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From Xie Yu's hometown Heitang Village to Bijie City, the bumpy and winding mountain road has more than 200 bends. This 60-kilometer journey usually takes about an hour and a half by car, which is about the same time as a shooting competition.

In the past Olympic month, Xie Yu, who won the third gold medal for the Chinese delegation in Paris, has entered the public eye. From sixth place in the preliminaries to Olympic champion, Xie Yu, who came from behind, is a veritable "dark horse". He won this gold medal at the Paris Chateauroux Shooting Center, representing the Chinese team to top this event again after 16 years.

A corner of Heitang Village, Xie Yu's hometown. Photo by Dong Zineng, Jiupai News

The homes of athletes often become check-in spots during the Olympics due to online dissemination. The homes of gold medalists such as Quan Hongchan, Huang Yuting, and Pan Zhanle have become "blessed places" that attract tourists.

Xie Yu, who was born in a rural area of ​​Guizhou and had been left behind, also attracted much attention. The reporter visited his hometown and found that his hometown, Heitang Village, located in the mountains, was rarely visited. After the Olympic fever subsided, the village has returned to peace.

【1】Home of Champions

Heitang Village is a small village hidden deep in the Wumeng Mountains. Even if you take a shortcut and drive along a section of highway, the long winding mountain road is still a big challenge for people traveling back and forth.

If you happen to encounter an oncoming car along the way, both sides need to carefully create space, and this can be repeated. A villager from Heitang Village said, "If a bird flies in here, it may not be able to find a way out."

Xie Yu's hometown is a two-story building built on the side of the road. According to neighbors, Xie Yu's grandfather still lives in the village. Jiupai News reporters saw that the walls of this self-built house are a bit old. Except for the front of the house and the outside of the stairs, the rest of the house is not paved with tiles. The tiles of the house are relatively new, and some cement that has not yet dried can be seen. The doors and windows are painted red.

Xie Yu's old house is located in Heitang Village. Photo by Dong Zineng of Jiupai News

Previously, rumors about Xie Yu's home being "renovated overnight" sparked discussion. A local village official told reporters that Xie Yu's home was actually simply renovated last July, and after he won the Olympic gold medal, the villagers spontaneously organized some cleaning and painting work for his home. "If we waited until he won the gold medal to renovate his house overnight, what would be the point?"

Village officials mentioned that Xie Yu has won many medals around the world in recent years. And considering that Xie Yu's grandparents are old, the village had already helped the elderly apply for subsidies to help with their household expenses long before he became famous.

During the Paris Olympics, as the good news of the athletes in Paris spread across thousands of miles to China, it became popular to check in at the champions' homes. The most amazing scene was at the doorstep of Quan Hongchan's home in Maihe Village, Zhanjiang City. According to previous reports, a large number of tourists came to the doorstep of Quan Hongchan's grandfather's home to take photos and check in. The local government widened the road overnight to build a parking lot, and snack vendors also set up stalls here. After the Olympics, there were still tourists bustling in front of her home.

When the Jiupai News reporter visited, he did not encounter other tourists who came to check in in Xie Yu's hometown. Outside this renovated old house, there were only vehicles with local license plates passing by from time to time on the village road, and the rest were villagers who gathered together to chat.

"He left the village when he was in primary school. I hadn't started working here yet at that time." Another village official mentioned that Xie Yu rarely came back, only once every few years, and Xie Yu's parents also worked outside. "He himself was basically training outside."

Heitang Village has also welcomed people who came here to visit. One villager mentioned that he had seen about 10 people come to Xie Yu’s house, take pictures and leave in a hurry.

The mountains surrounding Heitang Village. Photo by Dong Zineng, a reporter from Jiupai News

【2】The golden phoenix flew out of Wumeng Mountain

The local villagers were the best guides to find out the exact location of Xie Yu's hometown. After pointing out the direction of Xie Yu's hometown, they did not forget to ask: "Are you from other places to see our Golden Phoenix?"

In the eyes of the villagers, Xie Yu is a golden phoenix that flew out from the depths of Wumeng Mountain. The starting point of his shooting journey can be traced back to 2009. As his father worked away from home all year round, Xie Yu's uncle Xie Zhongliang took him to the city to go to school. In 2014, Xie Zhongliang discovered Xie Yu's athletic talent and sent him to Bijie Sports School for training. It was here that the 14-year-old Xie Yu became acquainted with air pistols.

Xie Yu took a photo with her father (right) and uncle (left). Photo/Bijie News

After just one year of training, Xie Yu won the 10m and 50m air pistol championships at the provincial games. His debut at the 2021 National Games was not satisfactory, but he regrouped and won both the men's 50m slow-fire individual and team championships at the 2023 ISSF World Shooting Championships, standing on the world championship podium for the first time. In the subsequent Hangzhou Asian Games, he won the silver medal in the 10m air pistol team event.

In February 2024, in the first round of the final team selection for the Paris Olympics, Xie Yu broke the men's national record with a total score of 593 rings, successfully winning his Olympic qualification. He eventually embarked on the Paris Olympics journey with Xia Yuyu and Huang Juan, who also graduated from Bijie Sports School.

In fact, Xie Yu has not participated in many world competitions so far, and he is not a player that the public has high hopes for in this competition.

On July 28, Beijing time, Xie Yu, who barely qualified as the sixth in the qualifying round, faced the men's 10-meter air pistol final. More than 400 teachers and students from Bijie Sports School gathered in the lecture hall to watch the game together, and finally witnessed this bullet shot from the depths of the mountains win the third gold medal for the Chinese delegation in the event, which was also the birth of the third Olympic gold medal in Guizhou sports history.

The starting point of Xie Yu's shooting route is Bijie Sports School. Photo by Dong Zineng of Jiupai News

After winning the gold medal, facing the overwhelming public attention, Xie Yu also responded to the hot topic of "one shot broke the family wall" in a recent interview. He mentioned that his current achievements could not bring much extra help to his family.

He said that his mother had just been discharged from the hospital after suffering from cancer and hoped that everyone would not say anything to her.

Wang Mingjiang, the village party secretary of Heitang Village, also said in an interview that when Xie's father was working outside, he earned three to five thousand yuan a month, and his house in his hometown was also a two-story building. Although it was not rich, it was not bad either.

After the Olympics, the bustle of Heitang Village has gradually returned to calm. This "golden phoenix" that has emerged from the past wave of public opinion will begin a new round of soaring.

Jiupai News reporters Dong Zineng and Wu Di reported from Bijie, Guizhou

Edited by Wan Xuan and Wu Feifei

【Revelation】Please contact the reporter on WeChat: linghaojizhe

[Source: Jiupai News]