I attended a sports awards event last winter and saw a nameplate with "Ye Qiaobo" written on the rostrum. I was looking forward to seeing her in person, because in my memory, I saw her on TV when I was in junior high school. After she accepted the award in a wheelchair, this hero in people's minds seemed to disappear.
After the event started, Ye Qiaobo came and sat quietly in the last row. No matter how invited others were, she refused to sit on the podium. After speaking on the stage, she sat back down.
She walks lightly like an ordinary person, always has a smile on her face, takes photos with others and says hello.
Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, who have now become the "boss" of winter sports in China, came over and affectionately called her "Sister Qiao Bo". Qiao Bo smiled and asked about their current situation, "Be careful. Protect yourself, don't get seriously injured, and wait for your good news." She patted Zhao Hongbo and Shen Xue on the shoulders.
Later, Qiao Bo told me that in 1998, she planned to shoot a documentary about winter sports, "Winter Story". She bought a camera and followed some athletes. At that time, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo Before he became famous, "I think these two children are very good. The boy always takes care of the little girl like a big brother, and the girl always follows the boy with a smile and never quarrels. This is a pairing in the world of ice hockey." Partners are also very rare."
二
She is a very dedicated person, so when she was an athlete, she refused to be interviewed by the media. She said that because media interviews would affect her training, she did not allow any factors to distract her energy. "I eat for training, sleep for training, and recover from massages for training. I don't feel like it's three o'clock and one line a day." 'Life is boring."
Now, under her active advocacy, Tsinghua Science and Technology Park and other institutions have built the first large-scale indoor ski stadium in Shunyi, called "Qiaobo Ice and Snow World". It will be fully open to the public at the end of the month.
Although she is not involved in daily management, she is still very concerned about this unique and huge project. She said she believed that the children playing here might embark on the same journey as her in a few years until they become world champions.
Ye Qiaobo, who is sitting opposite me, does not intend to tell me too much about the past 11 years since she retired, but there is no doubt that she is now more than just 11 years. She is no longer the strong woman who endured great pain, but is now a woman full of wisdom and warmth.
Shortly after the successful bid for the Olympic Games, as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, she once proposed that the Beijing Olympics should pay attention to issues such as transportation, human resources, cost control and post-game utilization of Olympic venues. In response to some problems that have arisen among outstanding athletes such as Tian Liang and Wang Zhizhi, she also called for the introduction of the "Sports Agents Law." It can be seen that Ye Qiaobo, who was once an athlete, has become more and more mature and profound in his thinking about the sports industry.
三
Qiao Bo said that his luck is not particularly good. He has won 23 world championships but not an Olympic gold medal.
At the 16th Winter Olympics, Ye Qiaobo’s knee was not seriously injured and she was in good condition. In the 500 meters, she fell 12 meters behind her opponent and entered the lane change area according to the rules. The outsiders and opponents He must give way in peacetime, but the other party did not give way, causing the two to collide. It takes a certain amount of time to stop and restart a high-speed vehicle, not to mention skating. Restarting will lose at least half a second to a second, and she was only 0.18 seconds behind the champion, which was only half a second. The gap is really a pity. The 1,000 meters is not Qiao Bo's strong point, and the difference between her and the championship is only 0.02 seconds, a fingernail's distance... and she just missed the championship.
When he was an athlete, Qiaobo’s training plan beside his bed was always filled with different famous sayings, “How many days are left until the Winter Olympics? Stars don’t shout out, but practice down-to-earth. "Success belongs to those who don't begrudge their own sweat."... Qiao Bo said with a smile, "I like to weave dreams and constantly pursue new goals. In fact, those who love to dream are the most tired."
"So what are your dreams and goals now?"
"Be a real woman and find a husband who is considerate and satisfying." Qiao Bo wants to find a man who is like his father. A person who is always optimistic, passionate, kind and sincere.
Finally, I asked her, when she was an athlete, she paid so much to get results and got injured all over. Looking back now... She interrupted my question and said very She said firmly: "I will choose sports without hesitation, even if I have the next generation." Liu Jingtao, a reporter from the Economic Times
When Yang Yang won the gold medal, she cried
Ye Qiaobo She was the person who achieved a "zero breakthrough" in medals for China at the Winter Olympics. However, due to factors such as injuries and bad luck, she was never able to win an Olympic gold medal. And when she witnessed the moment when Yang Yang won the gold medal in the Olympics, she was so excited that she cried, "That was not just a gold medal, it embodies the 50 years of struggle in China's ice and snow sports."
