In the 111 days of a foreign game, if it hadn’t been for the heavy snowfall in Chile, which was originally sunny, the visa buzzer, and the flight to Europe 10 minutes before the door was closed, Zhang Jiahao’s Winter Olympics dream would have been abrupt. It stopped.

But for the former baker and the "snow lunatic" in the eyes of everyone now, it seems that "God is especially for the face". Fate finally gave the right to press the pause button in his hands, as if he had put a lifelong warrior in his hands. Return to the battlefield.

  On November 19th, the ISSF Snowboard Slope Obstacle Skill Points Tournament and the European Cup were held in Landgraf, the Netherlands. At the end of the game, Zhang Jiahao had to complete a set of actions that he could not successfully complete in the previous points tournament, and transferred out. 720 plus an internal turn 900. Unfortunately, he turned too fast, flew too far, landed and fell steadily, and at the moment he didn't stand up, he knew that everything was over, "It's like having a dream and waking up. "

  "Will this be my last game?" Before the departure, Zhang Jiahao's thoughts were not subjective speculations. The arena has gathered top European athletes, and more than 10 Chinese team players are also fighting for points. , The competition is fierce.

He predicts that he "will be able to make the top ten if he plays well, but he can only enter the World Cup if he gets the top three." This not only requires him to perform supernormally, but also because the leading players make mistakes.

  Participating in the World Cup is a necessary condition for Zhang Jiahao to hit the Winter Olympics.

According to the rules of the International Snow Federation, if you want to get a ticket to the Winter Olympics, you need to get 50 points and a World Cup in FIS Points, Intercontinental Cup, World Cup and other competitions organized by the International Snow Federation within the specified time limit. The top 30 ranking, and the total ranking reaches the top 30 in the world to participate.

Even if the host quota is used, the overall world ranking is not required, but the top 30 World Cup rankings and points reaching the standard are also necessary thresholds, and the final participant must be ranked highest among the host country players.

  At the beginning of 2020, it was this seemingly harsh condition that made Zhang Jiahao, a "senior player" who did not enter the national team, single-handedly hit the road like Don Quixote.

At the age of many athletes retiring, the 25-year-old Zhang Jiahao decided to travel around the world to earn points and win a ticket to the Winter Olympics.

  But Zhang Jiahao is not Don Quixote. He will not indulge in fantasies and imagine the windmill as a giant. "This is a journey that can be interrupted at any time." He knew before he set off, "I never dare to say that this can be done. , Because there are too many uncertain factors, injury, end; infection, end; not getting a visa, end; this journey may be sentenced to death at any time."

  Solving problems such as accommodation, isolation, jet lag, training, and food by one person is still within control, but under the influence of the global epidemic, visa refusal to enter, cancellation of flights, and suspension of events are all variables.

In August of this year, before he planned to travel to South America to participate in the International Snow Federation Points Contest, he encountered successively the Argentine visa recall and Chile's possible suspension of the race due to too little snowfall. At that time, the hope of participating in the competition was slim, and the risk of the epidemic and the cost of participation were high. Still decided to set off alone.

Looking back now, Zhang Jiahao feels that this decision will still bring tears to his eyes.

  After that, luck was on his side.

During the quarantine, heavy snow fell in Chile and the game went on normally.

Zhang Jiahao won 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze at the Chile Ski Championships. This is the first time he has won a championship in an official international competition.

More importantly, he scored FIS points in all four games, which allowed him to see the possibility of moving forward, so he shouted in the video: "My dream is to stand on the starting platform of the Beijing Winter Olympics. "

  With the help of short video platforms and social media, he entered the public eye. Among the 25,000 influx of private messages, people who have never met admire his courage and pin their wishes.

"It's a buddy next to me who is moving bricks. Suddenly he said that I was going to participate in the Winter Olympics. I really worked hard. It may show everyone a kind of hope." Zhang Jiahao thought about the reasons for being noticed, but he had no time to feel being noticed. The impact of this, because the variables are still in flux.

