Chapter 13 1. Athens·Dream

The Olympic Games are like a box of chocolate candies, you never know what awaits you until you peel it off.The chocolate candy I got in Athens is unique in the world. That summer, the yearning for the Athens Olympics took over my entire life.However, the story that happened during the two months of preparations made my life turn a corner here. The Olympic training center was chosen in Yiyang, Hunan, where I won the men's singles championship in the City Games the year before.But during the training camp, I was accidentally injured.It was not thought to be a serious injury at the time, but as it turned out, the impact on me was fatal.

In training one day, I accidentally wore out my heel.It's a small thing to say that a piece of skin is worn out, and I didn't pay much attention to it.So later I went to practice in the bunker with my teammates and got infected.When I returned to the dormitory that night and took a shower, I felt a little pain.When I woke up the next day, I saw that my whole heel was swollen so high that I couldn't train at all.The team suggested that I rest for two days.But two days later, the injury did not improve, and there was no sign of swelling.Then I hurried to the hospital to hang the bottle and get anti-inflammatory injections, and I kept hanging the bottle for three days.Counting back and forth, I have stopped training for five days, but I still cannot return to the training ground.That's when I started getting restless.

This is something I have never experienced before, and there is no countermeasure except to be anxious.Even now, I still feel anxious for Lin Dan at that time.But now I know how to deal with it. In the following years, I would often wear my feet during training and competitions, or my thumb would become inflamed, but my doctor and I knew how to deal with it was the safest and most effective way to get me back as soon as possible .But in 2004, none of us experienced it.That's the learning process, and that process comes at a price.Some things just don't take shortcuts. I was young at that time, although the outside world said that I had a sense of domineering, but that kind of domineering is actually very fragile, because I am too young, and it is easy to be disturbed by one person or one thing.

On the eve of returning to Beijing after the closed training camp, a legendary thing happened.Until now, I think this is a myth. At that time, as the last team activity of the training period, our whole team came to Shaoshan Chong, the hometown of Chairman Mao, Xiangtan, Hunan.After visiting Mao Zedong's former residence, the teammates decided to run up the mountain together to worship at the Mao family's ancestral grave on the mountainside.I remember the weather was very hot that day, I think most of them went, it doesn't matter if I'm missing, just hid in the bus with a few other teammates and played poker.When the big troops come back, before leaving, all the staff, coaches and athletes will take a group photo in the square.I remember very clearly that the photographer kept telling us to look up at the camera.But it was so hot, and the sun was so dazzling that I couldn't open my eyes at all.I was very impatient at that time, and jokingly turned my head to the bronze statue of Chairman Mao next to me and said, "Chairman, are you hot?" If it were me now, I would definitely not make such a naive move.As a result, I don't know if it was because of this disrespectful behavior, I was eliminated in the first round in Athens.

Looking back now, I was really young and energetic at the time, and my mentality was relatively impetuous, as if nothing mattered, but in fact it was naive.So after the 2004 Olympic Games, I told my friends that I made a joke with Chairman Mao before, and Chairman Mao made a joke with me after arriving in Athens. The most amazing thing about the whole thing was that some of the teammates who went up the mountain to pay homage offered toasts, and some toasted cigarettes. Only Zhang Ning was the most special—she lit three cigarettes.As a result, many people worshiped together, but only Zhang Ning finally won the Olympic champion.I also heard that before the 2000 Sydney Olympics, before the match against Waldner, Kong Linghui also pinned a Chairman Mao badge on the inside of his clothes, and finally Kong Linghui achieved the Grand Slam.

Speaking of this "myth" is not because of superstition.But I later felt that maybe this shows that people must always be in awe, so as not to be too exaggerated, and to be down-to-earth and steady step by step.Of course, you will also find that Lin Dan was not immodest at that time, but the position of "No. 1 in the world" held him too high, and he was not down-to-earth.At that time, Lin Dan was like a balloon, running away when the wind blew, and his hands would break at the slightest touch, as if he was about to explode at any time. But back then, I didn't realize this.We left Yiyang and planned to return to Beijing to make final preparations.On the day of leaving, the local citizens and fans in Yiyang spontaneously organized a waist drum team to send off on both sides of the road.The scene of beating gongs and drums really made me feel tragic.Everyone regards me as the number one favorite for the Olympic badminton men's singles championship, which is also my own goal.

Among the team, Bao Chunlai, Gong Ruina, and Zheng Bo, who are about to participate in the Athens Olympics, are all Hunan natives.Everyone was looking forward to that summer.I remember that before the expedition, Gong Ruina's family specially sent her a pair of gold earrings in the shape of badminton, just to win a good fortune.Later, some media said that I even prepared a military cap in the suitcase, just waiting to win the championship, not only to salute the military, but also to wear a military cap.I need to clarify this, there is absolutely no such thing.I don't know how this rumor got started, although I was young at the time, I wouldn't be that stupid.

