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Standing on the championship podium, four-time Olympic veteran Xu Jiayu cried.

In the early morning of August 5th, Beijing time, in the men's 4×100m medley relay at the Paris Olympics, the Chinese team composed of Xu Jiayu, Qin Haiyang, Sun Jiajun and Pan Zhanle swam a time of 3 minutes 27.46 seconds to win the championship, breaking the 40-year monopoly of the United States in this event.

The moment Pan Zhanle touched the wall, Xu Jiayu, Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun cheered by the pool as the Chinese team won the gold medal in the men's 4x100m medley relay at the Paris Olympics.

He opened his eyes to the world at the London Olympics, won his first silver medal at the Rio Olympics, fell into a slump and only finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics, and won the relay gold medal at the Paris Olympics. Xu Jiayu finally waited for the best teammates.

After the game, Xu Jiayu said: "If I hadn't won the gold medal, I might have always felt very conflicted and it would have become a knot in my heart. Now the knot has been untied."

Knot

After winning the silver medal in the 100m backstroke at the Paris Olympics, Xu Jiayu could not hide his regret: "I still feel regretful for not winning the gold medal. This is my second time to win a medal in this event, and the feeling is different. I was not well prepared the first time, but I was well prepared this time, but I failed to achieve my wish."

In the men's 4x100m medley relay final at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Xu Jiayu, Li Xiang, Li Zhuhao and Ning Zetao of the Chinese team competed. The Chinese team's 4th place result was disqualified due to a foul.

From the men's 100m backstroke at the 2016 Rio Olympics, to the 4×100m mixed relay at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, to the 100m backstroke and the men's and women's 4×100m medley at the current Paris Olympics, Xu Jiayu has won silver medals.

Xu Jiayu's desire for the gold medal is not only due to his pursuit of a "Grand Slam" in his career, but also out of his commitment to his mentor.

When Xu Jiayu's mentor Xu Guoyi passed away, Xu Jiayu wrote on Weibo: "Please rest assured, Director Xu. I remember clearly your expectations for your students. When you won the championship in Gwangju for the second time, you told me on your sickbed that this was nothing and Tokyo was your stage. Rest in peace, Director Xu. I will bring the gold medal home to see you next summer!"

Xu Jiayu won fifth place in the men's 100m backstroke final at the Tokyo Olympics.

Things don't always go as planned. At the Tokyo Olympics, Xu Jiayu, who was ill, failed to reproduce the glory of the Rio Olympics. He only finished fifth in the 100m backstroke and missed the medal. Although he won a silver medal in the men's and women's 4×100m medley, this was not what Xu Jiayu really wanted: "This result is not enough to repay Coach Xu. I need to work harder and do better in the future."

Xu Jiayu won the silver medal in the men's 100m backstroke final at the Paris Olympics.

After the 100m backstroke race at this Olympics, when Xu Jiayu was asked "how does it feel to have won three silver medals in three Olympics?", he smiled and seemed to be relieved and said, "Then I'd better participate in five Olympics. Even if I can participate in the sixth Olympics, I will feel very proud. For me personally, I hope to play a leading role in Chinese swimming and enable more athletes to have a longer sports life."

It wasn't until the last day of swimming at the Paris Olympics that Xu Jiayu and his teammates embarked on the men's 4×100m medley relay.

Before the game, coach Cai Li told Xu Jiayu: "As long as you take down Murphy in the first leg, China will secure the gold medal."

The key to victory was a change in tactics. Xu Jiayu, who used to rush out, chose to follow Murphy in the front this time, leaving the decisive moment in the last 25 meters. In the end, Xu Jiayu, who had been saying a day ago that he had never defeated Murphy in the relay, won a 0.07 second advantage for the team this time, and the Chinese team broke the 40-year monopoly of the United States and won the championship.

After winning the gold medal, Xu Jiayu said: "Before I won the gold medal, I always wanted a gold medal. When I won the gold medal at this moment, apart from the scream, I felt that everything was so normal again. The gold medal may be important for athletes, but it is not so important for life."

The Chinese team composed of Xu Jiayu, Qin Haiyang, Sun Jiajun and Pan Zhanle won the gold medal in the men's 4x100m medley relay at the Paris Olympics with a time of 3 minutes 27.46 seconds.

Lonely persistence

Xu Jiayu once described backstroke, the key word of which was loneliness.

"In other events, you can chat while kicking your legs, but in backstroke you can only move backwards. There is only a ceiling in your world, and only when you turn around can you see the world in the water." Xu Jiayu said this in the program "People in the Olympic Year".

