"Milano Cortina 2026 might be my last Winter Olympics. Whatever the result will be, I have only one goal, which is to go beyond my earlier results, "33-year-old Olympic champion Xu Mengtao said at her book launch party(新书发布会).
Xu was born in 1990 in Liaoning Province. Her parents ran a BBQ restaurant, where Xu would help out during holidays. Xu started her sports career at the age of 4 as a gymnast, before changing to freestyle skiing aerials(自由式滑雪空中技巧) at the age of 12, when she was considered too tall to continue gymnastics.
Xu has won 55 freestyle skiing aerials championships so far, but they have come at a cost.
Xu has had four operations on her knees. When she took part in the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics, there were steel pins(钢钉) in her knees. Just as at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, she wanted to get an Olympic gold medal. Unluckily, she failed to achieve her goal, although she tried her best.
But failures, painful injuries and lonely months of recovery didn't stop her. Xu finally realized her dream at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, by completing three somersaults(空翻) on her final jump.
In her book, Xu records her true feelings about her life over the past 30 years, her memories of heart-stopping international competitions, the number of medals she won, the low points she managed to overcome and her full preparation for each competition. "Plan each jump, review each problem and look for every possibility. The real situation is unpredictable, so I have to be fully prepared, " Xu wrote in the book.
"I hope my personal experience can encourage more people to go after their dreams, " Xu added. "Don't stop trying. It's hard to say when your efforts will pay off, but they will do surely at the most important moment. "
①how she got along with her schoolwork ②what honors she received
③ what she plans to do in the next ten years ④how she got through the difficult moments
