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Li Wenyao, reporter of Chao News Client

On August 16, Zhejiang weightlifting star Shi Zhiyong shared his daily life after returning to Ningbo on social media. "Let's go fishing!" Shi Zhiyong, wearing a gray casual outfit, holding a fishing rod in one hand and a fish in the other, shared his results with netizens and fans in the comment area: "A perch."

Screenshot from Shi Zhiyong's personal social platform

Shi Zhiyong returned to Ningbo on August 15. He first came to the place where his dream began - Ningbo Sports Training Team, and responded and talked about his future competition plans.

From Rio, Tokyo to Paris, Shi Zhiyong dedicated 12 years of his youth to three Olympic Games. He won the championship twice, faded out of the arena due to injury, and then stood on the stage of the Paris Olympics after closed treatment. Although Shi Zhiyong ruptured his left adductor muscle during the third clean and jerk on the day of the competition, ending his Paris journey ahead of schedule, his competitive sportsmanship of giving his all from beginning to end is still worthy of admiration.

So in the group photo of the Chinese weightlifting team at the Paris Olympics, Li Fabin, Li Wenwen and other members of the Chinese weightlifting team hung their medals around Shi Zhiyong's neck. Thinking of this scene, Shi Zhiyong told reporters, "These five gold medals may be awarded to myself for my sportsmanship."

Image source: Shi Zhiyong's Weibo

After returning to Ningbo, Shi Zhiyong said that he was physically and mentally exhausted after preparing for the competition for so long, and he planned to take a break for a while to let all parts of his body recover. He also fulfilled his plan in previous years and after the Paris Olympics - to go fishing happily.

Fishing has always been Shi Zhiyong's hobby outside of competitive sports. As early as three years ago, in an interview after the Tokyo Olympics, Shi Zhiyong revealed to the media that his biggest hobby was fishing, and he often posted his fishing routine and results on social platforms. In this Paris Olympics, Shi Zhiyong also shared a scene of him fishing in Paris with a fishing rod, satisfying his fishing addiction outside the stadium.

In fact, in addition to Shi Zhiyong, there are many strongmen in the Chinese weightlifting team who are obsessed with fishing, a "quiet sport". For example, Liu Huanhua, a young Chinese weightlifter who just completed the "ascension to the throne", excitedly said after winning the men's weightlifting 102kg championship that he wanted to find "Brother Tao to go fishing to celebrate". The Brother Tao he mentioned is Tian Tao, an athlete of the Chinese national weightlifting team and a senior angler in the weightlifting team.

Screenshot from Tian Tao’s personal social platform

On the field, he is a strongman who can lift hundreds of pounds in one breath, but off the field, he likes to calmly hold a fishing rod. In response to this, netizens also joked: "I didn't expect that the Olympic champion has the same hobby as me", "The best lifter in the lure world"... Many netizens posted their own catches in the comment area and cordially invited him to go fishing in various places to compete with the Olympic champion.