During the training breaks, Xu Jiayu's favorite thing to study is how to make the water bottle stand upright. He said this is "a way to relieve boredom." The water bottle circles in the air for a few weeks and then lands steadily, just like Xu Jiayu who has been floating up and down in the backstroke world for many years and looking back found that he is still the only one who can support China's backstroke.

Xu Jiayu participates in the backstroke competition.

Eight years ago, Xu Jiayu had already established himself as the "Asian Backstroke King": at the 2016 Rio Olympics, he won the silver medal in the men's 100m backstroke with a time of 52.31 seconds, becoming the first Chinese men's backstroke Olympic medal; at the 2017 Budapest World Championships, he won the championship with a time of 52.44 seconds, becoming the first Chinese men's backstroke world champion.

However, eight years later, when many newcomers born in the 2000s or even the 2005s have emerged in other swimming events in China, there has been no newcomer to take over the Chinese men's 100-meter backstroke. As a result, there is a joke that "Xu Jiayu is permanent, but the second place comes and goes."

A very intuitive example is that at the National Swimming Championships in April this year, when Xu Jiayu won the first place without any suspense, the second place was Wang Shun, who was older than Xu Jiayu.

Xu Jiayu sat by the swimming pool.

The situation of no one taking over also made Xu Jiayu feel lonely, as if "no one knows how to reach the top": "There are relatively few people who can reach the same level as you, so there are relatively few people who can understand you. The top of the pyramid is the loneliest, and you can only solve everything by yourself."

Perhaps because he had been fighting alone for too long, Xu Jiayu was particularly eager to have a sense of belonging to a team.

In this Olympics, Xu Jiayu gave up his 200-meter backstroke competition. Xu Jiayu explained: "I need to prepare well for the relay race and shoulder the pressure of being the first runner, so that everyone will have a better advantage to complete the relay."

In the end, Xu Jiayu got the gold medal he had been longing for.

The shackles of age

For Xu Jiayu today, age is always an unavoidable topic.

In the past, teammates would call Xu Jiayu "Little Turtle", but in recent years, Xu Jiayu has become known as "Brother Turtle". Unknowingly, the 28-year-old Xu Jiayu has become a "veteran" in the backstroke event.

Although Xu Jiayu's Weibo account has only been visible for half a year, one can still see a lot of his thoughts about age: "Continue to break through yourself and find the joy of breaking through. Age is not a bottleneck that limits your breakthroughs."

When the countdown to the Olympics was 100 days, Xu Jiayu sighed again: "Time flies. Looking back, I expected to retire in 2021 in 2013, but unexpectedly I welcomed my fourth Olympic Games. It is also because of the help and support of people around me that age is no longer an important factor, and I can still work harder. It may be a milestone, but it is definitely not the end. Because - there is no end to life."

Xu Jiayu raised his fist after finishing the race.

The increase in age has also brought many changes in Xu Jiayu's concepts. Unlike Xu Jiayu in 2013 who "expected to retire in 2021", Xu Jiayu now hopes to break the public's stereotype about age.

"I hope to break the old idea that athletes have to retire when they reach 28, 29 or 30. In recent years, we have seen many athletes over 30 continue to make breakthroughs. I hope there will be more such exceptions in the future."

During the Paris Olympic cycle, Xu Jiayu tried hard to become this "exception".

Before the Hangzhou Asian Games, Xu Jiayu, with the idea of ​​"no destruction, no construction", looked for a new team for training. "For veterans, it is necessary to destroy before construction. Age is like a shackle, constantly weighing you down, and you need to use more strength to get rid of it. So when you want to break the spell of age, you must start by destroying your own martial arts like in martial arts novels."

Xu Jiayu's coach Cai Li revealed that Xu Jiayu, who is 184 cm tall, maintains a weight of around 80 kg. In the past few competitions, he may lose about 0.5 kg in weight after completing each game, so in this cycle, gaining muscle and weight has become a training goal.

Xu Jiayu gestured before the game.

Xu Jiayu has increased his weight from 80kg to 84kg when he competed in the Paris Olympics. Xu Jiayu admitted that he believed in the changes brought to him by coach Cai Li. "In this new team, I feel the emerging power, which makes me feel that there is such a way to deal with the impact of age."

Xu Jiayu said: "When the national flag was raised, I thought of Director Xu's long-cherished wish. I contributed my strength to the relay championship and achieved the goal of 'fighting for the country and realizing the dream'. But this is not the end. Maybe you will see me in the swimming pool soon."

In the swimming pool of the Paris Olympics, Xu Jiayu, whose world was only the ceiling, looked up and saw the smiling faces of his teammates.