"guangdong athletes shine in paris" the young swimming star who never gives up! wang xueer: aiming for gold medal in the 15th national games
2024-09-08
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in the early morning of august 5, in the women's 4×100m medley relay final of the 2024 paris olympic games swimming event, the chinese team won a bronze medal. among them, guangdong athlete wang xueer performed well in the preliminaries, helping the chinese team advance to the finals with a third place. according to the rules of the event, wang xueer also won the bronze medal in this event. this precious bronze medal is a recognition of her hard work in preparation and a testimony to her full efforts in the olympic arena. from a rookie to a veteran, wang xueer, who never gives up, has written her own chapter in the swimming pool with sweat and hard work.
on the morning of september 6, at the swimming pool of ersha sports training center in guangdong province, wang xueer accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from yangcheng evening news, reviewing her journey to the paris olympics and looking forward to the upcoming national games to be held at home.
looking back at paris: relay competitions put more pressure on athletes than individual events
at the 2024 paris olympics, wang xueer participated in the women's 100m backstroke and women's 4x100m medley relay. although she was eliminated in the women's 100m backstroke semifinals, she quickly adjusted her mentality and fought hard in the women's 4x100m medley relay preliminaries. as the first runner, she withstood the pressure and worked with her teammates to rank second in the group and third in the overall score with 3 minutes 56.34 seconds, helping the chinese swimming team to advance to the finals.
it has been a month since the competition. recalling the scene at that time, wang xueer still has trouble calming down: "if i think back to that moment, i am still nervous and excited. in fact, i dare not watch the full video of the game. occasionally, when i see a clip of the game on some software, i still feel nervous."
in the paris olympics, wang xueer was the first backstroke runner in the women's 4×100m medley relay preliminaries. she not only shouldered the responsibility of starting the race, but also took on the important task of relieving the pressure on the team members. wang xueer told reporters: "the relay race will be held a few days after the individual events. for me, the pressure of the relay is greater and more intense than that of the individual events. among the four runners in the women's medley, the chinese team is weaker in the backstroke leg compared to the international level. in the preliminaries, our goal is to get as high a ranking as possible and get a better lane for the team in the finals." wang xueer explained: "in swimming competitions, the order of lanes is very important. the middle lane must be the best, and it is not so easy to be affected by waves." finally, in the preliminaries, wang xueer completed the handover in the first leg with a score of 59.75 seconds, helping the team to successfully advance to the finals.
although she was not included in the finals, wang xueer had no complaints: "as long as the final result is good, it doesn't matter who participates. the level of our backstroke is not much different, so i am very satisfied that i can make a little contribution to the team."
looking forward to the national games: confident of winning the gold medal at home
wang xueer was born in 1998. she has loved swimming since she was young and has shown extraordinary talent. in order to strengthen her body and cultivate her perseverance, her parents sent her to zhongshan sports school to receive professional swimming training when she was only 10 years old.
as the current representative figure of women's backstroke in china, wang xueer won the women's 100m backstroke championship at the 2020 national swimming championships, and won two medals in the women's 50m backstroke championship and the women's 100m backstroke runner-up at the 19th asian games in hangzhou in 2023. in 2024, she won the women's 100m backstroke championship at the national spring swimming championships and participated in the 2016 rio olympics and the 2024 paris olympics.
in the 2016 rio olympics, wang xueer's performance in individual events was not outstanding, and she was unfortunately eliminated in the semifinals, but she was not discouraged. even though she failed to be selected for the national team in the 2021 tokyo olympics, she still fought hard in the pool, constantly challenging herself, and showed excellent competitive state until she was selected for the 2024 paris olympics and finally won a precious bronze medal.
from emerging in domestic competitions to winning glory for her country in the olympics, the countless competitions she has experienced have made her more mature. she strives for perfection in every training session, never gets discouraged in the face of failure, and never gets proud in the face of success. today's results are a strong proof of her strong strength.
looking ahead to the upcoming 15th national games, wang xueer is full of confidence: "next year, i must swim under 59 seconds in the 100m backstroke again. i have the ability to do so. before this, i have never won a national games championship. this time it is held at home, so i am eager and confident to win a single gold medal."
team strength, from mutual doubt to mutual trust
in 2021, wang xueer's coach from the guangdong provincial team retired, and zhou jiawei became her new coach. zhou jiawei, the former "asian butterfly king", has rich experience and expertise in the field of swimming, and he provided valuable guidance for wang xueer's growth. under the leadership of coach zhou, wang xueer has gone further and further on the road of swimming and achieved remarkable results. zhou jiawei praised his beloved apprentice: "xueer is a very self-disciplined athlete and is very strict with herself. this is her most outstanding trait. during training, she has very high demands on herself. sometimes i ask her to control the speed, and she will still try her best to swim."
in fact, when they first became master and apprentice, they had doubts about each other. zhou jiawei told reporters that he had worked with wang xueer in 2016 and 2017 when he was both an athlete and a coach, but becoming her coach was a test. at first, wang xueer was not used to his coaching style, and they even argued on the training ground because of different opinions, but later the two reconciled. through constant running-in, the two gradually adapted to each other, and as their performance improved, this distrust gradually disappeared.
under the guidance of coach zhou jiawei, wang xueer not only improved her skills, but also made great progress in her psychological quality. she learned how to adjust her mentality during the game and how to face difficulties in adversity. wang xueer's success is not only a personal honor, but also the best reward for coach zhou jiawei's hard work.
regarding the upcoming national games, zhou jiawei said that he and wang xueer will work towards a common goal: "we will immediately start preparing for the national games. i will do my best to help xueer stand on the highest podium in the national games, and i also hope that she can have a national record."
text | reporter long xi
photo | reporter liu cheng
