On January 19, 2022, at the WTT Table Tennis Macau station, the mixed doubles team of "Fan Zhendong/Kuman" defeated the "Yuan Lichen/Wang Yidi" combination 3-1, while the newly formed "Ma Long/Qian Tianyi" combination was shaved 3-0 by "Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha".
This reminds me of cao zhen, the mixed doubles queen of the year. Although the mixed doubles was only a chicken rib project that year, the defeat of the "Xinwen Combination" at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games became the biggest pain of the national table tennis in 2021, because the doubles competition was cancelled, and the future mixed doubles was particularly important.
Let's walk in together, the queen who won the mixed doubles gold medal of the World Table Tennis Championships - Cao Zhen!
01 From a genius girl to a tough soldier
When it comes to the label of a talented girl, there is no doubt that it should belong to Guo Yue. Because she entered the national team (women's second team) at the age of 11 and won the world championship at the age of 16 (Women's Team + WTT Finals Women's Singles).
Not to mention winning the world championship at the age of 16 (she also participated in the Olympic Games at the age of 16), some athletes can't touch the threshold of the national team at the age of 16 (most people only participate in the Olympic Games in their 20s, such as Zhang Yining, 23, and Chen Meng, 26).
Today's protagonist Cao Zhen has never participated in the Olympic Games in her life, but it does not prevent her from being a talented girl, because she joined the Bayi team at the age of 10, entered the national team at the age of 14, and won her first WTT Tour singles championship at the age of 16.
Although the color is worse than Guo Yue, it is also valuable. You see the absolute main players of the national men's team now, and only now have won a few open singles gold medals to show off, not to mention that Cao Zhen is still in the era of Zhang Yining, Niu Jianfeng, Guo Yan, Guo Yue, Li Xiaoxia, Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen and the gods.
On January 8, 1987, Cao Zhen was born into a military cadre family in Binzhou, Shandong Province (one year older than Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia). When she was 3 years old, her mother let her learn table tennis with a physical education teacher in the county in order to let her exercise. This teacher is also a good level, and she has a discerning eye, and she finds Cao Zhen,a child with a unique talent for table tennis.
After communicating with Cao's mother, she decided to systematically train Cao Zhen instead of adopting the ordinary daily approach. Who knew that after practicing for more than a year, Cao Zhen, who was making rapid progress, was recommended to the city by the teacher, because the conditions in the county could not catch up with her.
After staying in the city for several years, Cao Zhen is already an invincible hand for children of the same age or even older, that is, he has won the championship again and again in the national "Four Ring Cup", "Nova Cup", "Doll Cup" and other children's group competitions.
In 1997, her father, a former officer, sent her to the Bayi team and passed the exam in one go. You know, as strong as Wang Hao also took the exam twice before going in (Wang Father also sent 5,000 yuan to the back door).
In this way, ten-year-old Cao Zhen joined the Bayi team, which has produced countless world champions and is a well-deserved championship concentration camp for national table tennis. When she first came in, she was assigned to the famous coach Qiao Xiaowei.
Cao Zhen was lucky. This Coach Qiao has dedicated his life to national table tennis, and has not yet married, and has brought out world champions such as Li Ju, Yang Ying, Zhang Yingying, Wang Nan, niu Jianfeng and so on. During the first trial, Coach Joe felt that the child's backhand speed was good, but the footwork was a little worse, so in terms of technical style, it was mainly based on her backhand as the core, adding a little sideways and adding a little running.
According to Cao Zhen's recollection, I often heard Coach Qiao say that no matter how good your backhand is, it is also for the forehand, why is the forehand not good, in the final analysis, the footwork is not hard, the footwork is not good, and many balls cannot be played at all.
Sincerely. Why has Malone's results been so good for so long? It is because he is the first forehand in the world today; further ahead, Wang Liqin is also the invincible existence of the forehand.
In this way, Coach Qiao, who has always been neutrally dressed, intends to strictly train cao Zhen, who is also boyish, in a military style. From life, from training, from consciousness, step by step, pay attention to once.
In the end, the entire Bayi team counted Cao Zhen's "tofu blocks" as the most standard, the most obedient to orders, and the best results. At the Jinjiang training camp on the eve of the Qatar World Table Tennis Championships, she participated in the round robin competition as the "imaginary enemy" of the national team, and won the sixth place (there are many international players participating).
Cao Zhen, who has a solid foundation, flexible body style and full attack style, has attracted the attention of Lu Lin, the coach of the national women's second team. Because in Cao Zhen, Lü Lin saw the steadfastness and aura, just like Niu Jianfeng at that time, he decided to absorb Cao Zhen.
