China has taken home its first gold medal of the 2022 World Athletics Championships in the USA, and coming to the centre of the podium to receive it was none other than an alumni of our very own Nanjing Normal University.
Wang Jianan took gold in the men’s long jump at the Championships taking place on the Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, yesterday, 17 July, with a giant leap of 8.36 metres.
But it had been a close call. Behind Wang, Greek legend and reigning Olympic champion, Miltiadis Tentoglou, was waiting to take his final jump. Another good one, but at 8.20 metres, only enough for him to clinch silver.
In the process, Wang became winner of China’s first gold in the 2022 World Athletics Championships and its first ever gold in the Championships’ long jump discipline.
Wang, a native of Shenyang, capital city of Liaoning Province, graduated from the School of Physical Education at Nanjing Normal University, often abbreviated colloquially as “Nanshida”, in 2018.
Shi Shusheng, Dean of the School, watched Wang’s victory yesterday and recalled his time at Nanshida with great emotion.
In the eyes of Shi, Wang is a sunny boy, a little shy, very low-key but very hard-working. “Every day he was out there at 14:00, busy studying and busy training”, said Shi.
Many will also find inspiration in Wang’s story, for when he first came to Nanshida, his performance was in fact far from top notch, but through hard training, it continued to improve.
In 2015, then still barely 18, Wang took bronze in the World Athletics Championships, on home turf in Beijing.
From then on, training harder and harder, Wang came fifth the men’s long jump at the Rio Olympic Games of 2016 and 2 years later became champion at the Asian Games in Jakarta.
Back during his time at Nanjing Normal University, Wang would often exchange skills and insights into track and field with his classmates. In the eyes of his younger peers, he was seen as a positive and optimistic big brother, reports Nanjing Daily.
The past few years has seen a number of top-level athletes emerge from Nanshida, including weightlifter, Lu Haojie; and volleyball players Hui Ruoqi, Zhang Changning and Gong Xiangyu. The Dean said, “They are all excellent talents cultivated by Nanjing Normal University; we hope young students can follow their example and inherit the spirit of sports”.
Wang’s win in Oregon is also something of a birthday’s present for Nanshida; the institute celebrates 120 years in education this year.
