Dauntless before Foreign Rivals, Xu Haifeng won the Gold Medal for Marksmanship
The 23rd Olympics was inaugurated at the beautiful seaside city Los Angeles on July 28th, 1984. The 6,797 athletes, who came from 140 countries and regions of the world, were assembled in this metropolis, which flaunts a plenitude of charming scenery and combines in itself both prosperity and tranquility, to unfold a contest in skills and techniques at the same place.
At the Memorial Stadium of Los Angeles, the Chinese Delegation for full participation for the first time in the Olympic Games marched in slowly. The delegates, more than 300 in number, holding high the bright-colored Five-Star Red Flag and in brisk and vigorous steps, merged into the ocean of people at the opening ceremony of the 23rd Olympic Games to celebrate joyfully with people from different places of the world, of different colors of skin and of different ethnic origins the grand ceremony of the inauguration of the Olympics. At that moment, all sorts of feelings welled up in one¡¯s mind. One couldn¡¯t help looking back to the year 1932, when in the same city of Los Angeles and at the same site of contest, Liu Changchun, in his capacity as the sole participant in the Olympic Games representing China, was tragically eliminated at the very time when he was taking part in the preliminary race. Thereafter, in the course of as long as half a century, the Chinese nation bore on its back the heavy burden of ¡°0¡± in the number of gold medals won at the Olympic Games. But that was also a period in the history of China in which glory and shame were interwoven. More importantly, that was a period in the history of China which gave evidence of the rejuvenation of the nation. Now, once again, the Chinese people were standing at the site of contest of the Olympic Games. For this time, China had sent hither a large delegation, in full battle array, composed of 225 athletes and 50 coaches to participate in 16 events including basketball, volleyball, handball, track and field events, gymnastics, and swimming.
The strong, agile athletes of China lived up to the trust and expectations of the people. On the first day of competition, July 29, in the men¡¯s individual event of free pistol slow shooting match, Xu Haifeng defeated all other shooters and, with his score of 566 points in marksmanship, won the gold medal for men¡¯s 60-bullet pistol slow shooting, thus accomplishing the breakthrough of 0 in the number of gold medals won by the Chinese nation at the Olympic Games. The charisma of China as a great athletic power was revealed in full to the view of people of the whole world.
Now, let¡¯s take a closer look at the champion. Xu Haifeng came from a poor family in the countryside. When he was a child, his ideal was to become a soldier, because a soldier has the opportunity of handling guns. Like many other boys, the toy he liked most was his slingshot, which he carried with him everywhere and was polished by him so diligently as to become lustrous. Perhaps this was the starting-point of his shooting career. In 1982, the Anhui Province staged its 5th sports meet, at which Xu Haifeng not only won the championship in the shooting contest but also raised the provincial record by 26 points. Thenceforth, he began to engage in shooting in earnest as the life long occupation of his. He was soon chosen by the national team because of his outstanding accomplishments. He subjected himself to exceedingly arduous training at the National Shooting Gallery in the Western District of Beijing. With painstaking efforts and by the sweat of diligence he paved solidly his way to the platform for awarding prizes at the Olympics. On July 29, 1984, at midday, the Olympic gold medal, which the Chinese people had looked forward to for half a century, was finally hung on the chest of a sportsman who came from the People¡¯s Republic of China.
When this news reached Beijing, people swarmed into streets, transported with joy. Their dream had come true at last.
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