China News Service, Chengdu, August 22, title: "Parallel Bars King" Zou Jingyuan: No matter how talented athletes are, they need 99% of sweat
China News Agency reporter He Shaoqing
In 2017, he won his first world championship in the Gymnastics World Championships. In 2018, the World Championships once again defended the title with absolute superiority. In 2021, he participated in the Olympic Games for the first time and won gold with a high score of "fault"...Although he won many honors at the age of 23, The Japanese athlete Uchimura Kohei is called "a genius once in a hundred years", but in the view of "parallel bars king" Zou Jingyuan, "any talented athlete also needs 99% of the sweat."
Brothers and coaches from Sichuan Sports Vocational College cheer for Zou Jingyuan.
Photo by Zhang Lang
As the youngest member of the Chinese men's gymnastics team in Tokyo, Zou Jingyuan demonstrated the "parallel bars king" in the men's gymnastics parallel bars finals of the Tokyo Olympics, winning the championship with 16.233 points, more than 0.5 points higher than the silver medalist.
In the men's gymnastics team finals, Zou Jingyuan withstood the pressure to complete difficult moves in the parallel bars event and scored the highest score in the game, once helping the Chinese team to surpass the Japanese team in total.
Speaking of the Tokyo Olympic trip, Zou Jingyuan bluntly said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from Chinanews.com that he "sighed a sigh of relief and resisted."
"After all, it is the Olympic Games. If you say that you have taken 100% of the usual training level, there is definitely no, but it is 70%." Zou Jingyuan said that when he was 19 years old, he won the first world championship in his life. From this day on. For him, winning gold in the Olympics is not only a dream, but also a goal, but also the expectations of many relatives and friends.
And to step into the Olympics arena, all the pressure and motivation need to be put aside, because sports events, especially gymnastics competitions, are ultimately compared with oneself.
The young gymnast pays attention to Zou Jingyuan's competition.
After the Olympic gold wins, many gymnastics fans at home and abroad praised Zou Jingyuan's textbook-level operations on social networking platforms, calling him the "God of Parallel Bars" and "Parallel Bars Robot".
But Zou Jingyuan said that he doesn't care what others call him, he just wants to continue to be himself and strive to be better.
"One day I won't win the championship. I won't win the championship. So when they call me the "God of Parallel Bars", I feel that I am actually an ordinary athlete. Just work hard. ."
In fact, efforts have been integrated into Zou Jingyuan's daily life.
Although he is still in isolation, he still maintains a high level of exercise. The latest video also shows netizens how to do handstand training in a small isolation room.
In the ten years before participating in the Tokyo Olympics, Zou Jingyuan only stayed at home for two nights.
"Gymnastics is different from other sports. It needs to be in the gymnastics room day after day, not only for athletes but also for coaches." According to Zou Jingyuan, when training for the national team, there are only the afternoon of the New Year’s Day and the first day of the first day of the new year. It is normal to be able to rest and not to return home. To achieve ideal results, equal sweat is essential.
"If I can do better than others if I persevere, then I will definitely persevere."
In Zou Jingyuan's view, gymnastics is not only a hobby and career for him, but also a change that makes the body better, the mind becomes more mature, and the soul becomes stronger.
He recalled that when he was studying in Sichuan Vocational College of Physical Education as a child, he was a bit rebellious because the coach did not teach his peers' movements and focused on basic skills.
Later, after entering the national team, I slowly understood the coach's painstaking efforts. The seemingly boring basic skills laid the foundation for later difficult moves.
"After this incident, I understood that many things are not done quickly. The words of the elders are the accumulation of experience, and they have their own reasons."
Zou Jingyuan plans to return to his hometown of Sichuan to visit his parents and coaches after the National Games, and then continue to engage in intense training, hoping to make up for the regret of the men's team finals of the Tokyo Olympic gymnastics in Paris three years later.
In the eyes of this new Olympic champion, young gymnasts, including himself, should have the courage to make breakthroughs, innovations, and sweat to pave the way forward. Just as Li Ning, the idol "Prince of Gymnastics" who inspired him to go all the way, said——" Everything is possible".
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