"My swimming teacher was my mother. I started training in the water when I was 3 years old. When I grew up, I gradually understood that swimming is not only a hobby but also a responsibility for me." "I didn't like swimming when I was a child, but since I was selected You have to persevere and don’t give up. Thinking that one day I can become an idol for others, I have to work hard, because I also want to support them.” This is the 24-year-old swimming flower, who won 2 gold medals in the Tokyo Olympics. 2 Yinde advocates Yufei's inner monologue.
It is an honor to have the national anthem played on the field
At the Tokyo Olympics held last year, Zhang Yufei won 2 golds and 2 silvers, which made her the best Chinese athlete in the Tokyo Olympics, and also refreshed the personal best record of swimmers in the previous Olympic Games.
Zhang Yufei first set a personal second-best time of 55.64 in the 100-meter butterfly, and unfortunately won the silver medal by 0.05 seconds.
"I gave 99 points to my performance, and the remaining 1 point, I hope my mentality can be better." With expectations for himself, Zhang Yufei ushered in a shining moment three days later.
On July 29, 2021, Zhang Yufei stood on the 200-meter butterfly course.
The women's 200m butterfly is the traditional advantage of the Chinese team. Jiao Liuyang and Liu Zige are both Olympic champions in this event.
Zhang Yufei, who claims to be a competitive athlete, once again set a new personal best. The championship score of 2:03.86 broke the competition record set by Jiao Liuyang at the 2012 London Olympics, and was also the third best result in the history of the event.
Before the competition, coach Cui Dengrong also gave her a "strengthening shot": "Be yourself, the champion is you, this is your stage." Zhang Yufei is the fastest player in the 100-meter butterfly among all the finalists.
During the game, Zhang Yufei repeated this sentence in his mind, but he did not expect to break the game record.
Cui Dengrong knew Zhang Yufei's situation best, and he even wanted Zhang Yufei to touch the world record.
Standing on the top podium of the Olympic Games, Zhang Yufei was filled with emotion.
She held back her tears and showed the brightest smile: "I used to say why I cried when I was so happy to win the competition, but when I really stood on the top podium and the national anthem was released, the tears were a little uncontrollable. Live." As she said before - "It is my supreme honor to let the five-star red flag fly, it is not only a flag, but also a kind of faith!"
Ignite your inner strength in Tokyo
Unlike the women's 200-meter butterfly, which is a must-win gold medal, winning the gold in the women's 4×200-meter freestyle relay was an unexpected gain.
This is China's first Olympic relay gold medal in swimming, and its gold content is self-evident.
Zhang Yufei only received the notification to participate in the relay early on the day of the final. Just over an hour after the 200-meter butterfly final, she and Yang Junxuan, Tang Muhan, and Li Bingjie won this precious medal with a world record of 7:40.33. the gold medal.
Just before the 4×200m freestyle relay competition, Zhang Yufei participated in the award ceremony of the 200m butterfly.
Whether they were standing on the top podium or the other three girls in the inspection office, they felt a strong sense of honor and mission as they watched the national flag fly high in the Tokyo Olympics and the national anthem reverberated in the arena for a long time.
Zhang Yufei was placed in the third pole. Before the game, she was worried that she might not have enough physical strength and would not be able to swim down.
At 150 meters, Australia's Madison Wilson passed her to the first place, and Zhang Yufei's fighting spirit was stimulated at this time.
"Freestyle is not my main event, but in the last 50 meters, the power in my heart ignited, thinking that I must fight, and then I will overtake her." In the end, the girls worked together and supported them with strong beliefs. Created a record of success.
In addition, Zhang Yufei also joined hands with Xu Jiayu, Yan Zibei and Yang Junxuan to win the silver medal in the men's and women's 4×100-meter medley relay, a new event at the Tokyo Olympics, with a time of 3:38.86.
