the middle of the night. My son didn't know me, and when he saw me he made me cry." Du Zhao recalled that during the period from 1978 to 1982, he was busy with training and spent more time with his family.
Hard work pays off.
In the subsequent competition, a group of top players such as Chen Lin of the Beijing diving team came to the fore and achieved good results.
"Later, I became the owner of a clothing store for 10 years." Speaking of the business history of going to the sea, Du Zhao said that different stages of life always need to do different things to prove their value.
During the 10 years from 1989 to 1999, he ran his own clothing store in a decent way.
During this period, destiny struck Du Zhao again, and he was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.
After lobectomy, he lost two lung lobes and one rib.
Facing the illness, Du Zhao deeply felt that his favorite sport was diving.
If there was any regret at that time, it was that it did not train world champion athletes.
Is it to succumb to the tricks of fate, or to try to fulfill the long-cherished wish?
Du Zhao gritted his teeth and chose the latter.
In February 2000, after 11 courses of chemotherapy and recovery, Du Zhao and his old colleagues formed the "Beijing Yingxiong Diving Club" without waiting for the body to heal. It specially recruited children from 4 to 13 years old. Swimming and diving training.
From the coach of the adult team to the king of children, Du Zhao wanted to do more for the Chinese diving career.
During that time, Du Zhao used his contacts to "borrow" to the training venue.
In order not to add extra financial burden to the parents of the students, he insisted on charging only 300 yuan per person per month.
In order to let the children broaden their horizons and increase their experience in the competition, he often leads the team to participate in a number of domestic and international competitions, and he has never asked his parents for these expenses.
"Our family has a habit of buying vegetables over the years, that is, we only buy leftovers from the market at night before get off work." Du Zhao's lover Shi Huiling recalled that Du Zhao had been subsidizing the diving club with family money for so many years.
Although the family is living in a difficult situation, he is happier than anything else to see the children make progress.
Diving star class eclectic "teaching" talents
At this year's Tokyo Olympics, a sunshine boy won the men's 10-meter platform gold medal and the men's double 10-meter platform silver medal.
He is Cao Yuan, who is now a household name.
"When I first entered the training ground that day, I saw Xiao Cao Yuan standing by the swimming pool cheering myself up: I want to win the gold medal! The child worked hard." Although 21 years have passed, Du Zhao still remembers it.
Cao Yuan, who was 5 years old, just joined the club and can neither swim nor gymnastics. He has a typical zero foundation.
After three years of training in Du Zhao's club, Cao Yuan was selected by the Beijing team and started his own Olympic legend.
Coincidentally.
On July 27 this year, Zhang Jiaqi and his partner Chen Yuxi won the women's doubles 10-meter platform in the Tokyo Olympic diving event. This was the first gold medal won by 18 athletes in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
And Zhang Jiaqi is Cao Yuan's junior sister, both from Dongcheng District Youth Amateur Sports School.
"Jia Qi came to me for training at the age of 4 years and 8 months. When I first started swimming, I tied a rope around my waist and slowly went down into the water to practice." The enthusiasm for not admitting defeat, even if you encounter minor injuries in your life, you never take the initiative to say, and insist on training every time.
During the 21 years of teaching, Du Zhao insisted on his "happy diving" concept, teaching gradual and orderly, never using quick success training methods to "pull the seed and help the growth", and teach talents regardless of style.
When the 6-year-old Liu Dong (pseudonym) first joined the team, he had a serious fear of heights.
Du Zhao took the child aside, encouraged patiently, and demonstrated hand in hand... A month later, when Liu Dong's father saw the child jump into the water from the 5-meter platform, tears came out.
Compared with fear of heights, autism is more difficult.
7-year-old Zhang Tao (pseudonym) is such a "child from the stars".
At first, Zhang Tao couldn't look at the coach, always hiding in the corner of the training ground.
While encouraging the children, Du Zhao made tailor-made training programs for them.
To everyone's surprise, six years later, Zhang Tao participated in the city championship and won the 3-meter springboard championship.
Du Zhao said: "After winning the championship, the child looked at me with excitement in his eyes, which made me unforgettable."
From the national team coach to the kid king, Du Zhao endured his illness and dedicated all of his life to diving.
On August 7, love apprentice Cao Yuan won the gold medal in the men's 10-meter platform at the Tokyo Olympics. Du Zhao specially sent Cao Yuan to WeChat to encourage him: "Good job! Congratulations on winning this gold medal with the highest gold content." He said: "Cao Yuan and Zhang Jiaqi have won 2 golds and 1 silver, winning glory for the country and Beijing. The children are proud of having such seniors and sisters!"
Wen Bing/Ren Xiaoyu