On the afternoon of April 1, 2013, a huge farewell ceremony was held at the Babaoshan East Auditorium in Beijing, where Chen Zhaodi, deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army and adviser to the Chinese Volleyball Association, died at the age of 58 due to ineffective cancer treatment.
At the scene of Chen Zhaodi's farewell ceremony, a number of former teammates, including Lang Ping, personally went to the scene to express their condolences. People used white and yellow chrysanthemums to make a wreath in a volleyball outfit to commemorate this old women's volleyball team member who has dedicated his life to the Chinese women's volleyball team.
These old women's volleyball members have long lost the heroic posture of the past, but at this time, at the farewell ceremony of such an old women's volleyball member, the past glory years have once again appeared in front of people's eyes
If you want to ask Chen Zhaodi the deepest impression left in people's hearts, people will say: one-armed general, desperate Sanlang, China's eternal heroine of the women's volleyball team.
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In the 1950s, with the end of The Second World War, the sports industry ushered in a rapid development. Women's volleyball also entered people's vision at this time.
At this time, the Soviet Union and Eastern European women's volleyball players are undoubtedly the "hegemons" of the world women's volleyball sport, for a long time, they have won almost all the championships, and even the media of the old rival United States have called it invincible.
However, what people never imagined was that in just thirty years, another volleyball team would step onto the world stage, break the myth created by the Soviet women's volleyball players, and write their own dynasty - they are the Chinese women's volleyball team. And a name will also be widely known as Chen Zhaodi.
At that time, the new Chinese sports industry was just starting out, and there was almost no sense of existence in international events, until the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, where the shooter Xu Haifeng won China's first Olympic gold medal.
Another objective element that has to be considered is that the main form of the international women's volleyball competition that year was six-a-side volleyball, while in Chinese women's volleyball, nine-a-side volleyball is generally the mainstream.
Although it is only a one-word difference, in practice, the gap is not a star and a half. It is necessary not only to tear down the original training system and start over, but also to change the concept from beginning to end, and even to relearn the rules, strategies and game methods of six-a-side volleyball.
Born in 1955 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, Chen Zhaodi showed amazing athletic talent from an early age, and when she was eighteen years old, she broke through the selection to join the Bayi women's volleyball team.
Founded in 1951 and affiliated with the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the Bayi Women's Volleyball Team is a special unit organized by the army to promote sports. In the major events of domestic sports, military teams are unique.
In addition to the sharpness of an athlete, its members also have the hard qualities of a soldier and are often invincible in competition.
In 1976, due to her excellent performance, Chen Zhaodi was once again selected for the Chinese women's volleyball sports team, and also served as a second pass and receiver in the team, and was one of the most important core members of the women's volleyball team at that time.
After years of hard training, the Chinese women's volleyball team is about to usher in its own take-off era around the 1980s.
In 1978, Chen Zhaodi's Bayi team had an accident in the National League, which caused Chen Zhaodi's left arm radius to be injured, with certain sequelae.
What people did not expect was that a year later, in 1979, in a match against the Japanese team, Chen Zhaodi suffered another blow in the same position.
During the competition, the Athletes of the Japanese team seemed to know about Chen Zhaodi's left arm injury, and repeated fouls violently struck her left arm, which directly caused Chen Zhaodi's left arm radius to be broken on the spot!
Inside the Japanese home stadium, the referee was unmoved by this and sat back and watched all this happen. This accident caused a huge blow to the Chinese women's volleyball team, less than two months later is the National Games, in volleyball such a highly dependent arm sports, the core players left arm fracture, almost can directly declare defeat.
Two months later, Chen Zhaodi hung her left arm with a bandage and appeared in front of the world again, choosing to play in the National Games with one arm.
This is a unique existence in the history of world volleyball, and in this game, facing the old rival Japan, this time, Chen Zhaodi and the players bravely stepped forward, defeated it, and successfully won the championship.
