At the 2021 Houston World Table Tennis Championships, the multinational team Lin Gaoyuan / Zhang An won the bronze, which is the Second World Table Tennis Medal won by the American team after 62 years, which will also become a classic legend of Sino-US table tennis cooperation and exchange. The impact of this precious medal continues.
On January 7, Beijing time, the American Table Tennis Association officially announced that Gao Jun, the former main force of national table tennis, was appointed as the coach of the US table tennis national team. It should be known that at the Houston World Table Tennis Championships, Gao Jun led the team to play as an American coach and helped Lin Gaoyuan/Zhang An win the mixed doubles bronze medal. Many fans have ridiculed that Lin Gaoyuan, a member of the national table tennis team, has played a big role in the promotion of Gao Jun!
Gao Jun was the main force of Chinese national table tennis, right-handed straight pat, in the 1980s/90s, Gao Jun and Chen Zihe partnered in women's doubles, won the women's doubles championship at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships, and lost to teammates Deng Yaping/Qiao Hong in the final of the 92 Barcelona Olympic Games and won the second place. In addition to his high level of doubles, Gao Jun also finished third in the singles competition at the 1993 World Table Tennis Championships, behind Deng Yaping and Qiao Hong.
In 1994, Gao Jun went to the United States to develop after withdrawing from national table tennis, and represented the American team in the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympic Games, because of his outstanding results, known as the "Queen of Table Tennis" in the United States, which shows how much American table tennis enthusiasts admire it. In 1997, Gao Jun became a U.S. citizen and cultivated Zhang An, a very famous chinese-American rising star.
Europeans like to ridicule the United States as a "football desert", but in fact, people's football level has exploded the Chinese national football team, which belongs to the world's second-rate level. The American table tennis is more interesting, many of the main players are Chinese Players in the United States, from the president of the association to the head coach are Chinese, after all, the influence of Chinese national table tennis is too strong, they want to produce results as soon as possible must hold the national table tennis thigh.
In that special year last year, Liu Guoliang arranged for the Mixed Doubles to play in the World Table Tennis Championships, and helped the American team regain the World Table Tennis Medal since 1959, which also became the biggest driving force behind Gao Jun's promotion! Now, Gao Jun has said that she will try to help the American team to reach the podium in the 2024 Olympic Games and the 2028 Olympic Games, which is too good for the American team! It seems that the competitive pressure of the Japanese team, the Korean team and the German team is great!