In 2001, the 14-year-old Cao Zhen entered the national second team and joined Lu Lin's team. Of course, as a player who plays raw rubber, Cao Zhen's technical playing style does not have any advantages (like Rao Jingwen and Jiang Huajun), and the results in the team are average, but fortunately, she is unusually stable and hard enough.
Based on this, Lu Lin specially gave her a personalized design. Since the backhand is not as good as Jiang Huajun (later renamed Jiang Huajun, joined the Hong Kong team) and the running is not as good as Rao Jingwen, then practice the line. Raw glue playing, whether it is playing down or up, if the two lines can be used freely, it will pass, especially the straight line.
For a long time, Cao Zhen was like a qualified soldier, strictly implementing the instructor's set orders and practicing straight lines every day.
However, at this time, Cao Zhen's father unfortunately suffered from a brain tumor and was admitted to the Temple of Heaven Hospital (not far from the Temple of Heaven apartment of the national table tennis), and the family and coaching staff hid her.
In 2003, Cao Zhen finally entered the coveted national first team, but unfortunately, Cao's father had a brain tumor and was hospitalized again, this time he decided to tell his daughter the truth. Because he felt that he had to live, he would like to see his daughter win a gold medal in the World Series.
However, he did not see it until his death in 2004. However, this does not mean that Cao Zhen is not good enough.
02 Won the mixed doubles of the World Table Tennis Championships for the second time, making history
In 2003, Cao Zhen, who had just joined the first team, was assigned to the 501 dormitory, and became "neighbors" with Peng Luyang, Fan Ying, Rao Jingwen, Chang Chenchen and others, but a month later she was suddenly "expelled" again (almost equaling the 18-day record set by Chen Xuan).
At that time, a team was popular in a large-loop game, and in the environment of masters like clouds, Cao Zhen played the penultimate second place for the first time, and had to return to the second team. Fortunately, during the SARS period, because of Cao Zhen's special playing style and super military qualities, she was temporarily seconded to a team as a sparring partner.
Every day against Wang Nan, Zhang Yining and others, the ball skills rose sharply at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the coaching team "vaguely" absorbed her again.
The difference between the first team and the second team is different from the cloud and mud. The game resources, coaching experience, and teammate level here have all gone up a very high level, after all, a team is the place to produce world champions.
The 16-year-old Cao Zhen, who is unknown, honestly completed the tasks assigned by the coach as she did in the Bayi team that year, and worked hard and complained, until she retired, she never wrote a review (less than 10% of people did it).
Kung Fu paid off, and Cao Zhen finally waited for the opportunity to participate in the competition. In October 2003, the Itté Tennis Federation held the Malaysia Open, and Cao Zhen, who had just arrived a few months ago, was lucky to participate, which flattered her.
No one expected her to get a big harvest in a competition that she thought she could get a big harvest - all the way to the final, and defeated Peng Luyang 4-3 to win the first international professional tour singles championship of her career.
Not to mention, she also partnered with Peng Luyang and narrowly won the women's doubles championship by a score of 4-3. The first time he participated in the competition, he achieved the great cause of double crowning, which made Cao Zhen can't believe himself. The bigger surprise was a year later.
In September 2004, in the women's singles and doubles competition of the China Public Championships (Wuxi Station), Cao Zhen once again won two laurels: women's singles and women's doubles.
In the women's singles competition, she eliminated Zhang Yining, who had just won the Olympic championship, 4-2, and shaved Wang Tingting's head in the final; women's doubles partner Li Xiaoxia defeated teammate Fan Ying/Wang Tingting 4-0!
Because Cao Zhen won the double title for two consecutive years, she gained the trust of the coaching staff and was given the opportunity to participate in the 2005 World Table Tennis Championships. This precious golden opportunity, Cao Zhen especially cherished, because this is her first time to participate in and have the opportunity to win the world championship.
However, things must be reversed, and she still paid tuition when she participated in the World Table Tennis Championships for the first time.
In the fourth round of singles, 18-year-old Cao Zhen met the 36-year-old gao jun (who now represented the United States).
Gao Jun is a contemporary of Deng Yaping, who won the women's doubles championship at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships and the runner-up in the women's singles at the 1992 Olympic Games! In 1993, together with Deng Yaping and Qiao Hong, she won the women's team championship of the World Table Tennis Championships.
Because in the women's singles competition of the 93 World Table Tennis Championships, Deng Yaping and Qiao Hong were successively upset, which gave Gao Jun great pressure, and finally lost to Chen Jing (who represented The Taiwan team at this time) and did not qualify for the final. After this defeat, she fled the United States.
