Wang Junxia is the first Chinese athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in long-distance running. Do you know the story about Wang Junxia?
At the Atlanta Olympics, when Wang Junxia was the first to cross the 5,000-meter finish line, a Chinese student in the stands handed her a huge five-star red flag, and she circled the venue wearing the bright national flag. . This red flag was later collected by the National Museum, and this shot became a classic image, imitated by many Chinese Olympic athletes.
Wang Junxia was born in the home of an ordinary farmer in Jiaohe County, Jilin Province. When she was a child, Wang Junxia seemed to grow very slowly. Other children could run around at the age of three or four, but Xiao Junxia was so skinny and weak that she walked unsteadily.
When she was 7 years old, she went to elementary school. Although she was still very thin, she especially liked racing with her friends. Gradually, her body became stronger. In 1985, Wang Junxia's family moved back to her hometown of Qianyan Village in Dalian City, and Wang Junxia was promoted to Dalian No. 68 Middle School. The school is 4 kilometers away from home, and many students ride bicycles to school. Seeing the free and proud expressions of her classmates, Wang Junxia really wishes she could own a bicycle. The father knew his daughter's wish, but the difficult family situation prevented him from fulfilling Xiao Junxia's wish. He remembered that there was a boy in Jilin whose school was far away from home. He ran to school every day and later became an athlete. So the father encouraged his daughter to run to school every day.
From then on, Wang Junxia ran back and forth twice a day, a full 16 kilometers a day. At first, she could only run behind her classmates' bicycles, but Wang Junxia was very strong-willed and wanted to compete with the bicycles. Gradually, she could keep pace with the speeding wheels. Day after day, Wang Junxia finally developed the flying legs of a "magic Taibao".
After reaching high school in 1968, Wang Junxia had more opportunities to participate in competitions. She won many battles and became a well-known long-distance running star. During a Dalian employee track and field competition, a large company came here to find Wang Junxia as a substitute. Wang Junxia, who was only a teenager, did her best to compete with adults and won several first places.
In 1988, Dalian City held a track and field trials to select potential talents, but the 68th Middle School was unable to participate due to financial constraints. The father led his daughter to find the principal of No. 68 Middle School and said: "Although I am financially tight, this opportunity is too rare! Let's do this. Tomorrow you will send a teacher to take Junxia to the competition, and I will pay for it myself!" Principal Sun agreed. .
The next day, Wang Junxia lived up to expectations and was the first to reach the finish line in the 1,500-meter race. Coaches from several amateur sports schools immediately gathered around and conducted several physiological tests on her. They found that Wang Junxia had excellent cardiopulmonary function and strong recovery ability. She was a good prospect with great potential. From then on, Wang Junxia joined coach Wang Shizhong of Dalian Amateur Sports School and began formal training. Later, under the guidance of coach Ma Junren, his performance improved by leaps and bounds.
Wang Junxia is always smiling and easy-going, but when she goes to the training ground, she seems to be a different person, and she has a "fighting spirit" during training. In the 20-kilometer run, while others run in a straight line, she runs in a curve, and always runs an extra kilometer or two each time. When training on the Chenggong Plateau in 1993, her maximum training volume per week reached 220 kilometers, and once she ran 170 kilometers for four consecutive days. Superhuman efforts naturally resulted in superhuman results. In 1993, she broke the 13-year-old world record in the 1,500-meter race held by athletes from the former Soviet Union.