  Due to visa issues, he stayed in Chile for more than two months, and was forced to imagine heavy snow in the northern hemisphere in the southern hemisphere in the spring. The lack of snow is very unfavorable for him to compete in Europe.

But not being able to get a European visa is even more difficult. “Almost every day we communicate with each other by phone for nearly 5 hours, making decisions all the time, and every decision is like walking on thin ice.” Zhang Jiahao revealed in an interview with a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily. At the last moment before boarding, he got his visa in a thrilling manner and was able to rush to Switzerland to continue the competition.

There are numerous thrilling moments like this, "I told you today that you won 5 million yuan, and tomorrow I told you that you misplaced the name." Zhang Jiahao laughed and said that his mentality had been "flattened."

  However, the failure to adjust the jet lag and lack of systematic training paved the way for his subsequent defeat.

After returning to China, he confirmed that his points had not reached the target, and posted a post on social media to put an end to this watched dream: "I know that this journey is not only for my dream, but also for countless ordinary people who are obsessed with it. The person I love moves forward. I do not regret setting off, nor do I regret the day-dreams I made. I am still the one who will pay 100% for the 1% possibility even if the final result is 99% failure."

  Zhang Jiahao believes that he is not young and talented, and has not undergone systematic training. He often laughs at himself as a native of wild road, but this resolute strength has already appeared when he changed the white top hat of the pastry chef to the ski helmet at the age of 19 winter.

  There is always a rising white in front of Zhang Jiahao. Before he started skiing at the age of 17, the undulating particles in the air came from flour. He inherited his father who had been a pastry for half his life. After graduating from a higher vocational school, Zhang Jiahao accepted an arrangement to enter Kempinski’s bakery. Make noodles, wake up noodles, knead the dough, and create the bread of life.

Then skiing replaced everything.

  At first, he felt that he was "a kneader who likes skiing."

When he was an intern at the pastry chef, his salary was 1,200 yuan a month, and he spent 800 yuan on a weekend snow ticket every month.

In order to save money to go skiing, he often stays at highway intersections after get off work, drives his car to the ski resort, and often brings his own bread to ask professional teams for advice.

Slowly, he kept up with physical training, and he also saw trampoline training in 2014. “During that time, he improved very quickly, and his efficiency improved a lot.” In the same year, Zhang Jiahao won a place in an international competition. A $300 bonus check was brought home.

  He spent more and more time in the ski resort, and he was gradually able to supplement himself by skiing, so at the age of 19 he made a decision to pursue professional skiing, which was initially not optimistic.

In this niche project, Zhang Jiahao, who was halfway through, spent 5 snow seasons gradually transforming from a zero base to a domestic first-line skater. Not only did he win a number of important events, he was also the first Chinese to complete a Double backflip on snow. Zhou)'s snowboarder.

But the price of advancement is broken hands and feet, two lung injuries, and multiple concussions.

In order to continue his sports life, he learned to avoid injury as much as possible, but once he encountered the stadium, he still yelled "get" and jumped off the starting platform, as determined as the journey of dreaming to the Winter Olympics.

  After announcing that he missed the Winter Olympics, many people regretted Zhang Jiahao. They felt that if he had contact with skiing at an earlier age, it might be another scene. After all, Gu Ailing, Su Yiming and other players who have shown their talents in recent years are all 17 or 18 years old. , And when he was 17, Zhang Jiahao had just started skiing.

  "I once thought, if I had to ski 10 years earlier, would my life be so different? But it is undeniable that I was lucky enough to catch up with the development of ice and snow sports, which is equivalent to getting into the elevator and naturally speeding up. If I started 5 years earlier, I might not have the later conditions and the friends I met in the process. Maybe I might become better technically, but I may not have that great enthusiasm and impulse for skiing." Zhang Jiahao is not Regret for this fierce pursuit, even if I didn’t get what I wanted, "I just love skiing purely and want to do it well. I open the way in the mountains, build bridges in the water, and fight to the last minute." As for the dream, I continued. In the original life, "Skiing is a lifetime thing anyway."

  China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Liang Xuan Source: China Youth Daily