His love for shooting changed his destiny.
China's first Olympic gold medal in history fell to the ground and took root and blossomed during his shooting.
In the central square of the National Shooting Training Base, there is an eye-catching sculpture. It is a gun, a special shooting pistol. The prototype of the sculpture is the gun that made history at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, winning China's first-ever Olympic gold medal.
Twenty-two years ago, this gun appeared at the shooting venue of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and was held in the hands of Chinese shooting athlete Xu Haifeng.
When the last bullet was fired, Xu Haifeng stood in the shooting position of less than 2 square meters, using the Chinese-made competition gun in his hand to fill in the glorious history of China's Olympic Games. In one stroke, the Chinese's first Olympic gold medal was won at the Los Angeles Olympics.
Ten minutes later, the first press release reporting the matter was issued by a reporter from Xinhua News Agency: "Xu Haifeng is 27 years old and used to be an employee of the Anhui Provincial Supply and Marketing Cooperative. He said after winning the gold medal A reporter from Xinhua News Agency said: "Although I won first place, my results are not very high. I still need to work harder in the future to bring more glory to the country. ”
China has achieved a “zero breakthrough” in the Olympic Games. This news makes all Chinese people happy and proud. In addition, people are surprised to find that the athlete who realized this long-cherished wish in history was once "Employees of supply and marketing cooperatives"
Many people think of the supply and marketing staff who travel across mountains and rivers to deliver goods in backpacks, which was the rural supply and marketing praised in the movie "Red Baskets" in the 1960s.
On August 1, 1957, Xu Haifeng was born in an ordinary family in Anhui. He was introverted and not good at talking, but he also had special talents and liked to shoot birds with a slingshot.
p>Surprisingly accurate, the nickname "Slingshot King" was the first title he received. Like boys of that age, Xu Haifeng liked to dance with guns and sticks in his youth.
Same. Like young people in that era, Xu Haifeng's biggest wish when he was young was to become a soldier. For him, being a soldier meant that he could have a gun, and shooting at a target was Xu Haifeng's biggest hobby.
In 1974, Xu Haifeng, who graduated from high school, signed up to join the army. Young people of that era were very enthusiastic about enlisting. However, 17-year-old Xu Haifeng failed to sign up to join the army. Obviously, among the many choices for those who signed up to join the army, "Slingshot" "King" is not one of the best.
In 1975, 18-year-old Xu Haifeng went to the countryside and became an educated youth in Luobai Commune. Later, he was recruited to work as a salesperson at the Xinqiao District Supply and Marketing Cooperative in He County, Anhui Province. He worked there for three years.
The ordinary grassroots commercial work did not dull Xu Haifeng's interest in shooting. He used the dozens of dollars he had saved for a long time to buy a gun at that time. It seems that the air gun is definitely a luxury product, which is enough to illustrate the special interest of this grassroots salesman in shooting.
With this ordinary air gun, aiming and shooting has become his biggest hobby after work. Fun. In 1979, he and the coach of the shooting team of the County Sports Committee heard that there was a "slingshot king" in the county who was also very accurate in shooting air rifles, so he recruited him to the shooting team for training. This was an opportunity for Xu Haifeng to change his destiny. The door opened like this. At this time, there were still five years before China would appear in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Two years later, in 1982, Xu Haifeng was selected into the Anhui Provincial Shooting Team. At that time, some people were worried about the 25-year-old. Whether Xu Haifeng still had time to achieve good results, but Xu Haifeng answered this doubt with the results of the competition. A year later, at the 5th National Games, Xu Haifeng won two silver medals in air pistol and pistol slow shooting, becoming the first domestic athlete to win. Famous generals on the shooting range.
On July 29, 1984, the first day of the 23rd Los Angeles Olympic Games, the first gold medal of this Olympic Games will be won in the men's 60-round pistol slow-fire competition. . Since the Soviet Union boycotted the Olympic Games held in the United States and did not send a team to participate, the shooting competition, which was almost monopolized by the former Soviet Union, was full of suspense and attracted much attention.
The Chinese shooting team had the best performance at that time. Wang Yifu is also listed as the favorite to win the championship, while Xu Haifeng is no one interested.
