Asia's first female center, 2.06 meters tall, she is Zheng Haixia, inducted into the "International Basketball Association (FIBA)" Hall of Fame.
She led the Chinese women's basketball team to the Olympic Games, winning silver medals at the 1992 Olympics and the 1994 World Championships!
In the end, she married a fan who had admired her, "Xu Qinghua", but 11 years later, she did not have children.
Are they happy today?
Zheng Haixia and her husband
Zheng Haixia was born in 1967 in an ordinary rural area, from a peasant family in Shangqiu Zhecheng County.
Her father gave her a name "Haixia", hoping that her life would be as bright as the blue of the ocean, and from this moment on, Zheng Haixia's life was destined to be "extraordinary".
Zheng Haixia
With the passage of time, the father gradually found that Zheng Haixia's "superiority", that is, her height is really much taller than girls of the same age, even faster than her brothers and sisters, to the junior high school period, Zheng Haixia's height has come to 1 meter 72, to know that junior high school boys to graduate after the possibility of such a height.
However, Zheng Haixia's height is still "unlimited expansion", in the face of her still "long body", her father did not think he was a freak, but tried his best to provide her with more nutritious food, so that Zheng Haixia did not suffer from hunger in the process of growing up.
But the father also thought about what to do if his daughter was so tall, left and right, decided to send his daughter to the sports school to play basketball, play Zheng Haixia's "long material". Sure enough, the sports school quickly fell in love with this tall girl.
When she arrived at the sports school, Zheng Haixia continued to grow tall, and she gradually showed a high degree of enthusiasm for basketball, and every time she ran back and forth on the field, she would not feel tired, because she enjoyed this feeling of being invigorating.
Even if she doesn't have such big basketball shoes because her feet are too big, she can only play barefoot.
Soon, her performance in the sports school was seen by the head coach of the military "Bayi Women's Basketball Team", and after graduation, she was selected to join the Wuhan Army Women's Basketball Team in 1982 and lived a life of a player and a soldier.
In the same year, with her excellent ball skills and height of 2 meters 06, she was selected to join the Chinese women's youth basketball team, participated in the Asian Championship and the women's basketball Asian Youth Championship, shocked the whole field, and "killed all four sides" on the field, and soon after, she was selected by the national team and entered the training.
This year, Zheng Haixia was only 16 years old, and she was young, but she still maintained a very big enthusiasm on the field, and later this girl became the pillar of the entire national team, and all the attacks were centered on her and involved tactics.
In 1984, Zheng Haixia led the national team to participate in the Los Angeles Olympic Games, and she won the bronze medal for the Chinese team with a terrible result of 56% of the shooting rate!
For a while, the domestic blood boiled, and everyone was paying attention to the birth of this tall child.
Zheng Haixia took advantage of the victory to pursue, and did not relax, she was in the World Championships two years later, once again broke through the momentum, in one fell swoop included the best athlete, the best center, it can be said that throughout the 80s to 90s, among the female centers in Asia, Zheng Haixia can be said to be a god-like existence, enjoying the reputation of "Asia's first female center".
Because she has an overwhelming height, but this height has also become her "hard injury", long-term high-intensity training and competition, so that Zheng Haixia's knee and joint parts, there have always been large and small problems.
But even so, at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Zheng Haixia still brought injuries to the team, hoping to bring better results to the country
Unfortunately, Zheng Haixia eventually lost to the physical pain, and the traces of age brought about by the gradual aging, Zheng Haixia could not keep up with the fast-paced confrontation on the field, and finally the 1996 Olympic Battle ended in disgrace.
Suddenly, a round of questioning:
"Is Zheng Haixia okay in the end?"
But Zheng Haixia is still determined to continue to play the role she should play on the basketball court, and she believes that doing herself well is the most important!
She still continues to train every day, hoping to adjust her state to the best state.
It's hard to imagine that the sweat of training is something a girl has to endure.
Don't forget, Zheng Haixia is a girl! As a girl, it is not easy to bear the pressure of injury and training.
