In-depth: Eight years after the "primordial power", the world witnessed the transformation of Chinese athletes
2024-08-13
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Li Wenwen
When Li Wenwen easily won the 40th gold medal for the Chinese delegation, she happily shouted, "It's time to get off work, it's time to get off work."
This seems to be a microcosm of the Chinese athletes in the Paris Olympics. Let's put aside the 40 gold medals that created the best record in overseas Olympics. What moved us most in this Paris Olympics, on the banks of the Seine, was the "rebirth" of the Chinese athletes.
When the "little brother" and "little sister" came to the Olympics, they showed their side of "cleaning up the arena". They can win championships and break records, which is no different from the past. But behind this, what they showed us is not a single story logic, but a braver, more confident, more diverse and more expressive individual.
Last time, we were impressed by Fu Yuanhui's "primitive power". Now, eight years have passed, and the original one flower has become a hundred flowers blooming.
Pan Zhanle, Zheng Qinwen, Quan Hongchan... they are no longer reserved and modest, but have shown their flamboyance and dominance. This frankness and self-confidence constitute the characteristics of the new generation of Chinese athletes - we are not products of an assembly line, but people with edges and corners and flesh and blood.
"Little Brother" and "Little Sister" control the Olympics
The first gold medal of the Paris Olympics went to 17-year-old Huang Yuting and 19-year-old Sheng Lihao.
The two teamed up to win the mixed team 10m air rifle event. If they were to take off their shooting uniforms, they would look like normal high school students. Take Huang Yuting for example, she exudes a strong sense of contrast, stepping into the arena with a cute duck step, and revealing coldness and domineering when aiming and shooting.
Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao
After winning the championship, their nicknames on social media platforms were exposed. Huang Yuting's nickname was A Tiao Ben Tiao, Sheng Lihao's nickname was Guang Kao Gan Fan Jiu, and they also had new nicknames "A Tiao Jie" and "Gan Fan Ge". Especially Sheng Lihao's nickname was ridiculed by netizens several times - "Gua Kao Gan Fan Jiu - won the championship".
Since ancient times, heroes have emerged from youth.
Compared with Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao, Quan Hongchan is also a "young genius". Three years ago in the Tokyo Olympics, she made a splash at the age of 14. In the Paris Olympics, although she was three years older, she won two gold medals and became the youngest Chinese Olympic champion to win three gold medals. She is still the "little sister".
Chen Yuxi picked up Quan Hongchan
She would let her partner Chen Yuxi hold her in a "monkey hug" all the way; she would also make faces at Guo Jingjing in the athlete channel and quickly run away; the scene of her biting the gold medal after receiving it was talked about with relish; she pounced on Gu Ailing at the press conference...
After winning the championship, Quan Hongchan showed her gold medal to foreign friends with a "confident" expression. She said "it's just so-so" while taking out the medal, pouting and pointing at it to show foreign friends. Finally, she even said, "We win the gold medal to show off."
Chen Yiwen holds Chang Yani
Chen Yiwen and Chang Yani won gold in the women's synchronized three-meter springboard. At the award ceremony, Chen Yiwen was so excited that she carried Chang Yani in a princess hug, which stunned the foreign players next to them. It was clear that she was saying, "You can still play like this?" So they also carried their partners on their backs.
These "little brothers" and "little sisters" embody the more distinct face of the times of Chinese athletes today. They are calm and generous in the arena, lively and cute outside the arena, which is a manifestation of extreme self-confidence. As more post-00s become the focus of the Olympic stage, they have begun to "rectify the arena" in their fight for gold and silver medals. With their frankness, childlikeness and personality, they have smashed the "gold medal only theory" and let us see more shining things behind them as individuals besides gold medals and championships.
We can easily "control" the Olympics, but we also want you to see that I am more than just a "sports genius."
More diverse expressions
There was a time when athletes’ post-match speeches seemed a bit stereotyped.
The scripts of success after suffering through persistence are the majority here. In the theme logic of the "suffering narrative", "thank you" is the main theme. The post-match speeches of the gold medalists seem to be very long, and they thank many people, but they seem to be somewhat stereotyped. Moreover, they always stand straight, maintain a good posture, and their expressions are not unhappy, but not too happy either, trying to maintain a kind of "balance" and "restraint".
As for those athletes who failed to get good results, it was even worse. Not to mention what others said, even they themselves felt like "sinners" - either frowning, or crying, and then leaving a keynote speech of "I'm sorry xxx" in the interview.
But now, everything seems to be different.
Athletes in the new era have more confidence and more so-called "relaxation" - they have the diversity of human beings, which is real and rich, with joy, anger, sorrow, and flesh and blood. What lies before us is no longer a single narrative like a melodrama, but a storybook that lists various scenes and experiences.
Zheng Qinwen
Zheng Qinwen won the first singles Olympic champion in Asian tennis history. When asked about her opinion on the title of "Queen Wen", she accepted it without hesitation. "Before this, I would be modest and tell everyone not to say that. But after winning the Olympic championship, I think the term Queen Wen is well deserved."
