"I really resent my own mistakes, which brought a lot of pressure to everyone."
After many years of recalling the inexplicable mistakes he had committed, Li Xiaoshuang's expression was still full of guilt.
Even though he was once known as the leader of the new generation of Chinese gymnastics after Li Ning, he was the first Chinese to win the gymnastics all-around Olympic champion.
However, at the golden age of 24, Li Xiaoshuang unexpectedly chose to retire, staying in the past along with the arena, honor and regret, leaving people's sight.
Li Xiaoshuang made a mistake in the ring.
There is a Chinese saying that "victory or defeat is commonplace in the military", which tells people not to take an accidental defeat or victory too important. Putting aside the battlefield of winners and losers, this sentence also applies in competitive sports.
However, if time goes back 24 years, the gold medal is still an important measure of the success of an athlete. An accidental mistake was enough to make an athlete standing at the top of the pyramid fall off the altar.
On July 22, 1996, at the Atlanta Olympic Games, in the men's gymnastics finals, Li Xiaoshuang, the leader of the Chinese gymnastics team at that time, made a mistake in the ring competition, causing the Russian team to overtake the score.
When the Chinese men's team was only one step away from the championship, it just missed the gold medal.
"Cross support" was a simple action of Li Xiaoshuang's tenth stabilization, but at that moment in the game, his arm unexpectedly stretched into the ring. The dream of a Chinese men's gymnastics team championship suddenly fell at that moment.
Li Xiaoshuang in the horizontal bar competition at the Atlanta Olympics.
In the subsequent individual all-around competition, Li Xiaoshuang won the first Olympic men's individual all-around gold medal in Chinese history with a set of impeccable horizontal bar moves against Nemov, known as the "gymnastic czar".
But when Li Xiaoshuang stood on the highest podium alone, the self-blame in his heart still suppressed himself, "I never felt that time flies so slowly. That game seems to be more than ten years old. Even a lifetime."
After the team finals, Li Xiaoshuang, who returned to the lounge, threw the silver medal to the ground. The pit left on the medal became his eternal regret.
Until 2012, when Li Xiaoshuang was a guest on a TV show on Hubei Satellite TV and talked about that irreparable mistake, he still felt that it was his own mistake, which ruined the Chinese men’s team’s dream of champions, and that he himself destroyed a generation of gymnastics. dream.
Many years later, when people mention his name, they can still remember without hesitation the worst and evil "Waterloo" in his career.
Data map: On July 31, 1992, the Chinese team won the silver medal in the men's gymnastics team at the Barcelona Olympic Games. The picture shows Li Xiaoshuang participating in the pommel horse competition. Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhao Wei
Looking back on Li Xiaoshuang's career, compared with that mistake, in fact, his achievements and honors are more worthy of people to remember.
In the men's floor exercise finals of the Barcelona Olympic Games, Li Xiaoshuang perfectly performed the action known as the "Goldbach Conjecture of Gymnastics"-a three-week backflip for the Chinese gymnastics team and won the only gymnastics gold medal for the Chinese gymnastics team. .
Since then, the world has remembered this oriental face named Li Xiaoshuang. In the 1995 World Gymnastics Championships, Li Xiaoshuang defeated many famous generals and became the first Chinese to ascend the "Almighty King" in the history of the competition for more than 90 years.
In the two Olympics, Li Xiaoshuang won two golds, three silvers and one bronze. In the World Championships, he won three golds and three silvers. Whether it was from the number of medals or his contribution to Chinese gymnastics, that accidental mistake could not conceal the splendor and glory of his career.
The Chinese gymnastics team is famous for the spirit of "carrying the dead". His palms are bloody because of wear and tear, but he insists on not playing anesthetic bandages and then playing the game. However, after being seriously injured in a training session, he sadly chose to retire. Regret can no longer make up.