The audience applauded thunderously, and that scene will be remembered forever, because Chen Zhaodi is the only soldier in The Chinese sports industry to be awarded the rank of major general by the People's Liberation Army, so many years later, people called her a one-armed general.
This victory greatly boosted the morale of the women's volleyball team, and then, in the 1979 Asian Women's Volleyball Championship, the Chinese women's volleyball team successfully advanced to the final.
In the match against the asian champion team at the time and the former world champion team - Japan team, the Chinese women's volleyball team went through a fierce game and finally defeated the opponent with a 3-1 score in the final, and successfully won the Asian championship.
In this regard, they opened a new chapter, and from then on, the name of the Chinese women's volleyball team will leave a strong mark in the history of world sports. On July 16, 1981, the Chinese women's volleyball team once again set foot in Japan and opened the World Cup journey.
Chen Zhaodi had just turned 26 that year, but at this time, she was the oldest "old man" in the team besides captain Cao Huiying, full of hope for the world championship, and these young girls stepped onto the world championship under the leadership of Coach Yuan Weimin.
Their first opponent is the American team, at this time the United States team can be called a strong horse, head coach Salinger has a lot of experience, coaching for many years, is the world volleyball "elder" level figure. Among them, the main athlete of the American team, Heyman, is as tall as 1.97 meters tall.
In the 1980s, the average height of women's volleyball players was between 1.6 and 1.7 meters, and in the Chinese women's volleyball team, Chen Zhaodi was 1.73 meters tall, Zhang Rongfang was 1.74 meters tall, and the tallest "iron hammer" Lang Ping was only 1.84 meters tall, far behind his opponents in physical condition.
But in this game, with skillful skill and perfect coordination, he defeated the American team 3-2. Since then, the Chinese women's volleyball team has become more and more courageous, sweeping the Mexican team and the powerful Soviet team.
In the women's volleyball event of the Olympic Games, the Chinese women's volleyball team won and lost as high as 15-0, and miraculously maintained a record of total victory in the first fifteen matches. He easily qualified for the group stage and eventually made it to the final.
According to the regulations, at this time, the Chinese women's volleyball team only needs to defeat the host Japanese team in the next two games, then they will become the champions of the Olympic Games, standing on the podium that every sports athlete has been longing for for a lifetime! In the final, Chen Zhaodi was the starting home team.
However, the progress of this game is not smooth, as early as the 1960s, the Japanese women's volleyball team has quietly risen, known as the "Oriental Witch".
Under the guidance of Japan's national treasure coach Hirobumi Ohmatsu, the Japanese women's volleyball team achieved a jaw-dropping record of 118 consecutive international matches after 1960, looking around for twenty years without encountering an opponent.
The Chinese women's volleyball team has also made a breakthrough in the fight against Japan in only a few years, but the gap between the strength of the two sides is not large, and no one can guarantee that they can easily defeat each other.
Shortly after the start of the game, the Chinese women's volleyball team collided with another teammate during the process of receiving the ball because of a mistake in action, and for professional athletes, this slight collision happened from time to time, and it was not a big problem.
But for Chen Zhaodi at this time, this is not a small matter, before the game, Chen Zhaodi's waist injury is not very stable, this collision caused a sprain on her waist, further aggravating her pain.
According to many years later, Chen Zhaodi recalled: At that time, this ball, he could pass, teammates can also pass, but both sides invariably greeted it. As a result, the collision resulted in a waist that could not be moved at that time.
Nowadays, in the video of that year's competition, it can even be clearly seen that at this time, Chen Zhaodi's walking posture has been slightly deformed, and his left hand is resting on his waist from time to time, which is very painful.
But when people asked if they wanted to go off the field to rest, Chen Zhaodi waved his hand and stepped back on the world stage again. In the following games, Chen Zhaodi did not give any flaws to her opponents, not even a painful expression, she endured severe injuries and extraordinary play, completed the whole game, and hit the ball successively, winning two points.
