[Off topic]

At the Rio Olympics 3 years ago, because of Fu Yuanhui's sudden popularity, I suddenly remembered Liu Xiang, the emoji boy of the year. At that time, I wrote an essay that represented some of my opinions, so I wrote this episode.

Post it and share it.

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One

"Is Athens in '04 the most perfect Liu Xiang?"

On April 7, 2015, Liu Xiang was interviewed by CCTV's "Fengyun Meeting", and Zhang Bin asked with a smile.

Liu Xiang thought for nearly 5 seconds with a slightly astringent smile, and then replied with a smile: "Athens in 04 is the most perfect me in the Olympic Games." ”

He bit the three words of the Olympics very hard, and added a sentence at the end, "Yes!"

That afternoon, Liu Xiang posted an article on Sina Weibo, "My runway, my bar!" and he announced his retirement.

Liu Xiang thanked many people in the article, and did not mention how much attack he had suffered, but only mentioned many of his inner feelings: "Why can't I bear the pain? Why is all kinds of treatment ineffective? Why have I failed to live up to the expectations of the people of the whole country? Why do I ......?"

In the past ten years, Liu Xiang has represented China in a total of 48 world competitions, won 36 championships, 6 runners-up, 3 third places, 1 world record, 1 world record, 5 Asian records, and 3 Asian Games records.

Today, however, many people seem to remember only his two withdrawals due to injury at the Beijing Olympics in '08 and the London Olympics in '12.

Because of these two high-profile and injured withdrawals at the Olympics, Liu Xiang doesn't know how much attack and smear he has endured.

So he replied in an accent: "Athens in '04 was the most perfect me in the Olympics, Games, and Games." ”

The Athens Olympics in 04 can indeed only be regarded as the most perfect Liu Xiang in the Olympic Games, and his result is still the Olympic record in the 110-meter hurdles. Comparing the bitter memories of the next two Olympic Games, Athens in 04 is so perfect!

Two

In the eyes of the vast majority of people who only watched track and field competitions during the Olympics, Liu Xiang gave them an impression that was probably like this:

won an Olympic championship, began to receive advertisements everywhere to make money, and acted in two Olympic Games.

At the same time that Liu Xiang took off on the track and field field, China's economy and the Internet also took off, and the commercialization of Chinese sports took off.

What many people don't know is that Nike and Coca-Cola signed Liu Xiang for years and 10,000 respectively.

After the Athens Olympics in '04, his commercial value exploded rapidly, and in 2005, he received 23 million yuan from various advertising and commercial activities.

Even after retiring from the Beijing Olympics in 08 due to injury, Liu Xiang's income on the 2009 Forbes China Celebrity Wealth List was as high as 130 million yuan.

What more people don't know is that as a unique cash cow for the Chinese track and field team, for the development of Liu Xiang's commercial value, the distribution policy of the track and field management center is: athletes get 50%, coaches get 15%, the local sports bureau that trains athletes gets 20%, and the remaining 15% is extracted by the track and field management center.

For a long time, Liu Xiang's MSN signature was "super involuntary".

Three

What surrounds Liu Xiang's athletic career has always been the fragmentation and reorganization of values in the process of China's rise.

In the traditional media camp with the party media as the core, Liu Xiang was born out of various meanings, this hurdle genius represents China's speed and has become the best spokesperson for the rapid rise of a great power.

In the non-real-name and loose online media, a large number of netizens who have experienced "no allocation of universities", "soaring housing prices", "difficulty in employment", and "widening gap between the rich and the poor" have been confused and lost by the great waves of the times.

"There has never been an athlete who has made people trust him to the point of almost trance, and never has an athlete had such a strong arm from the country on his shoulders. The Times was not an exaggeration at the time.

Liu Xiang became a source of nutrition for too many people for a while.

He must be constantly successful and must always smile confidently, only in this way can he provide more incentives, influence more and more people, and then meet the exposure and positive image that advertising endorsements need to return.

At the time, John Goodboty, a columnist for The Times, wrote: "Failure would be a disaster for Liu Xiang, for many of his supporters and for all Chinese." ”

As a result, he became a prophecy.

People's morbid fanaticism for Liu Xiang finally backlashed like a virus. The madness of the past fermented and rose before the pain of defeat, and became a disease that had nowhere to put it for a while.

They couldn't accept the hero's defeat, and even began to criticize Liu Xiang harshly, requiring him to take the responsibility of remedying with continuous victories, as if it was atonement.

Four

Emotions can blind people, but data doesn't.

During the year when angry people wanted Liu Xiang to "atone for his sins", Liu Xiang still achieved world-class results.

On June 3, 2012, at the IAAF Diamond League, Liu Xiang once again set a world record in the United States, but because of the tailwind, he was only recorded as tying the world record.

Just as the London Olympics are approaching, Liu Xiang has returned to the peak, and has returned to the peak of expectations and public opinion.

Liu Xiang is so fortunate that he has taken advantage of China's economic take-off and media upheaval to become a world-class sports star, gaining fame and fortune;

How unfortunate Liu Xiang was, he fell in the limelight again.

CCTV's commentator Yang Jian choked up and said: "Liu Xiang uses a ...... ended the London game in the most brutal way...... Liu Xiang was like a warrior...... He may know ...... When you can't finish the race...... He flew. ”

With Yang Jian's suppressed crying, Liu Xiang jumped to the last hurdle on one leg and kissed goodbye.

And the Chinese audience, roaring in a wave of loss and crying is a rambling accusation.

