https://www.163.com/sports/article/HVCP3VCD00058782.html
After graduating from the sixth grade of elementary school, the students left a message to Gong Xiangyu in the yearbook: I wish you a champion! She is the daughter of a champion, and her mother has won the fencing gold medal in the National Games. Gong Xiangyu knew "champion" when she was very young.
At the age of 19 , Gong Xiangyu became the youngest champion member of the Chinese women's volleyball team. She put the Olympic gold medal in her backpack. The ignorant little girl didn't know that her life trajectory would be greatly changed by this Olympic gold medal.
By the time of preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Xiaoyu, who was just a fledgling in Rio, has become Brother Yu, and has even been called "Daddy Yu" in the Jiangsu team. After 7 years of growth, she has changed her position and role on the court, and also experienced being bullied by the Internet when she was in a downturn. Before her third Olympic cycle, Gong Xiangyu took a breath and began to rediscover the meaning and happiness of volleyball.
When communicating with the makeup artist, Gong Xiangyu struggled for a while. After repeated fiddling, she still decided to comb her hair up, be more professional, and look like an "athlete" in the camera. A few days ago, she just cut a head curtain, which is the "age-reducing hairstyle" that was successfully tested last year
Only 25 years old, Gong Xiangyu already has age anxiety. In the Jiangsu team, those who train with her are basically born after 2000 . They call the team leader Gong Xiangyu "Daddy Yu"—they have to lead everyone to practice on the court, and they have to be a nanny off the court. Every day in the team, she will inform her teammates in the group what time to practice tomorrow and which game suit to wear.
In the Rio Olympics 7 years ago, 19 -year-old Gong Xiangyu won the Olympic gold medal with the Chinese women's volleyball team and won the title of "the youngest women's volleyball Olympic champion". On the night of winning the championship, she kept the gold medal in her schoolbag overnight.
At the age of 18 , Gong Xiangyu was brought from the youth team to the league by coach Cai Bin; at the age of 19 , she was recruited into the national training team by the guidance of Lang Ping. For Lang Ping, this is an adventure.
The Chinese women's volleyball team, Gong Xiangyu told her parents that she would join the group when she was 12 years old, and when she really joined here, she felt nervous and scared . Compared with the long-established stars in the team, Gong Xiangyu was still a rookie at that time. In her own words, she couldn't even keep up with the recovery training of others. The team trained ordinary spikes, and she stood at the end of the team and sighed: "The speed is so fast!"
In Lang Ping's original vision, Gong Xiangyu needs to practice for two more years before entering the national team, and her stage should be in the Tokyo Olympics four years later. However, Zeng Chunlei, the main player of the national team, was injured and unable to catch up with the Olympic Games. Lang Ping took this "rookie" to Rio.
The Chinese team lost three games in the group stage. Gong Xiangyu felt that she was sorry for Director Lang's trust and dragged down the whole team. She went to Director Lang and said, "You shouldn't have brought me here."
Director Lang asked, "Then shall I take you back now?"
With Iron Hammer, as long as the game is not over, the outcome is uncertain. After struggling to advance to the group stage, the Chinese women's volleyball team won three games in the knockout round and won the Olympic championship. Gong Xiangyu, who made his Olympic debut for the first time, contributed 40 points for the team.
A photo of Gong Xiangyu crying while holding Director Lang went viral. Director Lang patted her on the back and said, "Remember this feeling, it will be an important experience for you in the future."
Talking about this hard-won gold medal, Gong Xiangyu was extremely annoyed. She couldn't figure out what she thought 7 years ago. She was able to keep the gold medal in her bag overnight, but now she felt so sorry for it. For the Rio Olympics, her memories are limited to the many equipment distributed by the team; the McDonald's next to the Olympic Village; the souvenir shop where she had to get up early and line up to buy.
For an athlete, it is a blessing to win the Olympic championship at the age of 19. For a girl who has just grown up, the pressure brought by this halo is a bit heavy .
The crown is too heavy, and Gong Xiangyu, who is at the peak, bears the burden of being a champion. She said that she got her grades early, and she was very worried about whether she could stand up, so she often wondered how to be more perfect; how to support her "response" position.
The support and the main attack, one on the left and the other on the right, do the same thing, they are both attacking, but it sounds that the support is not related to the attacker - Gong Xiangyu explained "response" in simple words. The first thing that attracted her to the sport of volleyball was the thrill of smashing the ball.
This kind of love even reached the point of fighting with my mother.
There is a story circulating on the Internet. In junior high school, Gong Xiangyu rushed to the kitchen and picked up a kitchen knife when he "confronted" with his mother in order to resist practicing high jump. "I did take the knife, but it was not aimed at my mother, but at myself, just to threaten her." Speaking of this past, Gong Xiangyu laughed, but her actions at that time frightened her mother. After the incident, her mother never persuaded her to join the track and field team.
