Original article: Former gymnastics veteran, now new to parkour
On May 12, native time, on the Parkour World Cup (Montpellier station) in Montpellier, France, Chinese participant Shang Chunsong gained the ladies’s freestyle gold medal. When the information got here again from China, many gymnastics followers have been asking that Shang Chunsong was the captain of the Chinese girls’s gymnastics workforce and had a transfer named after him – Shang Chunsong Leap, which he did on the Rio Olympics in 2016 who gained the workforce bronze medal of gymnastics for ladies and their colleagues?
Yes, he’s.
Since he first participated in parkour in March 2022, Shang Chunsong, the gymnastics captain on the time, has efficiently fallen and turn into a milestone within the historical past of Chinese parkour.
Recently, Shang Chunsong, who returned to China, accepted an unique phone interview with China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily reporters. Speaking about his expertise of successful the Parkour World Cup in France, Shang Chunsong nonetheless could not maintain again his pleasure, however he additionally modestly mentioned that he’s nonetheless a newcomer to Parkour.
Having solely labored in parkour coaching for 2 years, Shang Chunsong mentioned that earlier than going to France to compete this time, he by no means thought of successful the World Cup “At first I believed that I’d be very glad if I might stand on the rostrum.” But after the primary, Shang Chunsong had a basic understanding of the opponent’s power his important, and he nonetheless had concepts of successful the championship. He determined to make use of a trick he had practiced to date solely as soon as within the finals. He predicts that if this trick is efficiently accomplished, he’ll turn into a champion. As a veteran of worldwide gymnastics competitions, he -Shang Chunsong has wealthy expertise in competitions He clearly is aware of that he should have the braveness to attempt it on the crucial second to win the championship.
When Shang Chunsong efficiently accomplished this troublesome step, the whole viewers cheered, and folks cheered for this courageous and proficient Chinese lady. In the tip, there was little question that Shang Chunsong gained the gold medal within the girls’s freestyle occasion.
Winning the World Cup doubled Shang Chunsong’s confidence in reaching good ends in the Parkour World Championships and even within the World Games to be held in Chengdu subsequent yr. In addition, parkour, as a trendy sport presently fashionable with younger individuals world wide, might have an opportunity to enter the Olympic Games sooner or later. Speaking of this, Shang Chunsong additionally smiled, “If given the possibility, I’d turn into a veteran like Chusovitina who pursues desires of competitors no matter age.”
Shang Chunsong, 28, remains to be a younger man, however within the competitors stage, he’s nonetheless a seasoned outsider. In parkour, the contributors are sometimes small. Shang Chunsong smiled and mentioned that on this match in France, different gamers have been youthful than him by one spherical.
But in Shang Chunsong’s opinion, age is just not an issue, what’s vital is to be small-hearted He likes the nickname “Eternal Pine” given to the viewers. Compared to Chusovitina who remains to be having fun with gymnastics on the age of fifty, Shang Chunsong believes that she nonetheless has a very long time within the sport.
Shang Chunsong, as soon as a well-known Chinese feminine gymnast, sadly did not win the world championship and the Olympic championship in gymnastics. However, she confirmed her expertise in parkour and her future is limitless. Shang Chunsong mentioned he by no means thought of utilizing his parkour outcomes to cowl up regrets about his gymnastics profession. However, individuals ought to look ahead. He can anticipate extra from his automotive parking job.
It was each unintentional and inevitable that Shang Chunsong began the trail of parkour.
More than ten years in the past, when Shang Chunsong was a member of the Chinese gymnastics workforce, he noticed parkour on a video program and thought the game was cool and funky. Shang Chunsong remembers, “Yes, at the moment, I by no means thought that I’d play parkour sooner or later.”
Until 2021, Shang Chunsong formally retired after representing the Hubei Gymnastics Team on the National Games that yr. Fortunately, he found {that a} retired gymnast was finding out parkour in Wuhan, which woke up the reminiscence of parkour that had been planted in Shang Chunsong’s coronary heart way back.
In March 2022, Shang Chunsong formally began parkour coaching at a parkour membership in Wuhan. Shang Chunsong launched that there are two varieties of parkour, one is racing model and the opposite is freestyle. The racing model is the sort of parkour that everybody is conversant in, the place athletes run throughout town and cross varied obstacles. Freestyle is a type of parkour the place athletes problem themselves with varied troublesome flips and spins. Shang Chunsong does freestyle parkour.
Shang Chunsong mentioned that the fundamentals of gymnastics can actually assist him prepare in freestyle parkour, however there may be additionally an enormous disadvantage, that’s, gymnasts are used to finishing their actions on train mats, whereas parkour is finished on laborious surfaces. When gymnasts participate in parkour coaching, they’re prone to have extra worry than individuals who don’t have a base of train, as a result of they’re used to tender pads underneath their ft and so they by no means do somersaults on laborious floor.
It took time to beat the psychological worry, however quickly Shang Chunsong discovered a way of freedom in parkour.
After practising parkour for half a yr, Shang Chunsong started to do each gymnastics and parkour for some time. He remembered that gymnasts have been chosen to take part within the 2023 Chengdu Universiade. He additionally needed to take part within the Chengdu Universiade, so he began coaching gymnastics once more, however he was not chosen in the long run. It was additionally at the moment that Shang Chunsong started to make his plans for the upcoming parkour competitions. As an athlete, collaborating in competitions has all the time been a dream. Shang Chunsong realized that from 2024 to 2025, there will probably be a sequence of parkour competitions such because the World Cup, World Championships, and World Games, and he thought he might give it a attempt. to attempt.
Now, Shang Chunsong participated in a global parkour competitors for the primary time and gained the competitors, which gave him nice confidence. Shang Chunsong seems to be ahead to persevering with to create new historical past for Chinese parkour on the World Championships and World Games held at residence.
In addition, because the Olympic Games open the doorways to the favourite sports activities of younger individuals, parkour is prone to turn into an Olympic occasion. Shang Chunsong mentioned that if parkour is included within the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, he will certainly proceed till then. He mentioned that he doesn’t solely imagine in himself, but additionally that many individuals can pursue their desires with braveness and don’t set limits in life. (China Youth Daily Reporter · China Youth Daily Reporter Ci Xin)