After arriving in Athens, I found that the conditions in all aspects were average-the diet was not particularly ideal, and the competition venue was quite far away.Slowly, I started to feel a little nervous. I've found that I know I'm getting nervous when I really want to do something, like sleep better or eat better.Because I want to be safe, I will care a lot at this time. When the draw came out, I played against Ronald Susilo from Singapore in the first round. I felt that the first game was not easy.I know this opponent is tough.Because at the All England Open at the beginning of the year, I had just won him in the semi-finals.Although the score was 2-0, I knew he was not easy to deal with.

The Susilo player is not as vulnerable as everyone thinks.Susilo is a Chinese player born in Indonesia. Although he is not very famous, his ball is not bad.Because of this, I didn't adjust my mentality at the time, and I was stuck in a state of no top or bottom. I just thought that although he was not easy to play, it should be no problem to win. Because I was worried about this and that, and I didn't have a proper positioning for myself. After the first game, I felt that I couldn't release it.On the contrary, my opponent's shots and state are very good.After playing a few points, I realized that this game will be very difficult for me.

I lost the first game.At that time, I was a little confused and a little overwhelmed. I just thought "let me hit the ball first", without any purpose.During the intermission, I also forgot what the coach said to me. I just remember that coach Li Yongbo always told me to attack.But I found that in the process of execution, the offensive effect is not particularly good.My opponent was too well prepared, and facing the so-called number one in the world, the opponent's mentality has always been against me, which caused my offensive line to be not particularly good, and the success rate was not high at all.The offense can't score, and the first game has already been lost, and soon the score has been falling behind, always falling behind.

0 to 2, the world's number one out in the first round.The moment the game ended, I couldn't react at all.This is the end?It's over?After the fight, I texted Xie Xingfang saying "I lost", but she didn't believe it at all. After the game, the coach just said that this is the price paid for youth.In fact, I think that Athens' setbacks cannot be simply taken away with the "price" of "youngness".I never admit that Lin Dan did not perform well in the 2004 Olympics.In fact, I also played very hard, but my opponent played better than me.Competitive sports are like that, you have to stabilize yourself at a high level or you lose. This is not the so-called cost, but just a return to the sport itself.It's not because I don't pay attention to this game that I have "non-combat attrition", nor is it because I didn't handle some life things well, which led to the final loss of the game.It's just that Ronald played better that day, that's all. After losing the ball and returning to the room in the Olympic Village, Xiao Bao and the others knew that I had lost.He also had a match that day and had advanced to the next round.So, he comforted me and said, "It's okay," and then rested, because he had a game the next day. After taking a shower, I lay on the bed. In order not to affect Xiaobao’s rest, I began to hide under the covers and reply text messages to all my friends.Because it was the first round of the game that day, there was no live TV broadcast.Everyone didn't believe it at first, and then they all came to comfort me, hoping that I was okay.I tell them all, I'm fine, nothing. That's what I said, but I must feel uncomfortable.The text messages were sent like this, and they were sent all night. In my impression, the sky in Athens was slowly getting brighter, and I really stayed up all night. When I woke up in the morning and a new day came, I realized that your Olympic journey was over last night! But I can't help feeling sorry for myself and looking at myself.Because my teammates still have games to continue, I have to help them cheer, help them collect opponent information, record game videos, and help them with logistics services.As long as they need any help, you have to rush there as soon as possible.A lot of trivial things, so you can't escape the game.You have to continue to face, this is the most painful, more painful than losing. Thinking of the next few days, how am I going to get through it?I called Director Gao of our Bayi team, and I said, "Is there any way you can get me back first? I don't want to stay in this place." At that time, I had only one thought left. I understand that the whole delegation is going to act collectively and that I'm just fantasizing about it, but there's nothing else I can do.On the other end of the phone, Director Gao calmly enlightened me. He said that the current situation is actually a kind of training for me. "That's right, there are many places you don't want to face, see, and return to, such as seeing your opponent and returning to the familiar field. But the more this , the greater the value of your exercise. Moreover, you have to show a good posture and actively cheer for your companions." I listened to what he said. So, I stayed in Athens for nearly three weeks.Because we arrived four days in advance, after the competition, we planned to return to China immediately, but at this time, Director Li (Li Yongbo)'s wife Xie Ying also brought the rhythmic gymnastics team to Athens, and their competition began .Later, Director Li decided to leave together after the game.So, after the badminton tournament, I stayed in Athens for another week.Every day is tormented, very difficult. Looking back later, I was a bit conservative in training before the Olympics, focusing only on quality, blindly pursuing "fineness", and ignoring other necessary training.Unlike before Tangbei, I wanted to practice everything and improve everything.For example, I used to run four sets of running in training, but I only ran two sets in Yiyang. I used to take the initiative to run stairs after training every Saturday, but I didn’t in Yiyang.It doesn't mean that I can win the Olympic Games if I run two more sets and climb a few more stairs.It’s just that after I demanded too much detail in the training and kept improving, my whole body was not relaxed enough, and instead deviated from the normal training track. In Athens, I witnessed the process of Taufik going from 8 into 4, 4 into 2 and finally winning the championship. After the 2004 Athens Olympics, Taufik was the Olympic champion and I was the world number one.In the 4 years since then, the story between me and him no longer only happened on the field, and any trivial details between the two of us will become the talk of the media and fans.

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