Privately, Zheng Haixia still likes some flowers and plants, as long as it is something that girls like, she likes it, and it seems that there is a little girl living in her heart.
And this little girl is also eager for the nourishment of love.
A boy in the distance eagerly awaits the news from the girl, he is Zheng Haixia's first love.
Zheng Haixia did not tell everyone the boy's name, but only talked about this past lightly.
"Taller than me, better basketball skills than me"
Zheng Haixia proudly said that her first boyfriend was still four centimeters taller than him, how tall it was, but Zheng Haixia was very satisfied.
In that era, there was no WeChat, QQ timely communication software, so their way of intercourse can only use "letters", although not as slow as the pigeons, but also slow enough, every week communication, Zheng Haixia's most anticipated time is to receive a reply from the boy.
But long-distance love after all can not go long, long-term must be trained in the field, the practice of the national team let Zheng Haixia pull the two ends of the burn, and finally the two were only together for two years, the man proposed to break up, both are as basketball players, after the breakup can still be friends, but love this kind of thing is really very wonderful, whenever you think of this story, Zheng Haixia will look into the distance, meaningful.
After the breakup, Zheng Haixia endured the emotional injury, and at the same time wanted to continue to prove on the basketball court that she was not defeated by injury, in 1997 she received an invitation letter from the Los Angeles Sparks, so she announced that she would go to Los Angeles and prepare to play a big role.
At the same time, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, there was another boy who was in his youth, silently paying attention to this girl, and the boy's eyes were full of adoration and light, and his name was Xu Qinghua.
Xu Qinghua
On the east coast of the Pacific Ocean, Zheng Haixia practiced what she preached, breaking the gossip. Xu Qinghua silently picked up a pen and recorded all this.
Zheng Haixia joined the Los Angeles Sparks in the two years, contributed a good stats, in the first year, played 28 games, 27 games alone, a total score of 259 points, is a very competent center, and also won the first WNBA "Best Style Award".
But unfortunately, Zheng Haixia's second year in the WNBA, in the end, Zheng Haixia still could not resist the worsening of her leg and waist injuries, and she announced her retirement and returned to China.
After returning to China, Zheng Haixia, although still active in the domestic basketball circle, but there is always a lack of a piece in her heart, she has been in addition to her family, she has been fighting outside for many years, and her heart is extremely eager to have the company of a person, hoping that someone can accompany her for a lifetime.
At this time, fate is so magical, love is so sudden, the old man under the moon, cupid's naughty arrow shot at Zheng Haixia.
Xu Qinghua has always paid attention to Zheng Haixia's dynamics, so when Zheng Haixia returned to China, he wrote a letter to Zheng Haixia. In his letter, he indicated that he had also played basketball in the sports school of Pingdingshan. He is also a basketball player who regards Zheng Haixia as an idol and hopes that Zheng Haixia can contact him.
And Zheng Haixia originally loved to answer at the beginning, after all, there were too many people to pursue at that time, and the selection could not be completed, but she gradually found that good men are really not easy to find, many can not meet Zheng Haixia's conditions, just to be taller than her is already a difficult threshold, so she "wronged herself" a bit, the "mate selection" conditions "relaxed" to more than 180 cm of boys.
At this time, the name Xu Qinghua appeared in Zheng Haixia's vision, so Hu Zheng Haixia took the initiative to reply to the letter, hoping to get contact information with Xu Qinghua, mobile phone number, and the love between the two sprouted.
Like the previous relationship, Zheng Haixia is also in a long-distance relationship, but this time it is more magical, because she has not even seen Xu Qinghua herself, and she just texted on her mobile phone to fall in love
It can be said that Zheng Haixia is the earliest "online love" executive pioneer, the two through the mobile phone, compared to the letter exchange, can know each other's recent situation faster chat can be said to be very speculative.
For Zheng Haixia, a girl, Xu Qinghua can be said to be very set, because he is a fan himself, his deeds of Zheng Haixia can be said to be "a number of family treasures", plus he was originally a basketball player, and gradually won the heart of "beauty".
