Jiading wins first Olympic medal
Print Edition
GYMNAST Fan Yilin, 17, became the first Jiading resident to win an Olympic medal when the Chinese women’s gymnastics team took bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Fan, who was born in Shanghai, moved to Jiading with her family in 2002. She started her gymnastics training at Hongkou Junior Sports School when she was just 6 years old.
The training was tough but in 2011 Fan became a first-tier athlete. However, the high-intensity training pushed her to the edge of giving up the sport.
“When I went to pick her up from the school. She said that she wanted to give it up as she couldn’t cope with the training,” Fan’s father Fan Bingzhu recalled.
But he added: “I know her well. She would be fine as soon as she got used to the training and the fast pace.”
He turned out to be right. Fan didn’t mention giving up again and quickly adapted to the training which led her to become a member of the national team.
“She has her goals — she aims for medals,” her father said.
In order to help her release stress, he set a family rule — there would be no talk about gymnastics training at home. They normally talk about each other’s hobbies as they share stories and news. With no mention of gymnastics, his daughter could enjoy a relaxed atmosphere at home.
Last year, Fan returned to Shanghai on three occasions but only came home once. “I cooked too many dishes that time. She put on some weight as she returned for training. Her coach didn’t let her come back again,” Fan Bingzhu said.
He thought he was doing the right thing in cooking his daughter’s favorite dishes to make up for the days when she was far from home.
“The coach thinks of her as a gymnast for competitions,” Fan Bingzhu said.
In Rio, Liu’s training paid off with a medal performance.
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