When Xu Shixiao went to work as usual in a furniture company in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, five years ago, she was surprised to get a call from her former coach, inquiring about her willingness to return to canoeing and compete in the Tokyo Olympic Games. Xu quickly made her decision.
五年前，在江西南昌一家家具公司工作的徐詩曉，像往常一樣上班時意外接到了前教練的電話，詢問她是否有意愿重返皮劃艇賽場，參加東京奧運會。很快，徐詩曉就做出了決定。

"I quit my job as a human resources manager, informed my family and went back to training three days later. There was not much time left for me to prepare for the Olympics," Xu recalls.
她回憶說：“我辭掉人事經(jīng)理的工作，告訴了家人我的決定，在三天后就開始重新訓練。留給我備戰(zhàn)奧運的時間不多了?！?/p>

On Aug 7, Xu and her partner, Sun Mengya, won gold in the first women's canoe double 500m event at the Tokyo Games. It was also the first Olympic gold medal for China in the event.
8月7日，徐詩曉和搭檔孫夢雅獲得東京奧運會女子500米雙人劃艇金牌，這也是中國首次在該項目上獲得奧運金牌。

Yet Xu's journey to the Olympics was bumpy－she faced lots of difficulties, such as her physical condition after years of retirement and her parents' opposition because they thought it was time for her to get married.
徐詩曉的奧運之路并非一帆風順，而是困難重重：退役多年，她的身體狀況不及從前；因為覺得她到了結(jié)婚的年齡了，父母也不支持她重返賽場。

"It was really a hard decision for me to go back to being an athlete after four years of retirement," says Xu.
徐詩曉說：“退役四年后再恢復(fù)運動員的身份對我來說是蠻難的?！?/p>

"I didn't want to regret not competing for a gold medal. I desired to be a champion. I had nothing to lose even if I failed."
“我不想因為放棄爭奪奧運金牌而后悔。我想當冠軍。就算失敗了，我也沒什么可失去的。”

To catch the opportunity to go back to canoeing on the international level, Xu started her training－"as cruel as hell". She began her daily exercises early morning and ended at 10:30 pm.
為了抓住在國際賽場上競技劃艇的機會，徐詩曉開始了地獄般的訓練。她一大早就開始日常訓練，一直練到晚上十點半。

Every day, she would set several detailed goals for her training, such as how high the heart rate should be when paddling a canoe and how long it should take her for 500-meter paddling.
每天，她都會設(shè)定一些具體的訓練目標，比如劃槳的時候心率要控制在多高、劃艇500米要在多長時間以內(nèi)等等。

"Only when I reached all my daily goals, I would go ashore," Xu says.
徐詩曉說：“每天只有達到設(shè)定的目標后，我才會上岸。”

It was a hot July in 2017 in Nanchang, where temperatures can reach 40 C in summer. Xu exposed herself to the scorching sun for hours every day, kneeling on her canoe. Her skin was sunburned. Blisters formed, crusted over, healed and broke out again. But her daily regimen was hardly affected.
2017年7月，南昌天氣炎熱，溫度直逼40℃。徐詩曉跪在皮劃艇上，每天在大太陽下一練就是好幾個小時。皮膚都被曬傷了，手上也起了水泡，結(jié)成皮痂，好了又破，反反復(fù)復(fù)。但她依舊每天都在堅持。

"At the beginning, it really hurt. When the pain reached a peak, I couldn't feel my arms and finally became numb," she adds.
“最開始的時候，真的很疼。最疼的時候，我都感覺不到胳膊的存在了，最后就麻木了?！?/p>

The more than two months of grueling training finally paid off. Xu won two gold medals at the 13th National Games in two women's canoe events, which meant she would be part of the national team to compete in the Canoe Sprint World Championships by the International Canoe Federation－for qualification to the Tokyo Olympic Games.
超兩個多月的魔鬼訓練終究換來了回報。在第十三屆全國運動會上，徐詩曉奪得兩枚女子劃艇金牌，并由此成功入選國家隊，代表中國參加國際皮劃艇聯(lián)合會舉辦的世界皮劃艇錦標賽， 爭奪2020東京奧運會入場券。

Xu's coach, Peng Hao, says Xu is an excellent athlete.
徐詩曉的教練彭浩說徐詩曉是一名杰出的運動員。

"She made all efforts to reach the goal and never gave up. She has a strong heart to face high pressure," says Peng.
彭教練說：“為達到目標，她付出了所有努力，從來不說放棄。她有一顆強心臟來抵御高壓。”