After many years, Gao Jun did not expect that once again in the World Table Tennis Championships, she would represent the American team, and the opponent was still a Chinese teenager who was 18 years younger than herself. In the face of Cao Zhen's ferocious full attack, Gao Jun was a little confused, and the first 6 rounds actually made a 3-3 draw!
In the last inning, Gao Jun used his housekeeping skills and years of experience in the competition to prevent Cao Zhen's multi-board attack, and finally reversed Cao Zhen 4-3.
After losing, Cao Zhen couldn't help but cry on the spot, and Gao Jun saw this scene and said that he was also very sad. Gao Jun said that he really couldn't bear it, and I cried when I saw Cao Zhen crying, because I had also lost to the overseas table tennis team (Chen Jing), and I especially understood Cao Zhen's mood.
But competitive sports are always cruel. Although the Gao Jun, who represents the American team, is very contradictory, it is impossible to deliberately throw the ball high and release the water, that is too fake for you.
Fortunately, Cao Zhen lost the women's singles, but the mixed doubles teamed up with Qiu Yike to achieve a good result of third place (the champions were Guo Yue and Wang Liqin), which made the coaching team think that she might have a future in doubles or mixed doubles.
Two years later, at the Shanghai World Table Tennis Championships, Cao Zhen and Qiu Yike won the third place in mixed doubles again (the champion was Guo Yue and Wang Liqin). At this point, her talent in mixed doubles was revealed.
However, the two mixed doubles third places have been unable to meet Cao Zhen's psychological needs, her goal is still the world champion, because Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia, who are almost the same age, have become world champions, and they are still the existence of the main sparring level, and even singles have gone to the position, and can only participate in the marginalized chicken rib project of women's doubles and mixed doubles.
During this time, Cao Zhen came to the low point of her career, although her partner Bai Yang defeated South Korea's Kim Foley/Kim Hyun-eun to win the women's doubles championship of the Japanese Gong.
The time came to May 2009, just when Cao Zhen thought that her dream of being a world champion was shattered, she participated in the third World Table Tennis Championships (Yokohama). This time, the coaching staff of the national table tennis aims to cultivate a new combination, after all, the last two sessions were Guo Yue and Wang Liqin who won the championship. Cao Zhen thought that he was still partnered with Qiu Yike, but he did not expect that after the list came down, his partner was Li Ping.
At that time, Tianjin players Li Ping and Guangdong Ma Lin were both Wu Jingping coaching team, and Li Ping was participating in the World Table Tennis Championships for the first time, Cao Zhen felt hopeless, purely a number of people, after all, the national table tennis registered for 7 groups! And their own pair is the worst level.
However, before the game, Marlene secretly told Cao Zhen that Coach Wu was optimistic about the two of you and there might be a drama. It was Marlene's words that made Cao Zhen see a glimmer of hope. She took the initiative to find Li Ping, told him about her previous two participation experiences, shared her experience, and Li Ping also seriously participated in the discussion.
When it came to the field, Cao Zhen repeatedly created opportunities for Li Ping, and Li Ping also grasped it very accurately, the ball was played, and the girl could not catch it at all (South Korea's No. 1 combination Wu Shangyu/Donna), which made Cao Zhen's confidence increase greatly. At this time, the top seed Gao Lize / Theyana had just eliminated the Qiu Yike combination, and Cao Zhen and Cao Zhen swept the Hong Kong team out of the game with a single blow.
In this way, the new pair of temporary pairs defeated Zhang Jike/Muzi 4-2 in the final (also not long after the combination, the second-worst in the 7 groups), achieving China's tenth consecutive World Table Tennis Championships championship in this event!
As a result, Cao Zhen finally won her first world championship, and she could finally comfort her father's spirit in heaven. By the way, Wu Jingping is really far-sighted.
Winning a mixed doubles gold medal may be an accident, but it is much harder to win consecutively, and I have also changed partners.
In May 2011, in the mixed doubles final of the World Table Tennis Championships in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Cao Zhen's partner was replaced by Zhang Chao. This person is even stronger than Li Ping, and is a tough general in the six small tigers of national table tennis (the other 5 are Wang Hao, Chen Qi, Hao Shuai, Shan Mingjie, and Qiu Yike).
Even so, Cao Zhen and Zhang Chao still encountered huge trouble, after all, it was the World Table Tennis Championships. In the quarter-finals, the South Korean duo of Seo Hyun-deok / Seok Ho-jing performed very tenaciously (just eliminated Yan An / Feng Yalan), the two sides fought fiercely to the decider, Cao Zhang and the two withstood the pressure, and finally won 4-3 against the opponent.