Perhaps it was because Xu Haifeng was not burdened with the pressure of performance. He raised the gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger just like in normal training. No one thought that Xu Haifeng was completing the most important task in his life. The most important group of aimed shots, 60 rounds of bullets, each shot is building the gold medal known as "zero breakthrough".
Champion! Xu Haifeng succeeded, the Chinese succeeded, and this was the moment when China's Olympic gold medal history began.
After the game, Xu Haifeng walked for nearly 20 minutes from the playing field to the lounge, a distance of less than 100 meters. Reporters from various countries surrounded him, vying to interview this person who had been ignored in advance. Chinese athlete, the champion who won China's first Olympic gold medal.
China won its first gold medal in the Los Angeles Olympics, achieving a breakthrough of zero Olympic gold medals. The news has quickly spread to the motherland thousands of miles away through modern media. However, the award ceremony at the shooting venue has been delayed. Not carried out.
It turned out that the shooting competition organizing committee expected that Chinese athletes might win medals and prepared a Chinese flag in advance. However, unexpectedly, Chinese athlete Xu Haifeng won the championship and Wang Yifu came in third.
The top three had to raise their flags, so there was a lack of a five-star red flag, so the organizing committee had to temporarily send people to look for it. The medal distribution ceremony, which had been delayed for nearly an hour, began. This was the first medal distribution ceremony of the 23rd Olympic Games.
Ueberroth, Chairman of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee: Please allow me to say a few words. What I want to tell you is that you are experiencing an event of great historical significance. Because the gold and bronze medals will be awarded to the same country. This country has never won a medal in the history of the Olympics.
The then International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch came to the stadium in person to present the award to Xu Haifeng. He said excitedly: "Today is a great day in the history of Chinese sports. I am honored to compete on the first day of the Olympic Games." The first gold medal will be awarded to Chinese athletes in one day."
The former "Slingshot King", 27-year-old Xu Haifeng has this special Olympic championship gold medal on his chest.
Attached personal profile
Name: Xu Haifeng
Gender: Male
Date of birth: 1957-8-1
Birthplace: Fujian
Sports: Shooting
Best result: Winning the men's 50-meter pistol 60-round shooting gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984
< p>Sports experience:I have liked shooting birds with a slingshot since I was a child. I have not received professional training in shooting, but I have determined to become a sharpshooter since I was a child. With his outstanding efforts, he developed superb shooting skills. Joined the Anhui provincial team in 1982 and was selected for the national team in 1984.
Sports achievements:
In the shooting competition of the Fifth National Games in 1983, he won two silver medals in the pistol slow fire and air pistol.
In 1984, he won the 23rd Olympic men's air pistol gold medal
In 1986, at the 10th Asian Games, he won the free pistol championship, air pistol individual gold medal and free hand pistol team championship with a world record score of 660 rings
< p>In 1986, he scored 662 rings in the national shooting competition, surpassing the world record for small-caliber handgun slow shootingIn 1990, he won four gold medals at the Beijing Asian Games
Won the World Air Rifle Championship in 1991
Won five gold medals at the 7th Asian Championships in 1991
Won the first gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, a breakthrough China has a record of "zero" gold medals in the history of the Olympic Games
Honors received:
In 1984, it was awarded the Sports Medal of Honor by the National Sports Commission
In 1984 and Twice elected as one of the top ten athletes in the country in 1986
Current situation:
After retiring at the end of 1994, he began to serve as the head coach of the women's pistol class of the national shooting team, and later served as the deputy head coach of the national shooting team , In March 2001, he began to serve as the head coach of the national shooting team, and in June he served as the deputy director of the Shooting Center of the State Sports General Administration
Coaching record:
At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Xu Haifeng Team member Li Duihong led by Xu Haifeng won the championship
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, team member Tao Luna led by Xu Haifeng won the championship
In the 23rd Olympic Games, he won the men's pistol 60 rounds The slow-fire champion became the first gold medal winner in this Olympic Games and the first championship winner in the history of the Chinese Olympic Games, breaking the record of "zero" gold medals in the history of the Chinese Olympic Games. After teaching, he led his players to win two Olympic gold medals. Xu Haifeng is a veritable gold medal athlete and gold medal coach.
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