For table tennis players, there is an old saying that it is necessary to become famous early, because only by playing well early can you get more opportunities to participate and it is possible to achieve better results.
However, for Chen Meng, it was an exception.
Unlike many athletes in the history of national table tennis, Chen Meng belongs to the real athletes who have accumulated a lot of money and become late.
Throughout the history of Chinese women's table tennis, many outstanding athletes have achieved good results at a very early age.
Like Cao Yanhua at that time, at the age of 19, he entered the women's singles final of the World Table Tennis Championships, if it were not for the forced concession to Tong Ling in the final, Cao Yanhua at that time would have won the women's singles championship of the World Table Tennis Championships.
But even so, Cao Yanhua won the women's singles championship of the World Table Tennis Championships twice in a row at the age of 21 and 23.
Another example is Deng Yaping, who won the Women's Singles Championship of the Asian Cup at the age of 15! At the age of 16, she won the women's doubles championship of the World Table Tennis Championships, at the age of 18, she won the women's singles championship of the World Table Tennis Championships, and at the age of 19, she won the Women's Singles Championship of the Olympic Games.
Wang Nan, at the age of 19, reached the women's singles final of the World Table Tennis Championships, won the World Cup women's singles championship at the age of 20, won the Women's Singles Championship of the World Table Tennis Championships at the age of 21, and achieved a Grand Slam at the age of 22.
Including Zhang Yining, Guo Yue, Li Xiaoxia, Ding Ning, and Liu Shiwen, they all won the world singles championship when they were about 20 years old.
However, compared with these predecessors, Chen Meng's results in the competition were very late.
In fact, Chen Meng was only 13 years old when he entered the national team, but because there were very powerful teammates such as Li Xiaoxia, Ding Ning, Guo Yue, and Liu Shiwen in the team, this also led to Chen Meng's delay in playing the good results he wanted.
Zhu Yuling, who is one year younger than Chen Meng, was able to reach the women's singles final of the World Table Tennis Championships as early as 2017, and also defeated Liu Shiwen in the Asian Cup and world cup that year to win the women's singles championship of the Asian Cup and the World Cup.
And Chen Meng in the 2018 Asian Games women's singles final, but not to the young player Wang Manyu, no chance to win the championship, you know, at that time Chen Meng was 24 years old, but a national singles champion did not win, not to mention intercontinental events and international competitions!
However, at that time, Chen Meng did not give up his pursuit, but patiently looked for various opportunities to break through himself.
After the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships Selection Tournament, Chen Meng left his original head coach Huang Haicheng and transferred to Ma Lin's door, which proved afterwards that this was the most correct choice Chen Meng made.
After throwing himself into Ma Lin's door, Chen Meng had more opportunities to participate, and in 2019, Chen Meng replaced Ding Ning and participated in the Asian Cup.
You know, Chen Meng was not eligible to participate in the Asian Cup competition, but with the help of the coaching staff, Chen Meng still successfully withstood Ding Ning and participated in the Asian Cup, although he once again lost to Zhu Yuling in the final, but for Chen Meng, it is undoubtedly a good start, which also means that Chen Meng's participation opportunities are increasing.
With the help of Marlene's patience and the continuous efforts of Chen Meng himself, finally in 2020, Chen Meng ushered in a major breakthrough in his career.
In the women's singles final of the National Championships, Chen Meng defeated Sun Yingsha and finally won his first national singles title. You know, Chen Meng is already 26 years old at this time.
Wang Manyu and Sun Yingsha, who are several years younger than Chen Meng, have already won the women's singles championship of the national championship as early as 2018 and 2019.
Although Chen Meng broke through relatively late, this did greatly enhance his self-confidence for Chen Meng.
In the 2020 World Cup, Chen Meng, who was not qualified to participate in the World Cup, replaced Liu Shiwen in the singles competition of the World Cup, defeated Sun Yingsha again in the final, completed a greater breakthrough in his career, and finally won his first world singles championship!
And Chen Meng also became the first world singles champion in the history of Chinese women's table tennis, the oldest player!
At the Tokyo Olympics, 27-year-old Chen Meng became the oldest player to participate in the Olympic Games for the first time in the history of national table tennis, however, in the final, Chen Meng once again defeated Sun Yingsha and won the Olympic singles championship that was most valued by national table tennis!
For Chen Meng, she is not a genius girl like Guo Yue Liu Shiwen, but fortunately, Chen Meng has not given up her dreams, for a long time, has been working hard to train, coupled with the help of coaches like Ma Lin, finally, at the age of 27, this is not a young age for female table tennis players, won the Olympic singles championship!
Chen Meng's experience also tells us that no matter what we do, as long as we look for the goal and never give up, there will always be a day to achieve the goal!