Subsequently, the two defeated the Hong Kong duo of Zhang Yu/Jiang Huajun (Cao Zhen's previous teammate and Zhang Yining's nemesis) 4-1 to the final, and finally defeated teammate Hao Shuai/Muzi.
For two consecutive World Table Tennis Championships, he won the mixed doubles championship with different players, which is also the first time in the history of China's mixed doubles. Previously, Wang Tao/Liu Wei achieved three consecutive championships, and Wang Liqin/Guo Yue won two consecutive championships, but the partners were fixed.
If Cao Zhen participates in another World Table Tennis Championships and wins another championship, she will create another piece of history. However, she did not wait for that day, the women's table tennis team was full of talents, ding Ning, Li Xiaoxia, Liu Shiwen, Zhu Yuling, Chen Meng and other people rose rapidly, she no longer had the opportunity to play.
03 Tearful retirement, finally married to the second generation of wealth
Due to the limitations of playing style and age, it is difficult for Cao Zhen to become the absolute main force of national table tennis.
At the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships in Paris, the Chinese team sent Guo Yue, Rao Jingwen, Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen, Li Xiaoxia, Zhu Yuling, Wu Yang, Hu Limei, Chen Meng and 10 others, and there was no Cao Zhen in the list, because she lost to Liu Shiwen in the selection competition.
The mixed doubles champion and runner-up were won by the North and South Korean teams, and Wang Liqin/Rao Jingwen only won the third place. The male and female champions are Zhang Jike and Li Xiaoxia, who became Grand Slam players.
In February 2014, another World Table Tennis Championships is coming. At the selection of the Tokyo World Table Tennis Championships in Zhenjiang, we saw the long-lost Cao Zhen again, but she did not come to compete, but to retire.
Cao Zhen, along with ten other national players (Wang Liqin, Ma Lin, Chen Xuan, Qiu Yike, Li Ping, Zhang Chao, Guo Yan, Fan Ying, Chang Chenchen, Rao Jingwen), held a farewell ceremony together and announced their retirement.
Cao Zhen, the two-time Mixed Doubles Champion of the World Table Tennis Championships, was the most excited. When she saw the precious picture of herself competing in the World Table Tennis Championships with Li Ping and Zhang Chao on the big screen, she could no longer suppress it, and wiped her tears a few times before calming her mood slightly.
These ten people, all closely intersected with Cao Zhen's career, either partnering in mixed doubles, or mixed doubles opponents, several female team members or their own dormitory girlfriends, how can they not shed tears?
After retiring from the army, Cao Zhen received a call from a Chongqing businessman, whose surname was Lu, and had asked Cao Zhen to participate in a commercial competition several times before. Considering that she had retired anyway, she still took her mother to attend by invitation.
Because their mother was afraid of flying, they chose a 24-hour train. Just after getting off the train, they were greeted by a white boy driving a luxury car, claiming to be Lu Ping, the driver of Lu Zong, who came to pick them up at the hotel.
It wasn't until he arrived at the hotel that he introduced the "boss" Lu Zong: This is my father!
After the commercial competition, Xiao Lu enthusiastically accompanied the two ladies to go shopping and watch movies, taking care of them very patiently, which attracted the attention of Cao's mother. Pushing sideways, Xiao Lu admitted that he was a die-hard fan of Cao Zhen.
After more than 1 year of dating, Lu Ping finally won Cao Zhen's heart, and the two also smoothly entered the palace of marriage. On the day of the big wedding, a number of national table tennis friends held the scene, Kong Linghui, Huang Biao, Li Xiaoxia, Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen, Muzi and other people came to congratulate them.
After marriage, the two also settled in Chongqing. Cao Zhen was not interested in business, and Lu Ping supported her return to the table tennis arena, not as an athlete, but as a coach. So Cao Zhen sat as a coach in the Bayi team for several years, and later opened a youth training stadium in his hometown of Binzhou, Shandong.
In Cao Zhen's words, the table tennis sport in Binzhou is too backward now, there are only a few Binzhou in the provincial team, and at least half of them were Binzhou.
【Afterword】
Cao Zhen is a representative of the Chinese table tennis team's horizontal board raw rubber full attack, and compared with the female athletes of the same era, Cao Zhen has always been a Cinderella-style figure.
Nevertheless, her self-disciplined personality and solid basic skills, as well as the talent of mixed doubles "wild", gave her a place in the talented national table tennis and made history.
Cao Zhen, who is low-key and humble and never shows mountain dew, has also won the hearts of fans.
Bless Cao Zhen!