Liu Xianghei, both as a leader and as a follower, filtered his achievements, and in fact, the vast majority of people did not understand the weight of his achievements in other international competitions, which in their eyes were only Olympic Games.

What a sad time!

Five

Fast forward to the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Fu Yuanhui of the swimming team became popular all over the country in one day because of a post-game interview, and this emoji girl calmly answered that she had no special thoughts about the finals in the face of an interview with a CCTV reporter, and she was already very satisfied, and public opinion was full of love.

Du Li didn't win the gold medal, Sun Yang didn't win the gold medal, Ning Zetao didn't enter the finals, and the angry crowd seemed to have completely disappeared.

It seems that the whole country has absorbed Liu Xiang's self-confidence at that time, and no longer only focuses on the gold medal, no longer just focuses on success. Everyone calmly celebrated, comforted calmly, and calmly laughed at the beautiful flesh and memes.

This kind of self-confidence is just like Liu Xiang saying to the camera back then: "I'm still young, and there is still time!"

Exactly the same style.

It took only a few decades for China to become the world's second-largest economy, and many believe that it was only a matter of time before China surpassed the United States in all aspects.

There are no longer so many people who demand that an athlete must succeed at some point.

In the 16 Rio Olympics, Sun Yang lost to Horton in the 400-meter freestyle, Sun Yang, who failed to win the gold medal, cried bitterly after the game, and Liu Xiang posted on Weibo "Come on Sun Yang".

But many years ago, because there were too many people who were abusive, Liu Xiang's closed Weibo comments have not been opened.

Six

Some people say that because the main force of netizens who actively speak and comment has become the post-90s.

This is a generation that grew up during the dividend period of China's economic development, has not experienced much poverty and hardship, and has seen a lot since childhood.

The self-confidence brought by the rise of the country is integrated into their bones since childhood.

I am willing to believe such a conclusion, because it moves me.

I'm really touched that they no longer need to rely on a specific role model or a gold medal to motivate themselves, and the country's power, stars, and big events will become what they like: jokes, memes, beautiful bodies, husbands or wives......

Most of the post-80s generation has reached the age of establishment, and most of them have found their own direction in life, shouldered their own responsibilities, and understood the pain of chasing their ideals. Although many people don't say it, they should have reconciled with their past selves in their hearts. Maybe many people owe him a word of sorry, but those who should say sorry to Liu Xiang can't convey it to the past time.

Although there are still a lot of spews with the tide, after all, there are many sincere and unpretentious clear streams, cold currents, and mudslides, and this world seems to have become much more lovely.

At the end of "Fengyun Meeting", Zhang Bin asked Liu Xiang: "I believe that there must be a very instinctive desire in my heart to justify myself, because there were a lot of misunderstandings at that time." Today is a good opportunity, even if it is a word, to defend yourself. ”

Liu Xiang immediately replied seriously: "As an athlete, I have done my best, right." ”

Before the London Olympics, he was injured again, saying: "I know it's broken. If it's broken, it's broken, and if it's broken, you can connect it again, right? But the London Olympics are the only one, because this is history, and I don't want to leave any more regrets. Even if I fall ......" he sighed, "I'm going to fall on the runway!"

After falling on the track, he jumped to the finish line to kiss the hurdle, which was interpreted by many as an act of acting, and he said that it was because he had passed the level in his heart: "I feel like I did my best! I have no regrets! I think I'm great! I think I did it!"

Four sentences, to the point. If it were placed today, maybe the whole screen would be a barrage of recognition.

As an athlete, how many people can be like Liu Xiang, who was sitting on the world record and waving his hands at that time?

In the All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, Barry won the championship with a gliding dunk from the free throw line, becoming the fourth person in history to jump from the free throw line after Dr. J Irving, Flyer Jordan and Batman Pippen. He lifted his coat and the words "Whitemancanalsofly!" were written on his vest.

When you think back to it today, apart from the bitterness of the two Olympic Games, is there no such thing as Liu Xiang said: "Who said that yellow people can't get the top eight in the Olympic Games? I am the Olympic champion!"

"Liu Xiang! Liu Xiang! Liu Xiang won... Liu Xiang!" Many viewers may not understand why those CCTV hosts who have been commenting are so excited.

Those onlookers who can't understand Liu Xiang's greatness, how can they become a hurdle in Liu Xiang's heart?

As he had always done, he easily crossed the hurdle of some of his "own people."

Seven

The author Shen Lei recalled the scene of meeting Liu Xiang for the first time in 2001:

11 years ago on a July afternoon. Together with a Shanghainese-born journalist from Beijing, I went to the Huangsi Training Base of the Beijing Bayi Industrial Brigade to interview the Chinese track and field team training here to prepare for the World Championships in Edmund.

Standing in the shade of the tree, knowing that it was screaming vigorously above my head, the two of us were chatting with the breeze, or the ideal of life, maybe it was simply a girl. A guy who was stretching his muscles interrupted the conversation - "Are you also from Shanghai?" asked the tall and thin man.

"yes. Are you on the track and field team?

"110m hurdles. ”

"What's your name?"

"Liu Xiang. ”

"What about you?"

"Oh yes, go gangster, the coach is not on the team list. ”

"Did you successfully bid for the Olympics a few days ago?"

"I looked at it, and I was excited. You know, it was my birthday. ”

"When the time comes, the Beijing Olympics will see you compete. ”

"That depends on luck. ”

May young people have dreams and always have good luck.

You must know that the sunshine chasing the wind boy back then used to be also an emoji-like existence.