Before the Nagano Winter Olympics, the outside world was very optimistic about Dayang Yang's gold medal. Ye Qiaobo, who completed the torch relay, stayed specially to prepare to witness this historical moment. But unfortunately, in that competition, Dayang Yang missed the gold medal unexpectedly.
The Salt Lake City Winter Olympics is the peak period of short track speed skating in China. Even if Yang Yang makes a mistake, other team members will not let the gold medal fall by the wayside. Ye Qiaobo applied to the General Administration of Sports to accompany the work team Salt Lake City. Before departure, she brought food such as Erguotou wine and peanuts from home to the United States to prepare for a carnival celebration. Everyone brought a big flag to the stadium.
But Yang Yang failed in the first event, which he was best at. Everyone was like a deflated ball. Most people did not bring their national flags to the next game. In a work group of more than a dozen people, only Ye Qiaobo and another colleague brought the national flag to the scene. On that day, Yang Yang achieved this historic breakthrough. "At that moment, I felt that it was not just Yang Yang who won the gold medal. It also belonged to many athletes who had not won the gold medal before. This was a major breakthrough in the Chinese ice and snow industry." Ye Qiaobo shed tears as he watched Yang Yang win the championship in the stands.
In ice and snow sports, Western countries’ resistance to Chinese athletes can be felt in all aspects. They may even constantly modify competition rules in order to restrict the performance of the Chinese team. Ye Qiaobo said that she still has great hope and confidence in the Chinese team at the Winter Olympics early next year. “We Chinese are relatively good at fighting. Even if the goals we set seem impossible to achieve, after hard work, we can often pull out the teeth.” , realized." Ye Qiaobo said that she thinks China is expected to win 1-3 gold medals at the Turin Winter Olympics.
She was so excited that she lost her way after her Olympic bid was successful
Qiao Bo, who served as a torch bearer for the Japanese Winter Olympics, was invited by Samsung Group to participate in next year's Turin Winter Olympics this year. Although it has not been determined whether she will eventually serve as a torchbearer, she still talked about the meaning and responsibility of being a torchbearer.
"Being a torchbearer is completely different from being an athlete, and the mood is more relaxed." Qiao Bo said: "What the torchbearers convey is peace and the Olympic spirit, arousing more people to oppose war and The misfortune and pain the war has brought to people."
"If Samaranch announced that the host city would be postponed for another 10 or 20 seconds, it would be a very tense moment for the Chinese people." From the moment when Beijing successfully bid for the Olympic Games on July 13, 2001, Ye Qiaobo was still excited, "I didn't even dare to look at the TV cameras." Ye Qiaobo, who was participating in a live recording program on CCTV at that time, could no longer find her way home. She was so excited. The crowd cheered and jumped together, happily joining the carnival traffic. "The cars were parked on Chang'an Street, and many people were standing on the roofs of the cars. It was so exciting at that moment!"
In Austria Ye Qiaobo is still adapting and exploring the work of the organizing committee. “Actually, it doesn’t matter what job you do. People working in the Olympic organizing committee have high professional skills and qualities. As a retired athlete, it is more important. Participate, participation means more to me. ”
After retiring, Ye Qiaobo’s life is very simple. Apart from studying, he also participates in some affairs or charity activities related to ice and snow sports and sports. "No matter what achievements I make in the future, the key is to learn a lot of skills while pursuing goals. This is a process of continuous learning and improvement, which will have a great impact on the rest of my life." Especially seeing Li Lingwei, Deng Yaping, etc. Qiao Bo was also touched by the fact that famous sports stars came to work for the Olympic Organizing Committee. "In fact, it is more conducive to them to play their role based on their achievements in sports. If they are unknown, their potential advantages will be buried."
Eleven years ago at the Corsair Arena in Lillehammer, Norway, a short-haired Chinese girl stood on the track of the 1000-meter speed skating final of the 17th Winter Olympics. At this time, the doctor announced that her left knee It has been more than two years since the meniscus was shattered and large areas of cartilage were broken.
