Beijing 2022: Short track speed skater Wu Dajing seen as an icon of courage in China
The 2018 Winter Olympic 500m gold medallist didn't reach the podium in his favoured event at Beijing 2022 and said he's "taking every race like it's my last."
Short Track Speed Skating
Wu Dajing's story at the Winter Olympics Beijing 2022 is not over, even if he has raced in his last individual event at the Olympics.
The PyeongChang 2018 gold medallist in the men's 500m, the People's Republic of China's first male gold medallist in short track in history, didn't reach the podium at the event in Beijing, but told Xinhua that his Games was about the process as much as the result.
"I achieved the first goal of being able to stand here, because it's my third Olympics, and it's equally important for me to enjoy the competition and to get good results."
Reigning world champion Shaoang Liu of Hungary earned his first individual short track speed skating gold medal. ROC’s Konstantin Ivliev and Olympic debutant Steven Dubois of Canada finished with the silver and bronze respectively.
Wu still holds both the Olympic (39.584) and world record (39.505) in the men's 500m.
'I can accept it'
"It's a great pity," Wu told Xinhua after the 500m at Beijing 2022. "I have prepared for this for so many years. Everyone in the semi-finals has a chance to finish on the podium. But no matter the result is good or bad, I can accept it."
The 27-year-old, who wears a design of the monkey king on his helmet, had a peaceful way about him in the moments after the race and there seemed to be an acceptance that this could be his last dance on an individual level at the Olympics.
"I'm taking every race like my last one, because I don't know if I'll be able to compete at the next Olympics, or any international competition later."
The reality is Wu has shown remarkable courage and determination to even be competing in a finals at the Games. In the four years in between PyeongChang and Beijing he battled a recurring back injury he sustained after falling at a World Cup event in Shanghai in December 2019.
"Even last year, my goal was to stand in the rink at the Beijing Olympic Games as I wasn't sure if I was able to withstand tough training. I only set my goals higher when my condition recovered step by step," said Wu, who has a massive social media following, and has shown his ability to perform excellently in a team setting as well.
Mixed team relay glory
It may hard to remember all the way back to one of the first days of Beijing 2022, but Wu and Co took home the gold in the mixed team relay, which made its debut at these Games.
The quartet of Qu Chunyu, Fan Kexin, Ren Ziwei and Wu opened China’s medal tally in a dramatic final. The pre-race favourites China lived up to expectations taking the lead with 12 laps to go, which they held to snatch the victory in a time of 2:37.348. Chinese anchor Wu edged Italian Pietro Sighel in a final sprint to the line with Hungary winning the bronze medal.
The relay consisted of a 2,000m race, in which two women and two men from a country combined to cover 18 laps. Each skater raced twice, following this order: woman-woman-man-man-woman-woman-man-man.
Wu has one more event to win gold in his homeland, the men's relay.
"Winning honour for my motherland is my biggest dream at Beijing 2022. We will go all out for the relay."
When and where to watch Wu Dajing compete at Beijing 2022
The men's 5000m relay final A will take place on Wednesday 16 February at 20:44 local time (13:44 CET) with medals on the line. China won the bronze in the event in 2014 and the silver in 2018, so they will be looking to complete the podium finishes with a gold in front of a home crowd.
From the Opening Ceremony to athlete action, here's where and how you can watch the Winter Games in your region via the Official Olympic Broadcast Partners.
Keep up with all the action in our Live Blog updates throughout Beijing 2022, here.