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Zhong still man of the moment
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-07 13:16 Almost a year after winning China's historic first men's fencing Olympic title, Zhong Man is amazed at how popular he remains in the country.
Commercials, lectures, media exposure, signing autographs the 26-year-old is still pursued everywhere despite the fact that fencing's following in the nation remains small. This was not the life he expected before the night of August 13, 2008 when he upset France's Nicolas Lopez in the men's saber final at the Beijing Games. "It is a huge change, definitely," Zhong told China Daily in an exclusive interview while attending a gym course co-organized by Hollywood kungfu star Jet Li and adidas on Wednesday. "I never expected I could have such a life like now, you know, a life full of admiration and sudden awards from everywhere.
Olympic fencing champion Zhong Man practices "Wu Ji", a gym course composed by Hollywood star Jet Li and adidas on Wednesday. Xiao Fang He had good reason to be unprepared. Before that fateful night at the National Convention Center, he was virtually unknown here. Among China's mammoth 639-member Olympic contingent, he went largely unnoticed. Even in the fencing team, the majority of the public's attention went to his teammate Wang Jingzhi, a potential medalist and boyfriend of 2004 Olympic silver medalist Tan Xue. But after Wang fell in the early rounds, Zhong stood tall and bravely gave China its second Olympic fencing champion after 24 years. Then, everything changed. Now he is sitting next to Li, whom he has admired since childhood, learning a gym course named "Wu Ji", an exercise composed by Li that combines martial arts, yoga, pilates and meditation. This is just one of the numerous social and commercial activities he has been invited to appear at since the Beijing Games. While some warn too many off-field activities could be a distraction and jeopardize his performance on the strip, Zhong believes he will be alright as long as he doesn't have to alter his five-day, six-hour weekly training schedule. "I would rather regard them (the activities) as relaxation," he said. "It depends on your attitude and approach. If you know exactly what you want, you won't be bothered. 'By the way, it feels so great to have a break from fencing and meet people. Those experiences are useful and give you another eye in life." They have also borne some fruit as he has discovered the 'Wu Ji' program could provide an excellent warm-up to his daily training. "Actually, I am going to introduce the program to the team," he said. Zhong is grateful for his life-changing Olympic victory, particularly as the one-year anniversary of Beijing Olympics nears on Saturday. And that's why he loves to review the winning moment on video again and again when nobody is around. "I am excited to have so many life experiences thanks to that victory." The strapping lad is now established as one of the best saber fencers with a No 5 world ranking. He has maintained his form since the Games and anchored China to win the men's saber team title at the World University Games in Croatia last month - although he was stopped by teammate Wang in the semifinals of the individual competition. "The (Beijing) victory gives me a lot of confidence and I believe I am a much better fencer now but there is still a long way to go," he said. And he wants more than that. His victory not only caused a stir in China but also helped to popularize the originally European sport in the most populous nation. Beijing is a good example of its growing popularity as more than ten fencing clubs have been set up since last August. "I am glad I can bring a change to the sport. Many of my friends and relatives said to me that they want their kids to learn fencing. That gives a lot of hope to the sport." Zhong is now preparing for China's National Games in October where he will compete for his home team, Jiangsu. |
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