Why did the China flag bearer choose him for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games？
Liu Peng, head of the China delegation of the Rio Olympic Games, announced at the flag-raising ceremony of the China delegation on the 3rd that Lei Sheng, the Olympic champion of men’s foil, would be the flag-bearer of the China delegation at the opening ceremony, which broke the 32-year "monopoly" of men’s basketball players on this glorious task. Lei Sheng was also the first Olympic champion to be a flag bearer.
△ thunder
Thunder: the flag bearer has more responsibility. The main energy of the competition will be on team events.
As a flag bearer, Lei Sheng said: "Being the flag bearer of the Olympic delegation is not only an honor, but also a heavier responsibility." The responsibility mentioned by thunder is the heavy responsibility of hitting the peak of the Olympic Games again. Thunder will continue to participate in individual and group projects in Rio. He said: "Although the individual event is defending the title, I will focus on the team event. It is an encounter against the first opponent, France, and I will go all out with my teammates. "
Head of the China delegation: Lei Sheng struggled tenaciously and never gave up after failure.
Liu Peng, head of the China delegation, said that Lei Sheng embodies the Chinese sports spirit of tenacious struggle and winning glory for the country. His struggle for the Olympic champion was not easy, but when he failed, he never gave up, determined to raise the national flag and play the national anthem in the Olympic Games, and serve the country and the nation. Lei Sheng is the representative of outstanding young people in China, so he was chosen as the standard bearer.
△ Liu Peng, head of the China delegation
The China fencing team is proud that Lei Sheng can win this honor this time. Ye Chong, head coach of men’s foil, said: "Not only for himself, but also for China fencing, he is very proud and happy. I hope he can win the flag as a flag bearer and achieve a good result for the men’s fencing team."
Why thunder? Excellent conditions! Incheon Asian Games was a flag bearer.
Born in 1984, Lei Sheng is 1.93 meters tall, with a sunny and handsome image. He was the flag bearer of the China delegation at the Incheon Asian Games in 2014. As a fencer, Lei Sheng has an outstanding record: he won the individual men’s foil championship in London Olympic Games, and cooperated with his teammates to help China win the men’s foil team championship in the World Championships.
△ In 2014 Incheon Asian Games, Lei Sheng served as the standard bearer (pictured from CFP)
Lei Sheng is a pioneer athlete in the sports transformation period in China.
Previous speculations about the standard-bearer included the names of some famous sports players in China: besides basketball player Yi Jianlian, there were swimmers Sun Yang, Ning Zetao and diver Wu Minxia. However, these athletes were not selected because the influence of the project may be limited in the world, or because they will compete soon.
Fencing is not a popular sport in China in terms of its influence and attention, but Thunder has its own unique advantages: firstly, Thunder is a pioneer athlete in the transition period of sports in China, and the way for China Sports to train athletes for a long time is to enter professional teams from childhood, then fight step by step, and finally become a national team player to win glory for the country. However, this training mode has been greatly impacted in the new period, and the mode of training while going to school, such as Thunder, may be a trend of sports talents training in China.
More importantly, Thunder’s success in the London Olympic Games four years ago indicates that this road can be completely copied by other athletes. In fact, many athletes have taken this road in the past four years, such as Olympic gold medalist Sun Yujie, female epee player and shooting Olympic champion Yi Siling.
The selection and transformation of standard-bearers has long shown signs of promoting the development of unpopular projects.
If we carefully comb the selection of standard-bearers in China Sports, we will find that the thunder is not untraceable. In the past few years, the flag-bearer selected by China Sports in some important events has been inclined and focused on more fields. For example, in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, Jin Ziwei, an unpopular event and rower, was selected. Another example is that the flag bearer at the closing ceremony of the London Olympic Games four years ago was windsurfer Xu Lijia.
△ Closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games: Xu Lijia served as the flag bearer of the China delegation (pictured from CFP).
Focusing on more fields in the selection of standard bearers will inevitably push these not-so-popular projects forward. At the same time, this flag bearer honor is also the greatest affirmation and praise for athletes in these fields. Although they can’t live under the spotlight every year, they are also outstanding in their respective fields. They are all sports elites in China, and they have well interpreted the Olympic spirit. They deserve to be known and remembered by more people.
In fact, if we look at some Olympic flag-bearers in other countries, we may feel more about this: Brazil, the host country, is the female modern pentathlon athlete Marquez, who only won a bronze medal in the London Olympics four years ago.
China flag bearer at the opening ceremony of previous Olympic Games.
△ The above information comes from CCTV News and CFP.
Message collection: cheers for Olympic athletes
At 7: 00 am Beijing time on the 6th, the Rio Olympic Games opened, and the China Legion was about to make its debut. This year, Lei Sheng, the Olympic champion of men’s foil, served as the flag bearer of the China delegation. CCTV News Channel was explained by Bai Yansong throughout the opening ceremony. What expectations and entrustment do you have for the China Legion’s expedition to Rio? Comments tell us that your message may appear in CCTV news channel Olympic report! Let’s cheer for the Olympic athletes!