►►China’s Wang Xindi delivered a near-flawless jump to win the men’s freestyle skiing aerials gold medal at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics here on Friday, completing an unusual double for his family just two days after his wife Xu Mengtao topped the women’s podium in the same discipline.
LIVIGNO, Italy-The result added a rare statistical note to the Winter Games: a married couple winning separate individual gold medals at the same Games.
Wang, 30, was third to jump in the final and scored 132.60 points with a controlled landing. Switzerland’s Noe Roth responded with 131.58. When the score was confirmed, Wang dropped to his knees in the snow.
« We celebrated her (Xu’s) gold earlier this week, but I quickly refocused on my own event, » Wang said.
The breakthrough came from his third Olympics. Wang finished 14th in both PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022, failing to advance to qualification on both occasions.
Xu once said she had seen how much those setbacks weighed on him. « He has been through ups and downs at the Olympics, » she said. « But he never stopped working, and he never lowered his standards. »
During those Olympic cycles, Xu, who was five years older than Wang, emerged as a defining figure in the sport. She won a silver medal at the Sochi 2014 Olympics, narrowly missed the podium in PyeongChang due to a costly mistake, and ultimately claimed gold in Beijing.
Their competitive peaks did not initially align. While Xu was contending for medals, Wang was still searching for consistency at the Olympic level. Wang has often acknowledged Xu’s influence on his development.
« When I first joined the team, she was already attempting triple jumps, » he said. « I watched how she trained and handled setbacks. »
Their connection dated back much earlier. After switching from gymnastics to aerials in 2007 following an injury at age 12, Wang entered the same training system as Xu at the Shenyang base.
School officials later described Wang as a quiet admirer within the team. He witnessed Xu’s rehabilitation from a serious knee injury and her persistence through setbacks – moments that shaped his early years in the sport.
This week in Livigno, that timeline converged.
Watching from trackside, Xu described Wang’s final jump as « perfect » and acknowledged the path behind it.
« It hasn’t been easy for him, » she said. « This is his third Winter Olympics. At the moment he realized his dream, the spotlight belongs to him. »
Married Olympic champions are not uncommon at the Winter Games. Pairs skaters have long shared gold medals in figure skating, and mixed team events have produced joint victories for spouses. What remains far less common is for a married couple to prevail independently in individual events during the same Olympic fortnight.
A small detail quietly linked the two victories. On Wang’s gloves, one hand bore the image of a heart – echoing the Chinese character « Xin » in his given name – while the other showed a peach, a nod to the « Tao » in Xu Mengtao’s name.
By Xinhua