The starting gun sounded, and the girl rushed out of the starting line, dragging her left leg that was considered "shattered" by others. She continued to accelerate through 200 meters, 400 meters, and 800 meters. The informed Chinese people in the stands and even foreign friends cried. In 1 minute, 20 seconds and 22 seconds, this bronze medal was the first medal won by the Chinese delegation in the first ten days of the Winter Olympics.
In an operation five months before the competition, doctors took out five broken bones from her knee. During the operation after the competition, the doctor discovered that the collateral ligaments on both sides of her left knee were damaged. , anterior cruciate ligament, and posterior cruciate ligament have long been ruptured. There are thirteen free bone fragments in the left knee. Even the patella, which supports the balance of the leg, has broken bones as big as watermelon seeds...
This girl is Ye Qiaobo.
After the 17th Winter Olympics, Ye Qiaobo, who had just undergone surgery and trudged back to China within three days, appeared in public again. She participated in the "National Sports Top Ten" award ceremony and her speech in a wheelchair. ’s special farewell party. At that time, her knees were swollen and thicker than her thighs.
Until now, she has become a weather forecast expert with "special functions". Her left leg can predict the weather conditions one or two days later.
Ye Qiaobo quietly started working in the Press and Propaganda Department of the Olympic Organizing Committee. After finishing her MBA studies at Tsinghua University and her doctorate in political economics at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, she began to enter a new page in her life.
Tsinghua MBA, she studied for six years
The interview with Ye Qiaobo was on a hot afternoon, wearing a red-themed round-neck short-sleeved top, cropped pants, and wedge sandals. Now Ye Qiaobo was thin and still had the short hair in her memory. She kept reaching out to pull her hair and said, "This time my hair was cut too short... haha." Before she finished speaking, there was another hearty smile. Voice. I said, "Very good, you are still pretty much the same as I remember you." But she still said to herself, pulling her hair, "It's too short."
In many people's eyes, In my memory, the last image Ye Qiaobo gave people was that tragic moment sitting in a wheelchair. Many people even thought that she would never stand up again. However, Ye Qiaobo sitting in front of me was no different from a normal person. When she got up, she couldn't tell that she had a leg that had been "beaten by many vicissitudes of life".
"Basically, I'm fine. I can live a normal life without any problems, but I still can't do too strenuous exercise." Talking about his injury, Ye Qiaobo looked relaxed, "Before it was cloudy and rainy, this was The most accurate weather forecast." Such a tone made it impossible to hear the suffering caused by her pain.
At that time, the media heavily publicized Ye Qiaobo's leg injury, but she said calmly: "After retiring, I will be an ordinary person, and everything will be in the past. So I closed myself up. "In the few years after retiring, Ye Qiaobo no longer seemed to miss honors, flowers and applause. He became a lonely man lying on the hospital bed recovering from his injuries, and he was the most ordinary student walking on the university campus. It took him six years to become a student. Complete MBA studies.
"I finished my MBA at Tsinghua University and then got a doctorate in political economics from the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. I have now graduated. My defense has been postponed until early next year. I am actually a pretty stupid student." , Ye Qiaobo himself laughed at first, and then sighed: "It's still quite difficult, not easy!" Although he gave up his studies early for training, Ye Qiaobo, who has been good at calligraphy since he was a child, has always had the habit of writing diaries and has good writing skills. The foundation was laid at that time. When she was an athlete, she insisted on learning English by herself. "But it's really difficult to learn subjects like mathematics. It's too difficult." Some science courses need to be taken step by step. Without a foundation, you can imagine the difficulty in learning. With the special tutoring and guidance of two tutors and two graduate students from Tsinghua University, Qiao Bo also completed the course with difficulty. "Many schools are not willing to accept students like us and let us pass the university entrance examination like other students." It’s definitely unrealistic. Once you get into the program, you have to find someone to take extra classes. The real learning begins after the extra classes.”
Tsinghua University’s MBA program cannot last more than 5 years, but Ye Qiaobo stumbled through it for 6 years. It was only after the school leaders approved the extension that he was able to get the degree. With his natural tenacity and self-proclaimed "quite stupid" Ye Qiaobo, he finally succeeded!
She has long been used to playing with injuries
I asked Qiao Bo a very vulgar question: "Which one do you think is more difficult, being an athlete or studying?" Because I think it is more difficult. For her, who has spent six years studying for a master's degree, this question seems to be difficult to answer. But her answer was quite appropriate, "I think in terms of athletic talent and interest, if I were asked to choose again, I would still choose sports, but compared with studying, being an athlete may be much harder and more difficult. Many people can become talented through studying, but if the same group of people is allowed to engage in a very professional sport, not everyone will be able to persist, let alone win the world championship."