Her actions greatly boosted the morale of her teammates. In the end, with the cooperation of Chen Zhaodi and his teammates, No. 3 Lang Ping successfully slammed the ball and achieved a deadly kill!
The Chinese commentator of the 1984 Tokyo Olympics once said with tears: Some people's youth is spent under the moon before flowers, and our youth is spent in sweat, hard work, and pain. But our youth has not flowed in vain, it has radiated light and heat for our motherland.
After seven rounds of competition and twenty-eight matches, they won the World Cup championship with a full victory posture.
But at this time, Chen Zhaodi's state was not good, even the action of bending down to hang the medal was slightly difficult for Chen Zhaodi at that time, and even on the way back to the hotel, it was carried back to the hotel by teammate Lang Ping.
Even after winning the championship, Chen Zhaodi did not relax at all, in training, Chen Zhaodi was extremely strict with himself, on the one hand, out of the athletes' competitive spirit, on the other hand, out of the seriousness of the People's Liberation Army.
In order to maintain her form and improve her performance, Chen Zhaodi repeatedly took the initiative to ask Yuan Weimin for additional training, and his training volume was exaggerated to the point that even his teammates could not believe it.
The famous writer He Jianmin once made an article called "Hard Practice" for this purpose, and this article was also included in the middle school textbooks of the 1980s.
According to Lang Ping's recollection: At that time, the Chinese women's volleyball team once had a football activity, and every time, Chen Zhaodi was rushing to the first. Once, when Chen Zhaodi was training in football, he even broke his handle.
Coaching career until 1986 after Chen Zhaodi retired, still concerned about the Chinese women's volleyball team, under her application, and finally served as the head coach of the Chinese youth women's volleyball team, Chen Zhaodi carried forward the excellent style, so that the achievements of the youth women's volleyball team rapidly improved by leaps and bounds, and a year later, he led the team to win the Asian Youth Women's Volleyball Championship.
During this time, the young women's volleyball team ushered in its heyday, and female ranking generals such as Lai Yawen and Li Yunwu emerged one after another.
In 1989, Chen Zhaodi served as the leader of the Chinese women's volleyball team, after two years, she returned to this familiar team again, with her many years of experience, she made a significant contribution to the guidance of the Chinese women's volleyball team in terms of technology and tactics.
During his tenure as the leader of the Chinese women's volleyball team, the Chinese women's volleyball team won the third place in the 1989 World Cup, the Asian Championship champion, the 1990 World Championship runner-up, the Asian Games champion, the 1991 World Cup runner-up, and the Asian Championship champion.
Since 1993, she has served as the vice chairman and consultant of the Chinese Volleyball Association for a long time, and has actively provided suggestions and suggestions for the development of Volleyball in China and the construction of the Chinese women's volleyball team.
After the launch of the Chinese Volleyball League in 1996, she has also been using her spare time as the technical representative of the Chinese Volleyball League, and in time she was plagued by illness in her later years, and she did not relax at all. Chen Zhaodi dedicated his life to that name, the Chinese women's volleyball team.
The final farewell to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is about to begin, and Chen Zhaodi has retired from the background at this time, rarely appearing in people's vision.
In the 100 days of the countdown to the Beijing Olympic Games, the list of anchors of the major olympic projects was gradually revealed, and at the moment when the commentator of the women's volleyball project was revealed, countless old women's volleyball fans boiled.
The one-armed general Chen Zhaodi once again appeared in front of the world, and this time the women's volleyball will be hosted by her and CCTV celebrity Song Shixiong. People did not expect that at the age of 53, she would once again step on the Olympic arena in such a form.
As a representative of the older generation of outstanding athletes of the Chinese women's volleyball team, Chen Zhaodi not only won the great achievement of "five consecutive championships" in the world women's volleyball team, but more importantly, she personally created the legend of the Chinese women's volleyball team and shaped the spirit of the Chinese women's volleyball team with her own deeds.
The national anthem of the People's Republic of China played every day at the Tokyo Olympic Games today is our best farewell to this hero!