I have loved swimming since I was a child, and I happened to be exposed to freediving, but I didn t

List of high-quality authors

This is the 3,280th real story we have told

My name is Zhang Yi and I am a world champion in freediving and a holder in Asia.

In June 2021, the official account of the Water Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sports of China released a news that the list of members of the first team of freediving national teams was announced.

Because I love freediving, I opened it and looked at it, and who knew that I would see my name. At that time, I was very shocked and a little in a trance, after all, I was not a professional athlete, just a real estate practitioner.

How did a real estate practitioner become a national member of the sports team and represent the country?

Won the first gold medal in the history of the China Freediving (Indoor) World Championships).

In June 1991, I was born in Xiashan, Zhanjiang, Guangdong.

As a child, I grew up in the army academy, which was a spacious and vibrant place. There are pigsties, fish ponds, vegetable fields, chicken farms, woods, and an ice skating rink in the compound, which is the paradise of my friends and me.

In the compound, I was a free "wild child", stealing vegetables from the vegetable field to feed the pigs, lighting a fire in the woods, roasting grasshoppers caught in the grass and sweet potatoes dug up in the field, running around with bullet guns to chase the neighbors' chickens, and using firecrackers to blow up everything that could be fried, especially like to go to the pond to fish. The world is so interesting, I can't seem to run out of energy.

At home, my father is a strict father and my mother is a loving mother. I will always get into some trouble when I am naughty, and I will inevitably get a fat beating from my father, and my mother will admonish me on the side, and then tell me with a smile that it is wrong.

and the world record holder for finless diving).

Even when I was beaten, I still enjoyed it, and I boasted that I would never be beaten. If most people are bitten by snakes for ten years and are afraid of well ropes, but I am the kind of person who is bitten by snakes and teases snakes every day.

In order to consume my excess energy, my mother enrolled me in a lot of interest classes, such as painting, swimming, and violin, etc., and in addition to classes during the day, the time on weekends and evenings was filled up during the week.

Among them, I enjoyed swimming the most, probably thanks to my dad throwing me into the sea at a very young age, and later on the experience of fishing.

While other children were still slowly learning, I had already demonstrated to them, and I was selected to join the school swimming team in the first grade of primary school.

Every year, I have won first place in the district's primary and secondary school swimming competitions, individual and team events, and I have also broken district records in freestyle and backstroke. It was this valuable experience that gave me a better sense of water than most people.

In 2019, he won the gold medal at the first national championship in Yantai).

After graduating from Qingdao University in 2014, I joined a leading real estate company. This is the transformation of China's real estate industry from the first era to the bronze black iron age, the high work intensity of over 996, and the increasingly extreme per capita efficiency requirements, so that every real estate person is under great pressure, and I feel tired.

However, every time I stepped into the pool, all the worries and stress seemed to melt away. The cool touch and the rustle of water in my ears made me feel like I was in another world, and I was no longer the office worker bound by KPIs, but a free fish.

I love the feeling of being in and out of the water, and every stroke makes me feel free and happy. I can stretch my body to my heart's content and feel the softness and strength of the water.

Soaking in water has become an integral part of my life. Almost every weekend, I would come to the pool and enjoy a moment of peace and quiet, floating quietly in the water, clearing my mind, and also swimming with my friends, competing and encouraging each other.

The moment the game was successfully out of the water).

In 2018, I saw my colleague diving abroad to shoot the sea**, beautiful coral reefs and colorful fish and shrimp dancing in the blue water, like a gorgeous and colorful picture, it was so fascinating.

I've always had a keen interest in the sea and all kinds of creatures. Having raised corals and marine fish at home for several years, observing their habits every day made me yearn to experience the wonders of the underwater world firsthand.

When I saw the ** shared by my colleagues, I felt a strong desire in my heart, and I decided to get a scuba diving certificate and step into that mysterious underwater world for myself.

When I went to the swimming pool with my friends to learn about diving, I was attracted by a girl wearing long fins in the pool. She didn't wear any breathing gear, and a fierce man swam a long way.

I immediately asked my friend, who told me it was freediving, a sport that requires you to hold your breath and rely entirely on your abilities. As someone who has loved sports since childhood, I immediately became interested in freediving.

After winning the World Championships in South Korea, he took a photo with the referee reporter).

At dinner, my friend introduced me to a few friends who were very good at freediving. I was amazed that one of the boys was able to swim more than 60 meters in one breath without fins in a 50-meter pool. At that time, he never imagined that he would surpass him by a large margin in the future, and even break the Asian record.

Next, I quickly searched the internet for everything I could learn about freediving, taught myself breathing and apnea techniques, and tried it out when it was safe to do it on land.

Soon, I was able to dive 75 meters in one sitting, without fins, to my friend's amazement. In February 2020, I obtained my Junior Freediving certification. Since then, my passion for freediving has been unstoppable.

Participate in brand activities and take a group photo with the goddess Liu Shishi).

Not all of us are talented, not all of us were born in Rome, but if you work hard, you will get the results you want, and that's what I have when it comes to freediving.

When my mom knew I was diving, she wasn't supportive at first. She thought it was dangerous and was worried that I would get hurt or have an accident.

I patiently explained to my mom that any exercise has its dangers, and as long as we follow the safety guidelines, any exercise can be safe, and finally under the influence of my explanation and enthusiasm, my family began to support me.

Although "my debut is the peak", my freediving journey was actually not smooth.

