Four years ago, Chinese skater Wu Dajing introduced himself to the skating world by winning a silver medal at the Sochi Olympic Winter Games. At this year's PyeongChang Olympics, Wu not only returned, but also made history.
On Feb 22nd, 2018, Wu won the gold medal in the men's short-track 500-metre race. He set a new world record with a time of 39.584 seconds. He also became the first Chinese man to take home an Olympic short-track gold medal. BBC said Wu's win was "flawless", because he was much faster than all of the other skaters.
"I didn't give them a chance and I kept my speed from the start," he told the reporter after the match.
But China's short-track teams didn't do well in general at the Games. Chinese skaters in the women's 500 metres, 3,000-metre relay and men's 1,500 metres all failed to take home the gold. Wu was China's biggest hope, which put a lot of pressure on him. But he proved himself with his great performance.
Wu is now known as a highly talented skater. But things were not always that way. When Wu joined the national team in 2010, he was seen as almost "nothing" compared to gifted skaters like Zhou Yang and Fan Kexin, as his coaches said at the time. Their words made him quite upset. But Wu didn't want to give up and worked as hard as he could. He practised skating all year round. He even didn't return to his hometown for the holidays for 10 years. "I believe in myself," he told the reporter after his match at the Olympics.