Data map: On the morning of August 18, 2008, in the first round of the Beijing Olympic men's 110-meter hurdles, the 6th group competition, Chinese athlete Liu Xiang regretted to quit the competition due to a leg injury. Photo by Sheng Jiapeng issued by China News Service
However, more than 20 years ago, people's cognition of competitive sports is far less rational and mature than it is now. Li Xiaoshuang once sighed helplessly: "Maybe our generation of athletes have bad luck."
Blink. Li Xiaoshuang is 46 years old. Watching the old hero gradually getting old, do you still think that he "destroyed the gymnastics dream of a generation?"
It is not just Li Xiaoshuang who has been criticized. Before him, Chinese gymnast Li Ning was criticized by sports fans for two mistakes in the Seoul Olympics. He even received blades, ropes, and attached letters from the audience, with malicious intent between the lines.
12 years after the end of the Atlanta Olympics, when Liu Xiang withdrew from the Beijing Olympics due to injury, abuse and ridicule continued to flood him like a tide.
It was not until Liu Xiang retired that there was no such phenomenon as his star in Chinese track and field, and people came to realize: It turns out that we don't know how to cherish Liu Xiang's greatness and difficulty.
Similarly, after Li Xiaoshuang retired in 1997, Chinese gymnastics also experienced ups and downs. Although he has repeatedly achieved good results in international competitions, the era of Li Xiaoshuang's dominance is still a highlight in the history of Chinese gymnastics.
World Championship champion Liu Tingting.
As one of the Olympic gold medals of the Chinese sports delegation, the gymnastics team has been at the world's leading level for a long time. Regardless of the Olympic stadium or the world championship stage, the prestigious Chinese gymnastics team has emerged in endlessly, and is always an opponent that others dare not despise.
A few months ago, a content updated on the official website of the China Gymnastics Association recorded 43 gymnastics movements named after Chinese athletes. Two seemingly unremarkable tables inadvertently reveal the glory of Chinese gymnastics for decades.
Three minutes on stage, ten years of work off stage. Generations of athletes have pursued perfection in arduous training, looking for opportunities to score higher on the field. Breakthrough in action is the further pursuit of outstanding athletes.
The support is turned back after the warp and hangs forward to form a support (Li Ning is hanging). Network video screenshot
According to the official directory of the association, there are 43 gymnastics named after Chinese athletes, which undoubtedly confirms the influence of Chinese gymnastics. These monuments still illuminate the exploration of countless younger generations.
Although in the 2019 Gymnastics World Championships, the Chinese Army only harvested 3 silvers and 2 bronzes. For the first time in 26 years, they returned without gold at the World Championships.
However, Tang Qianjing, who entered the World Championships for the first time at the age of 16, won the silver medal in the women's all-around finals, tying the best record of the Chinese players in the World Championships;
The young players Yu Linmin, Weng Hao, Lu Jiaqi, Li Qi, and Lan Xingyu also won World Cup gold medals. The surprise performance of the young players showed the hope of the future of Chinese gymnastics.
Looking at the Tokyo Olympics a year later, the Chinese gymnastics team is far ahead in the competition for qualifications in multiple events. After six months of the longest winter training in history, the players who are constantly polishing and improving their personal skills based on their physical fitness are also looking forward to a beautiful turnaround in Tokyo.
Data map: Xiao Ruoteng in the game. Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Guanguan
Looking back on the history of Chinese gymnastics, in addition to the vigorous victory, generations of Chinese gymnasts are still struggling, sweating in the training hall and never giving up unless they reach their goals.
Because of this, even though the team has fallen to the bottom due to accidental mistakes or the alternation of old and new, it can always break through the haze and write new legends.
Just as Li Xiaoshuang's regret did not end because of his retirement.
The two runner-up Olympic trips allowed the unwilling Chinese men's gymnastics team to finally break out in the Sydney Olympics four years later. They beat the group to win the gold medal and wrote the most brilliant stroke in the history of Chinese gymnastics.
Mistakes may be inevitable, but righteousness is at ease. If it weren't for the unwillingness and desire, how could the Chinese gymnastics team achieve today's legend. (Author: Xing Rui)