After Liu Yukun won the gold medal in the men's 50m rifle three-position event, he was asked about his plans. According to his previous experience, he would train hard and try to maintain his condition. His answer was, "Let's take a break first. The work is over. Shouldn't we take a break first?"
When an interview deliberately led the athletes to the keywords of "dream" and "hardship", they did not respond, but said it directly. Sheng Lihao, who won the first Olympic gold medal, was asked "What is your dream" during an Olympic interview, and he directly replied "I don't have any dream"; Quan Hongchan, who grew up in hardship, was asked "Others care about how high you fly, so are you tired?" Quan Hongchan directly responded, "Who is not tired, what's the question?"
The Chinese weightlifting team took a group photo after winning 5 gold medals. Liu Huanhua, Li Fabin, Hou Zhihui, Luo Shifang and Li Wenwen all hung their gold medals around Shi Zhiyong's neck.
Even veteran Shi Zhiyong, after saying a lot of apologies, also said, "The only thing I haven't apologized for is myself."
If it were many years ago, such a "deliberately sensational" question would have more or less drawn some touching stories and responses, but now, such answers are simple and direct, but more real. These athletes are not the products of factory assembly line operations, but real people with flesh and blood - competitive sports not only have stories of bitterness, but also the smooth sailing of geniuses; not only have gold medals and the glory of success, but also the frustration of not being on the podium and failure.
Confidence brought by the improvement of national strength
At the Paris Olympics, we can also see that our athletes have become very domineering.
After winning the 100m freestyle final, Pan Zhanle left this message in an interview, "I said hello to Chalmers down below, but he ignored me. Including Alexi from the American team. When we were training, the coach was on the shore, and his tumble splashed water directly on the coach, which seemed to look down on us. Today, I finally defeated all of them."
After winning the 4x100m medley relay final, he said directly, "We are the champions, and others should be dissatisfied."
The feedback he received from such blatant expression, even criticizing those who looked down on him by name, was that in the end, Pan Zhanle received apologies from many people.
Pan Zhanle
Australian coach Hawke, who questioned Pan Zhanle's results and hinted that Pan Zhanle had taken doping, not only deleted all the videos questioning Pan Zhanle, but also apologized to Pan Zhanle; Australia's Chalmers and Pan Zhanle not only greeted each other later, but also exchanged swimming caps; even the always arrogant American team gave the C position to Pan Zhanle and his teammates after the medley relay final...
Even on the Internet, many foreigners support Pan Zhanle and demand that Australia and the Americans apologize to him. Strength is king. In the arena, everything is determined by strength. Pan Zhanle's confidence comes from his strength.
Zhang Yufei, who won 6 medals in this Olympics and became the "medal king" of the Paris Olympics, also left this classic statement when she was asked by an Australian reporter about "Pan Zhanle's 100-point freestyle result" at the press conference.
Zhang Yufei
"Why are Chinese athletes questioned when they swim so fast? Why didn't anyone dare to question Phelps when he won seven or eight gold medals? Ledecky dominated the long-distance events from 2012 to 2024, and won gold medals in every session. Why didn't anyone question her?"
When the country becomes stronger, the athletes' expressions are not only diversified, but also have an invisible dominance. We are kind and will not provoke others, but if you have any bad intentions, I am not afraid of you.
They become more relaxed
In the past, athletes shouldered the historical mission of demonstrating the national spirit and were trying hard to tear off the label of "Sick Man of East Asia". They hoped to use gold medals to prove the country's strength - such as Liu Changchun's journey across the ocean and Xu Haifeng's breakthrough from zero.
But now, it's different.
In the medal table, we have long been ranked among the top three, basically occupying the top two positions with the United States. This time we have created the best overseas Olympic results and may even tie with the United States in the number of gold medals.
Therefore, in an era when we no longer need to hold our breath and prove our country with one or two gold medals, our athletes have begun to relax. Moreover, growing up in a country where the overall national strength is gradually improving and many industries and fields are at the forefront of the world, many of our athletes have begun to have more confidence.
In other words, athletes in the past may have only had one option, which was to practice sports, but athletes today have more options.
Their lives are no longer so "bitter" and "difficult". When they step off the field, they are just ordinary people. As a result, those stereotyped "narratives of suffering" have become a focus on people. Olympic athletes who have grown up through the collision of various experiences have given them more diverse stories to present.
Moreover, with enough self-confidence, athletes can be their true selves.
The stories of fighting for the country are still being told, of course. They are still the Olympic athletes who win glory for the country and hope to see the national anthem played and the national flag raised, but obviously, such stories do not have to be too restricted by rules and regulations. They can complain, they can create memes, they can be funny, and they can also have their own most personalized expressions.
If Fu Yuanhui's extraordinary strength at the Rio Olympics marked the beginning of the road to personalized expression for Chinese athletes, then eight years later, when more and more Chinese athletes were able to face the media, the public, and themselves with a more relaxed attitude, we saw a more real and unrestrained side of them.
Finally, what represents China's image on the Olympic stage is no longer forbearance and misery, but cuteness and confidence.
(Source: The Paper)