Freediving is a sport that cannot be done alone, and requires the "buddy principle, never dive alone", but freediving is a niche sport, and it is very difficult to find a buddy (certified freediver).

I finally found some dive partners, but because my training time is extremely unfixed, I basically can't make an appointment with a dive partner for temporary training.

In addition, swimming pools focus on the experience of most swimmers, generally refuse divers to dive, and some swimmers do not welcome divers to share the swimming lane with them, so finding a suitable venue can be difficult.

Group photo with the national flag at the World Championships in South Korea).

In order to train as much as possible, I would choose to pay a little extra for the night - driving to more remote pools, places convenient for dive buddies, and a little more - driving through tunnels or highways, tickets to dive buddies, supper, etc., and of course it was because of these choices and persistence that I was able to get excellent results.

After overcoming these difficulties, there is one biggest obstacle waiting for me, and that is the mentality of the game. The biggest difference between freediving and all other sports is that all other sports need to be "excited", and the more excited you are, the more you can stimulate your adrenaline and burst into better results.

Freediving, on the other hand, requires "calmness", only the calmer the brain, the slower the heart rate, and the more oxygen can be saved, so as to prolong the breath-holding time underwater.

But it was precisely because of my love and courage to challenge myself that I had a hard time in the first game.

In 2019, when Chengdu first freediving pool city league, the dynamic finless national record at that time was 127 meters, and I swam 129 meters.

Share your experience with freestyle enthusiasts in Australia).

It's a pity that because he miscalculated the upper limit of his level, the final result was invalid and he returned disappointed.

When competing, excellent ability is one thing, but what really determines whether you can play your results is a stable mentality, clear cognition and self-judgment.

Nelson Mandela once said, "The most glorious thing in life is not the absence of failure, but the courage to stand up after every failure." ”

In the year after that defeat, I experienced 4 more ineffective races in a row, but I was not discouraged, but consciously adjusted myself and started to train more professionally with a more scientific method and a more targeted manner.

At that time, I also met the noble man in my life, whose rich teaching experience and excellent theoretical knowledge helped me quickly get out of that downturn and move to new heights.

During this time, I signed an athlete contract with his freediving club, and officially started the transformation of my identity.

With the rapid development of freediving in China, in September 2019, the General Administration of Sports of China held the first National Freediving Indoor Championships (CMAS) in Yantai, and I won the men's overall championship and the silver medal in three individual events. Since then, I have been actively participating in the national races every year, and I have been setting new results and national records.

The first gold medal in the history of the World Swimming Championships in China).

Unexpectedly, in June 2021, an announcement changed my fate.

On that day, I was shocked to see that I had been selected as the first member of the freediving national team on the official account of the Water Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sports of China.

At first I felt a bit trance-like and unreal. How did I, a real estate practitioner, become a national sports player and represent the country?

At that time, I was in a constant state of self-doubt, worrying about whether I would be able to find time to continue training because I had already used all the time I could to train.

Facts have proved that there must be a road before the car reaches the mountain, and as long as you dare to think and do, you will definitely be able to make new breakthroughs.

After entering the national team, I began to train more intensively, and after three months, my dynamic finless score had reached 210 meters and the finned score had reached more than 250 meters, both of which ranked in the top 15 in the history of the freediving world rankings, and the double fins were ranked second in the world that year.

Soon the opportunity came, the 2021 World Championships (CMAS) were held in Serbia, and I thought I could show my results, but it turned out to be a pity.

Zhanjiang Evening News interview after winning the championship).

Because of the epidemic, it takes a month to go back and forth, quarantine and the competition, and it is really impossible to take such a long vacation on the job, so I didn't make it.

However, in that year's freediving (pool) championship, I won the Dynamic Fin (DNF) Championship and set a new national record for Dynamic Fin and Dynamic Double Fin Championship.

In June 2023, at the 30th AIDA Freediving World Championships held in Jeju Island, South Korea, I represented the Chinese team for the first time on the first event dynamic double fin.

I was under a lot of pressure because China had not yet won a bronze medal or higher in this event.

But I kept telling myself to be calm and focused, and in the end I withstood the pressure and won the gold medal in the event with a time of 267m, setting a personal bestIt broke the Asian record in this event and won the first world-class gold medal for the country, rewriting history.

After winning the championship, a number of ** reported on me.

I am very proud to be able to win glory for my country, but I also encourage myself not to be proud, but to be calm and continue to work hard in freediving.

In 2023, he won the championship in the full freediving championship).

In 2023, I traveled to 4 countries and 36 cities, diving into the sea in three cities in Australia and dancing with "mermaids"; Soared into the blue sky in Bali; Share my freediving experience in Australia.

This year, I only participated in two competitions, but I won a precious gold medal that made the history of freediving in China, and once again broke an Asian record and a national record.

For the first time, the freediving pool is part of the World Games, which is also a quadrennial sporting event.

The World Games will be held in the year after the Olympic Games, and in 2025 it will be hosted by my country, in Chengdu, Sichuan, which is also the first time that my country will host it, and this will be where my dream begins.

Now, I have left the real estate industry where I have worked for nearly 10 years, and I am fully preparing for the 2024 and 2025 competitions, hoping that I can achieve better results and win glory for my country.

At the same time, I also hope that one day freediving can enter everyone's life like swimming, and be loved and paid attention to by everyone.

Dictation: Zhang Yi].

Editor: Xiao Wang].

We can't experience different lives, but we can feel different life trajectories here, every ** here is a bit of life, every story is a real life, if you also like it, please click to follow!