Xu Qinghua's courtship method is very special, as the saying goes, couples are most afraid of having no topic to talk about
As a result, Xu Qinghua began to do all kinds of "everything to the extreme", he went to the book stall to read the prose in the newspaper, he soaked in the library to study the routine of love novels, and "excerpted" the sentences that he felt were good, and edited a text message to send to Zheng Haixia, which is Xu Qinghua's most simple and direct "courtship method" - texting and sending love.
But you can't always "online love", the two of them meet up.
The first time we met, seeing Zheng Haixia so tall, Xu Qinghua was suddenly a little nervous, really taller than imagined, the words would not be said, the hands were sweating, but looking back at Zheng Haixia's expression, I found that there was no drama, Xu Qinghua felt that Zheng Haixia did not look at him.
But on that day of dating, the two talked for 4 hours, which made Xu Qinghua feel that there was still a chance, and after returning home, he "took advantage of the victory to chase", and he vowed to chase the girl.
She began to set up almost, saying that she was a Native of Henan, and That Zheng Haixia was a "fellow countryman", and that she was particularly kind to her fellow villagers, and that she was a member of the Pingdingshan Office in Shenzhen, Henan, and suddenly the distance between the two people was one step closer.
Another year has passed, the two are in love, Xu Qinghua has slowly penetrated himself into Zheng Haixia's heart, and Zheng Haixia's heart has been completely "attacked".
The two finally entered the palace of marriage, and the two walked into the auditorium hand in hand, exchanging vows of love.
On June 19, 2010, Zheng Haixia married Xu Qinghua, a "fan" who had been in love with him for many years.
Zheng Haixia:
"Although Haixia has become a big girl, she got married today!"
Xu Qinghua:
"I will make her happy every day from now on"
And life after marriage is so ordinary.
Although "marriage is the graveyard of love", the two still love each other very much.
In this way, the time is 11 years, 2021.
Someone asked Zheng Haixia why she did not give birth to a "super baby", after all, she is so tall, her husband is not short as a basketball player, and the children born must be tall and strong.
Zheng Haixia only faintly said that when she got married, her body could not bear the pressure brought by the child.
There is also the responsibility for the child after giving birth, the body may be difficult to bear, if you force the birth of a child, if the healthy baby is fine, then if it is not healthy, then how sorry for the child!
And for married life, the couple does not say it, but laughs sweetly, they have said on the show that the two often fight for the small things in life, and Xu Qinghua also has to adapt to the "militarized" work and rest that Zheng Haixia has received since childhood, he jokingly said that he is like Zheng Haixia's "team members", to always obey his wife's discipline, but from his tone, you can know that Xu Qinghua is as willing as a glutton.
At the same time, Xu Qinghua also accompanied Zheng Haixia to "go up the mountain and go to the sea", and after complete retirement, Zheng Haixia carried the head coach of the women's basketball team until 2019 and announced his retirement. Her husband has always been her strongest backing, selflessly paying, just like the little fan at the beginning, when Zheng Haixia was cute and fart.
Xu Qinghua once said:
"I'm willing to be your trash can"
It was so selfless that Zheng Haixia developed her basketball career without worry and finally won the highest honor.
In 2021, combined with her performance as a player and her dedication to basketball after retiring, Zheng Haixia was selected as a global Hall of Fame player by the International Basketball League (FIBA), which is supreme for basketball players.
Zheng Haixia with Lang Ping in the sports arena
But even after retiring, she still does not forget the training of the domestic women's basketball team, she actively participates in training, and wants to pass on her experience to the younger generations, after all, she has participated in four consecutive Olympic Games, rich experience, it can be said that it is very rare.
Career love two proud, Zheng Haixia demonstrated for everyone what is called "life victory group", although there are no children after marriage, but living a good husband and wife life, it is also a best explanation of life!
Just like in China's first poetry collection, the Book of Poetry:
"Wives are good together, like drums"