The excellent performance of the Tokyo Olympics brought pressure and motivation to Zhang Yufei: "The motivation is that I believe that I will do better in the future, and it follows that in the future competitions, I will take on a greater responsibility for the Chinese team. .Hopefully I will get better and better and the Chinese swimming team will get better and better."
Strive to make talent worthy of dreams
In 2021, Zhang Yufei participated in 6 competitions, swam a total of 66 shots, and won 25 medals, especially her first Olympic and short-course world championship gold medals. She also broke the world record with her teammates and created Asia. Record, 6 times to break the national record, in her words, "the year when the little caterpillar broke out of the cocoon and turned into a butterfly 'Fei'".
However, Zhang Yufei's growth path has not been smooth sailing.
She once told herself to "work hard to make talents worthy of dreams", and in order to realize her dreams, she bravely walked through the pains of growing up.
Zhang Yufei entered the water at the age of 3 and started his fate with swimming. At the age of 5, he was sent to the Xuzhou swimming team for formal training.
Seven years later, he made his first appearance at the 17th Jiangsu Provincial Games. All the 6 events he signed up for won medals, 2 golds, 3 silvers and 1 bronze.
The following year she entered the provincial team, and in 2013, 15-year-old Zhang Yufei was selected for the national team.
Zhang Yufei made his debut in the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games and the 2015 Kazan World Championships, and has high expectations.
At the 2015 Kazan World Championships, at the age of 17, she won the bronze medal in the 200-meter butterfly and set a new world youth record.
Zhang Yufei said that before the age of 17, she had always been a very lucky person. She even described her growth during that time as "stepping on the rind of a watermelon": "At that time, there was no goal. It was like stepping on the rind of a watermelon to be able to slide anywhere, and I even hoped to be able to" Skate 'to an Olympic medal." But Rio 2016 taught her a solid lesson.
Originally wanting to make a breakthrough in Rio like "Nezha is in the sea", she only won the sixth place in the 200-meter butterfly.
Zhang Yufei's mobile phone has always saved the video of the Rio Olympic finals, but she dared not open it again for two or three years after that, because she "lost too badly".
The ups and downs of Zhang Yufei's experience made her ridicule that her state in the domestic arena was "the champion of running water, and I am the second best."
At the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, she won the 5th place in the 200m butterfly.
At the 2019 Gwangju World Championships, her performance was even more inaccurate. Both the 50-meter and 100-meter butterfly were stopped in the semi-finals, and the 200-meter butterfly was a "round swim" in the preliminaries. of confusion.
Not only did she not perform well in the competition, but even Zhang Yufei couldn't perform well in the training test. She began to resist the test, and even had flashes of giving up the arduous main event, the 200-meter butterfly, several times.
According to the Tokyo Olympics, Cui Dengrong formulated a periodic training plan for her, and also adjusted according to her psychological state, so that she was temporarily away from the 200-meter butterfly competition for a period of time.
During the dormant days, Zhang Yufei and the coach continued to train day after day and worked hard.
The physical strengthening during that period also helped Zhang Yufei improve her overall strength. She could often really feel the "sour and refreshing" feeling brought by the muscle response after training, and even woke up several times by the soreness of her body during naps. The whole body is on fire."
Zhang Yufei, who has experienced a downturn, is more able to bear the hardships and fatigue of training than in the past.
She told herself: "When I think about failures in the past, I want to sweat more and be more tired on the training ground than cry on the field. I have expectations and requirements for myself, and I will move towards the goal. Go forward."
The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics gave her a chance, and her state began to recover in the 2020 National Championships, like a phoenix nirvana. She fell into a trough and ushered in a strong rise, thus creating a new history.
At that time, she wrote this feeling: "The best state is that the future can be expected. Thank you for not giving up in this difficult winter. The phoenix is nirvana, and the butterfly is self-sufficient."
Now Zhang Yufei, who has stood on the top podium of the Olympic Games, still has a firm goal, that is, to break the world record.
She doesn't want to set limits on life, because she believes - "All good things are just beginning."