Two-time Olympic medalist Li Huishi announces retirement from cycling and transition to coaching

[Interview with Tilu]Hong Kong cyclist Li Huishi announced today (5th) at the graduation ceremony of Hong Kong Baptist University that she has officially retired for the first time. The two-time Olympic medalist revealed in an interview with “Tilu” before the graduation ceremony that after much consideration, he decided not to qualify for the Hangzhou Asian Games in September this year, and will become the short-distance team coach of the Hong Kong team later. An official date of appointment is unknown. “The God of Chariots under the Bull” also thanked the public for their continuous support and love, “Many people support me, so that I will not give up being a good person and a person who can help Hong Kong.”

36-year-old Sarah Li (Sarah) enrolled in HKBU’s Bachelor of Arts in Creative and Professional Writing program in September 2017. Since then, she has suspended her studies many times to prepare for or compete in international competitions. She will focus on her studies in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and Shaanxi National Games. Finally put on the “square hat” again this year. Sarah was interviewed before the graduation ceremony today, and mentioned that one of the subjects, “Lyric Writing Class”, will have a performance at the end of the month, and she is still in charge of coordinating a lot of preparatory work, so it feels like “not yet graduated”. She also compared athlete training with academics, and bluntly said that studying is more difficult: “I feel that I am not good at studying, so I worked harder, but because I hope to graduate this year and enter another stage, I chose to study harder.”

Abandoning the Hangzhou Asian Games to let juniors grow up fairly

The Hong Kong Sports Institute updated the list of elite athletes at the end of April. Sarah’s name is no longer on the list, and she did not participate in the “2023 Hong Kong International Venue Cup” held at the end of May. Earlier, the media quoted news that she would be transferred to a coach. She has never publicly talked about her decision to retire. In her graduation speech today, she said “end of my cycling life” for the first time on stage, saying that she has ended cycling. athlete career. In the interview, she pointed out that she had roughly decided to retire at the beginning of this year, but she hoped to give people around her time to adapt to the change without making an announcement, and she planned to hold a thank-you banquet from the end of June to July for those who supported and assisted her during her career as an athlete , then officially announce his retirement.

Talking about the decision to retire, Sarah pointed out that there are many considerations, including personal mentality: “Last year, I always wanted to be an athlete all the way, but in the end I felt that I couldn’t do it. I wanted to focus on my studies. I also tried to resume training this year, but I felt like Tell me it’s time to stop, not because of ability or age, but because I feel that chasing every goal requires a strong desire and drive.” She said that after the Tokyo Olympics, she felt a slight change in mentality, and she also believed that the team’s Focusing on oneself and preventing other potential athletes from getting resources to develop is not a phenomenon they like to see. In the past, Sarah mentioned that she might compete in the team sprint competition with her junior sister at the Hangzhou Asian Games. She explained the reason why she finally decided to give up: “Now there are 4 athletes in the short-distance group. If I am in the team, it means that only two of them can participate. I am not here. Three of them can participate, which is more fair to them. No matter what the results are, at least they have participated in the Asian Games.”

Sarah revealed that she will join the coaching team of the Hong Kong team, and only after obtaining a coaching license can she succeed. Therefore, she does not know the actual date of her appointment and whether she will accompany the team to the Hangzhou Asian Games as a coach. Talking about her expectations for the new identity, she said that she would wait and see the situation first: “A lot of staff and staff of the sports institute have lost, but no one pays attention. Most of my colleagues who went to the Olympics with me have already left. The masseuse Fang Di, the mechanic Teacher Li Linjie and coach Tang Qi, the three closest to me, have left. For me, I have to adapt to the whole team again.” She admitted that she struggled before becoming a coach, and gave an example that when she was an athlete, she often did not Knowing the long-term training location and plan, if she wants to continue to be a coach in the team, it is tantamount to re-adapting to the life of an athlete, which made her one of the considerations before deciding whether to switch to a coach. She continued to point out that wishing to be a coach is a long-term job, but it depends on whether there is room for development: “I want to see the situation of the team first, and then see if I can do what I want to do. If I can’t do it, it’s useless. It’s useless.” In addition to being a coach, Sarah said that she intends to continue her studies and is interested in many fields such as sports and psychology, but she has not yet made a final decision.

When asked if she felt sad about the life of an athlete, she said indifferently: “Athletes are actually a kind of life, but we will step on the podium. But to be more realistic, we are like going to work, as long as you like That job, I don’t feel like I’m going back to work.” The “job” in her mouth has brought her attention from the public, and Sarah is grateful for the support and love of Hong Kong people all the way: “In the past when I made neutral remarks on online platforms , many people support me, which makes me very grateful, and also makes me not give up on being a good person and being a person who can help Hong Kong. I am so happy that I can connect with different people and communicate with each other on the online platform. These exchanges are not Those who criticize each other, hope that I can continue to have this exchange after I step down.”

Click here to review Li Huishi’s athlete career

Picture: Xu Fei, He Ziyuan
Text: He Ziyuan

This article was sponsored by “Sportsroad“Originally published on “【bicycle.Interview]Li Huishi publicly retired at the graduation ceremony and decided to transfer to the Hong Kong team coach to thank the public for their love all the way」