Xu was born in a small county in a mountainous area in Jiangxi. Her mother farmed at home while her father worked in a factory. She started to help her mother do farm work and housework when she was a little girl.
徐詩曉出生在江西山區(qū)的一個小縣城。她的媽媽在家務(wù)農(nóng)，爸爸在工廠上班。很小的時候，她就開始幫媽媽干農(nóng)活、做家務(wù)。

Before becoming a paddler, Xu couldn't even swim since her hometown is surrounded by mountains.
依山長大，徐詩曉在成為皮劃艇運動員之前，甚至連游泳都不會。

In 2005, the 13-year-old, who was much taller than her peers, attracted the attention of a rowing coach who came to look for potential paddlers in her school.
2005年，一位劃艇教練來到徐詩曉的學校，想發(fā)掘一些皮劃艇運動員苗子。徐詩曉當時13歲，比同齡孩子都要高，吸引了這位教練的注意。

Xu agreed to train at a rowing center because she thought rowing a boat was fun.
因為覺得劃船有意思，徐詩曉便同意開始在一個皮劃艇中心接受訓練。

Unlike rowing in which the athlete sits on a boat and rows on two sides, canoeing requires paddlers to kneel on one leg and paddle on a single side. To stay balanced is quite difficult.
在一般劃船運動中，運動員坐在船上、兩邊劃槳。與此不同，劃艇運動要求運動員一條腿半跪，手持漿在一側(cè)劃水。保持平衡非常難。

"Every day my canoe turned over dozens of times. I drank lots of water in rivers," recalls Xu of her first canoeing training.
回憶起第一次訓練，徐詩曉說：“我的艇每天都要翻十幾次，我嗆了好多水。”

Xu kept training for a year and she made the final of a national race for teenage athletes out of a dozen paddlers at the center. The training involved to get this far bordered on torture.
經(jīng)過一年多的訓練，徐詩曉從中心一眾劃艇運動員中脫穎而出，進入到了一場國家級青年運動員比賽的決賽中。走到這一步，她已身經(jīng)百煉。

In 2013, the news that women's canoeing was still not an Olympic event dealt her a heavy blow. No Games, no competitions. Xu's coach suggested her to either change to another sport or to retire.
2013年，女子皮劃艇仍未列入奧運比賽項目，這給了徐詩曉一記重擊。沒有奧運會，沒有比賽。徐詩曉的教練建議她要么換個項目，要么就退役。

It was impossible for her to change the sport at age 21. Xu gave up her career and found her first job as a saleswoman in a furniture company. The next year, she was promoted as a human resources manager.
對彼時已經(jīng)21歲徐詩曉來說，換項目是不可能的。于是，她選擇退役，并開始了自己的第一份工作，在家具公司做銷售。次年，她被提拔為人事經(jīng)理。

"I never thought that one day I could go back to the sport. Now that I have started again, I will do my best," says Xu.
徐詩曉說：“我從來沒想過有一天能重回這項運動。既然我重新開始了，我就會盡最大努力。”

She adds that her former boss even kept her position for several months in case she returned.
徐詩曉透露說，她的前老板在她辭職后，還為她保留了幾個月的職位，想著萬一她還要回公司。

In 2018, she won the 500m women's single event at the Canoe Slalom World Cup in Hungary. In 2019, she partnered with Sun, then 18, to get their ticket for the Tokyo Olympics by winning gold at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships.
2018年，皮劃艇世界杯匈牙利站，徐詩曉獲得500米女子單人劃艇冠軍。2019年，徐詩曉與當時僅18歲的孫夢雅搭檔，向世界皮劃艇錦標賽金牌發(fā)起沖擊，爭奪東京奧運會入場券。

Compared with athletes who are in their early 20s, Xu's physical recovery is slower. But the career expectancy for athletes has got longer.
和那些20歲出頭的運動員相比，徐詩曉的身體恢復(fù)起來沒那么快。但在這個時代，運動員們的職業(yè)生涯有所延伸。

"Age is not a problem anymore for an athlete in the era of technology," says Xu.
徐詩曉說：“在科技時代，年齡對運動員來說不再是什么問題了?！?/p>

The Olympic medalist will participate in competitions at home and abroad this year. She is also looking forward to taking part in the Paris Olympics in 2024.
今年，徐詩曉還將參加國內(nèi)外多項賽事，她本人也期待在巴黎奧運會上一展風采。

編輯：李金昳 周嬋
記者：鄧章瑜
錄音：Stephanie Stone
實習生：申樂 舒好