"From a young age. I have never lost." No matter what game she plays or what competition she participates in, Ye Qiaobo is not willing to be "second". She said that her athletic talent was passed down from her parents. From the first to the third grade of elementary school, Ye Qiaobo ranked first in all competitions, but no school team was willing to take her because her running posture was too ugly. She started running very slowly, but she crossed the finish line first. Later, the teacher felt that her running posture looked like skating, so he said, "Why don't you go practice skating."
Ye Qiaobo is indeed a good talent at skating. Her feet are very long and she wore size 38 at the age of 12. After practicing skating for just one month, he broke the Changchun City Children's Group record. A year later, he won three Jilin Province children's group championships. He was selected into the Bayi team when he was less than 13 years old, and soon won the national championship. The winner of the competition.
For Ye Qiaobo, the biggest obstacle in her sports career is injuries, which have accompanied her sports career for more than 20 years. When he was 14 years old, Qiao Bo suffered from old cervical subluxation, followed by a compression fracture of the ninth thoracic vertebra, followed by injuries to the ankle and knee joints, and calcaneal spurs. Qiao Bo said that playing with injuries is actually still a problem. OK, after all, the game is just a jittery moment, and you can get through it if you persevere. The hardest part is actually training with injuries.
Therefore, Qiao Bo can only continuously improve her skills and psychology. When she was an athlete, she only did three things at night: therapeutic massage, watching videos to analyze technical movements, and learning English by herself.
Her father is the most unforgettable person for her
Her father is the most important person in Ye Qiaobo’s life. In the pergola built outside the small teahouse, Ye Qiaobo talked about her father who had died two years ago. The circles under his eyes were still faintly red.
"I have had a very good relationship with my father since I was a child. When he was a child, he would get off work late, so I would skip dinner and sit outside on the road waiting for him." When he was an athlete, his father often secretly watched Ye Qiaobo train. , during the competition, the father recorded the results of all the athletes one by one. After the game, he summarized the gains and losses with his daughter and pointed out suggestions for improvement. For nearly 20 years, the father's letters to his daughter have never been less than 10 pages, or even more than 20 pages. The father also corrected the typos and punctuation marks in his daughter's reply letter one by one before sending it back. In these long letters, the father would advise his daughter on everything that needs attention in life, from being a person to doing things, and recommending good books for her to read. The father would even highlight the key parts of the book. ...
The books that have influenced Ye Qiaobo include "Pele", "How Steel Was Tempered" and so on.
There are many slopes in the urban area of ??Changchun. Qiao Bo recalled that during the spring break, his father asked for leave to carry his daughter to the doctor on his bicycle. Watching his father riding his bicycle against the strong wind step by step, Qiao Bo recalled My heart felt very uncomfortable, and tears fell on my hands drop by drop. "At that time, before I won the national championship, I became seriously ill. I had to take the old man to accompany me to see a doctor. I just felt very sorry for him." Fortunately, the next year, Qiao Bo won the national championship. We have gone through many ups and downs, but our results are getting better year by year.
After Ye Qiaobo retired, her father knew that she had the desire to do business, but he was worried that his daughter would not be able to withstand the beating in the cruel business world, so he went to experience it himself...
The year before last, his father was The sudden death of the disease was undoubtedly a heavy blow to her daughter, who had been dependent on her for most of her life. It took her nearly a year to struggle out of the pain, "Maybe it's because my father was so great, and I always hoped to find someone like him." The same partner, so now I am alone.”
★Star Archives·Ye Qiaobo★
Born on June 3, 1964 in Changchun City, Jilin Province;
Selected for the national team in 1985;
Won the 500-meter short track speed skating world championship for the first time in 1991;
Won two silver medals at the 16th Winter Olympics in 1992. At the World Championships in Norway, she won the women's 1,000-meter speed skating championship and the women's all-around world championship. By the end of the spring competition in 1993, she had won 14 world championships;
In 1993, she won the women's sprint all-around championship at the Seventh National Games;
In 1994, she suffered an injury. Won the women's 1,000-meter speed skating bronze medal at the 17th Winter Olympics and retired due to injury after the Winter Olympics.