Su Xiongfeng celebrates during the award ceremony Sunday.Xinhua
GUANGDONG athlete Su Xiongfeng won the gold medal in the Universiade long jump on August,21th.
With a final jump of 8.17 meters, Su defeated U.S. athlete Marquis Dendy whose best result was 8.03 meters. Dendy was the U.S. National Champion and his best-ever result was 8.33 meters.
Su was in superb form for the first attempt but he fouled, which put him under tremendous pressure on the second jump. He was more cautious recording 8.05m on the second attempt.
“I was assured of the gold medal after the first five jumps because I knew the American had jumped 8.03,” Su said.
“I was extremely nervous. I’ve been waiting for so long for this medal which was hard to get,” Su said.
Su attended the Belgrade Universiade two years ago where he came fourth.
Now a postgraduate student at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Su had applied to attend sports school when his was young but was rejected because of his physical condition.
“I thank those who looked down on me before. Without them, I wouldn’t be standing here to win the honor for China,” Su said.
Su said he would try to finish among the top eight at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu on Aug. 27.
(Han Ximin)
