Beijing time yesterday morning, the International Cycling Union Freestyle BMX Paris Olympic Qualification Series Budapest came to an end. This was also the last battle for athletes from all over the world to compete for Olympic qualifications. In the competition for the women's freestyle BMX competition, Sichuan girl Deng Yawen and her teammate Sun Jiaqi performed well, winning the fourth and third place respectively, ranking fourth and second in the world standings, and got their wish. Qualified for the Paris Olympics.
Cross-border selection She went from track and field to BMX
Freestyle BMX is a young event for the Olympic Games. It only officially entered the Olympic family at the Tokyo Olympics, but the Chinese team did not qualify for the event at that time. Like many domestic athletes in this event, Deng Yawen has not been practicing freestyle BMX since he was a child. Born in Luzhou, Sichuan, she entered the track and field team training of Luzhou Amateur Sports School when she was 8 years old, which laid a very good physical foundation for her.
In 2017, the freestyle BMX event became an official event of the Tokyo Olympics. At that time, the javelin coach of the Sichuan Track and Field Team fell in love with 12-year-old Deng Yawen. At the same time, 's freestyle BMX coach, who is cross-border selection, also has his eye on Deng Yawen, who has outstanding physical fitness. After repeated deliberation and thinking, Deng Yawen finally chose the emerging sport of BMX. came to Chengdu Sichuan Water Sports School to start a journey to pursue his dream.
Perhaps Deng Yawen himself would not have thought that he would be able to realize his Olympic dream so soon. During the Beijing Olympics, the thing that impressed Xiao Yawen most deeply, who was only 3 years old at the time, was that "Beijing Welcomes You" was playing on her grandma's radio every day. From then on, the seeds of the "Olympic Games" were planted deep in her heart. .
At the end of 2022, the Chinese women’s freestyle BMX team was officially formed, and Deng Yawen became one of them. In this year's Olympic qualifying series in Shanghai, the three golden flowers of Chinese women's freestyle BMX, Sun Sibei, Sun Jiaqi and Deng Yawen, took the top three positions. In this Budapest competition, facing a more challenging track, Sun Sibei performed poorly and failed to enter the finals. Sun Jiaqi and Deng Yawen successfully entered the finals and finished second and fourth, qualifying for the Paris Olympics as they wished.
Overcoming Fear After she finished crying, she continued to practice
Today, Deng Yawen is able to perform various difficult movements on the track while riding a BMX, but she also overcame a lot of psychological fear when she first came into contact with this project. When she entered the Sichuan Water Sports School in 2017, she was the youngest in the BMX team. Every day she followed her "brothers" and "sisters", starting with the simplest rides and gradually starting to get into more difficult ones. action.
Deng Yawen still remembers the first time he rode a bicycle down from a high place. "I was very scared. The fear suddenly came up and I froze there." During the period when he just started training, Deng Yawen did it almost every day. She would be scared to tears. With the encouragement of her coach and teammates, she overcame her fear time and time again and continued practicing after crying. Deng Yawen's fear is not just a simple fear. BMX is a very risky sport and it is easy to get injured during training. From practice to now, I don’t know how many times she has fallen on the track. In 2019, she fractured a toe on her left foot. In 2022, her right shoulder was repeatedly dislocated and underwent surgery...
She fell down again and again and got up again and again. This process is also Witnessed Deng Yawen’s growth. In the 2023 World Cup in Bazhong, Deng Yawen surprised everyone with a series of difficult moves. He scored 93.84 points, the highest score in the history of this event, and won the championship in one fell swoop. At that moment, the whole world got to know this girl from Sichuan. She conquered the track with her courage, won applause, and got one step closer to her Olympic goal.
went to Paris hoping to win glory for the country.
Deng Yawen’s growth has not been smooth sailing. At the 2023 World Championships, she was full of confidence and ranked second in the preliminaries. However, she did not expect that she made consecutive mistakes in the finals and only finished sixth.Seeing his results, Deng Yawen cried at the time. When he returned to the hotel, he still cried very sadly. The scenes of his mistakes were always in his mind. Deng Yawen said that she is not the kind of athlete with a particularly good mentality. She will find an outlet for herself when encountering problems. Her method is to cry, "Crying once is not enough, then cry twice..."
After crying, Deng Yawen said Yawen began to think about his own problems and continued to improve himself in training. Finally, he won the championship at the Bazhong Station of the World Cup, which was also a stop of the Olympic qualifying tournament. Deng Yawen told herself afterwards, "I am only 18 years old and there are still many opportunities in the future. Why not try again?" It was this mentality that allowed her to go all the way and finally qualified for the Paris Olympics.
After BMX entered the Olympics, the sport achieved leapfrog development in China. Deng Yawen also made rapid progress and became qualified to hit the podium. Deng Yawen said, "Thanks to the coaches, partners and staff for their help, and I hope to win glory for China in a larger international arena..." Today, Deng Yawen's life is occupied by BMX, and she enjoys As her dream gradually comes true, she also looks forward to her shining a new light on the BMX track at the Paris Olympics.
Chengdu Daily Jinguan News Reporter Chen Hao Editor-in-Chief Liu Yang Editor Wang Xiaoxue Reviewer Pu Wei Photos Xinhua News Agency, Sichuan Water Sports Center