Before playing the support, Gong Xiangyu played a setter. Because of the lack of backup talents for the support position, coach Shen Mang of the Jiangsu team changed her to a support, and then had the opportunity to be selected for the National Youth League, so she was favored by the national team coach Lang Ping.
She must stand up for this project that fascinates her and the position that is so exciting. After the Olympics, Gong Xiangyu celebrated his 20th birthday, and the ignorant Xiaoyu turned into a seemingly stronger Brother Yu.
In the 2018 World Championships, China and Italy competed for the place in the final. Gong Xiangyu had a problem with the key ball in the last round and was questioned. A lot of messages such as "Is this the best response in China?" had a great impact on Gong Xiangyu troubled.
As long as he saw his game broadcast, Gong Xiangyu didn't even eat, turned around and left. She wanted to fix her flaws and slap the trolls in the face, and she started to study each of her mistakes, but she got stuck in it.
The primary school teacher's comment to Gong Xiangyu is: too fond of corners. Director Cai Bin also discovered Gong Xiangyu's problem. He often chatted with Gong Xiangyu. When Gong Xiangyu became stubborn, the master and apprentice would have disputes. Looking back on that time now, Gong Xiangyu felt that he had caused a lot of trouble for Director Cai.
In the 2020-2021 League Women's Volleyball Super League Finals, Jiangsu's main setter Diao Linyu was injured, and coach Cai Bin asked Gong Xiangyu to start the "return" setter in the third game of the finals. After winning the league runner-up, Gong Xiangyu cried, just like the Tokyo Olympics. In the 2021-2022 season, the Jiangsu women's volleyball team has undergone a change of old and new. Cai Bin asked the 24 -year-old Gong Xiangyu to take over Zhang Changning's captain's armband.
So far, Gong Xiangyu has become Yu's father.
In the Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese women's volleyball team failed to qualify with two wins and three losses in the group stage. After that, Gong Xiangyu began to review his sports career, and the review lasted for a year. Until last summer, Gong Xiangyu suddenly posted a small essay on Weibo. She said that she always wanted to practice until she had no shortcomings and would definitely reach a certain peak, but she forgot that she needed to breathe.
Gong Xiangyu told NetEase Sports that she finally had an epiphany when writing this essay.
Now Gong Xiangyu, when he sees the broadcast of his game while eating, he will immediately change the channel. She wants to eat happily and doesn't want to enter a dead end again, "After the game, I will be myself."
How is it to be yourself? Gong Xiangyu's Weibo photos appear most frequently: eating, selfies, and volleyball, in order of ranking.
If you were to interview yourself, what would be the question you would most like to ask?
"What do you want to eat today?"
Athletes need to control their weight and body fat percentage. Every time they get hungry, Gong Xiangyu just watches and eats pods to quench his thirst. Especially in foreign countries, he watches hot pot and pods most often.
Once when I went out to play a game, the reporter met Gong Xiangyu who was eating ice cream on the street, and was scolded as soon as she picked up the camera. She waved her hands and shouted: "No, no, no! You can't shoot!"
Gong Xiangyu was afraid that Director Lang would see him. Director Lang didn't say anything, just a glance, and the rest was up to him to understand.
Gong Xiangyu enjoyed playing volleyball when she was a child. Now she has decided to return to her original intention and play pure volleyball—continue to enjoy the refreshing feeling of dunking; enjoy the beauty of getting 1 point after connecting several positions . "I dunked a good shot today, I hanged a ball witty today, that's enough to be happy."
Talking about the Paris Olympics, Gong Xiangyu is also very pragmatic. She said that there are many young people in the team and there is no burden. Everyone has the same goal, which is to qualify for the Olympics first.
At the end of the interview, Gong Xiangyu checked her makeup and hair again. She said to the camera with emotion: "I have never seen myself like this, and I don't feel like me anymore. I am Gong Xiangyu's younger sister, Xiaoyu."
She was 19 years old that year and had already fulfilled her dream. Now at the age of 25 , she wants to experience the refreshing feeling of buckling again.
https://www.163.com/sports/article/HVCP3VCD00058782.html
?#XiangyuGong #China ?Congratulations and thanks to the author of the text.?? One of the most beautiful articles about a volleyball player.?? I remember once after the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro I thought to myself that I would always be grateful to Mrs. Lang Ping for taking this young girl to the national team. Now I realize that playing great volleyball is one thing, but discovering volleyball talent is another! On the field, I see wisdom in this girl and some instinct of good positioning on the field, her game reminds me very much of my first idol - Mrs. Hui Ruoqi, now She has grown into one of my Idols in team of the best volleyball in the world - Team of China! ?
@CHN_HRQ_FAN oh that's your really big fan of Hui Ruoqi?
@VincentKong Being a fan is an immeasurable and incomparable human condition.
@VincentKong There are a thousand reasons, writing, speaking, one, two are mentioned.