preface
Li Ning, I believe that every Chinese person is familiar with him. As an athlete, he is one of the most outstanding athletes of the twentieth century, has won the honor of fourteen world championships for China, is a legend in the history of world gymnastics, and is known as the "Prince of Gymnastics".
In a business event, Li Ning brought a pair of his sons and daughters to attend, and when he saw Li Ning standing next to him, his tall and handsome son and cute and sweet daughter, people could not help but sigh that time flew by!
As an athlete, Li Ning is a myth! As a businessman, Li Ning is a legend!
After retiring in 1989, Li Ning, with a strong sense of national honor, founded a sports brand "Li Ning" that belonged to the Chinese, showing its sharp edge among a number of foreign sports brands and creating a miracle of domestic sports brands.
The first half of his life was a dazzling "gymnastics prince" and the second half of his life was a successful "business elite". From the sports field to the business world, how did Li Ning achieve the perfect "cross-border"? What kind of legends and wonderful stories do he have?
01 Won 106 medals in 9 years and was known as the "Prince of Gymnastics"
Li Ning was born in 1963 to an ordinary family in Liuzhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. When he was a child, Li Ning had a strong sense of balance, and his athletic talent was higher than that of other children.
In 1971, Li Ning, who was naturally gifted in sports, was selected by the coach of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Gymnastics Team at the age of 8 and began to enter the professional gymnastics team for formal training.
In the gymnastics team, Li Ning trains very hard every day, and in his eyes, hard work is directly proportional to success, and the more sweat you pay, the greater the success you gain.
In this belief, he became the hardest working person in the entire gymnastics team. Because of his high requirements for himself and his love for gymnastics, Li Ning's achievements far exceeded those of other companions.
In just 9 years, Li Ning got the "ticket" to enter the national team, successfully joined the national team, and became an official national gymnast.
In 1982, at the sixth World Cup Gymnastics Competition, Li Ning stood out from the crowd like a "dark horse", and in the men's 7 individual events, Li Ning won six championships in the all-around, free gymnastics, pommel horse, hoop, vaulting horse and horizontal bar, and the parallel bars event also won the third place.
One person won the championship of 6 events, this result instantly made the people on the scene cheer for it, this result can be said to have created a myth in the history of world gymnastics!
In 1984, at the 23rd Los Angeles Olympic Games, this was the first time that China sent a large delegation to participate in the Olympic Games, and it was also the first time that Li Ning stepped onto the olympic stage.
At the Los Angeles Olympic Games, Li Ning achieved another good result, in the men's gymnastics individual event, he successfully won the men's free gymnastics, hoop and pommel horse three events, in addition to this, he also won two silver and one bronze in other sports.
You know, in that year's Olympic Games, China won a total of 32 medals, and Li Ning alone won 6 medals, accounting for almost one-fifth of the total number of medals in the Chinese delegation, and he was also the athlete with the largest number of medals in that Olympic Games.
Such an impressive achievement once again stunned everyone, this time, Li Ning's name was completely launched, and the era of gymnastics belonging to Li Ning was officially opened.
For gymnastics, Li Ning has always had his own unique insights, and even created his own set of unique lifting rings and parallel bars, which were named by the International Sports Federation as "Hanging Ring Li Ning Pendulum", "Hanging Ring Li Ning Zheng Hanging", "Kurama Li Ning Cross" and "Parallel Bar Li Ning Grand Slalom".
What an honor to be able to name a sport after an athlete! Li Ning not only received, but also many honors, which is enough to see how much Li Ning contributed to gymnastics.
In 1989, Li Ning retired due to injury. From joining the national team in 1980 to officially retiring in 1989, Li Ning's career is legendary! In just 9 years, he has won 14 world championships and 106 gold medals, a result that no one has surpassed so far.
Li Ning also has a well-known honor, that is, he served as the main torchbearer of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and the scene of the flying sky lighting the main torch is still fresh in my memory.
On the day of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, when Li Ning appeared at the venue as a "trapeze artist" and held a torch to light the main torch, the whole world was amazed, and this scene became the most shocking classic moment of the Beijing Olympic Games.
Being able to serve as the Olympic torchbearer is already a supreme honor, and becoming the person who lights the main torch of the Olympic Games is bound to have an outstanding contribution to the Olympic Games. With countless honors in the gymnastics world, Li Ning was selected as the main torchbearer of the Beijing Olympic Games, and Li Ning deserved it!
02 After retiring from the army, he turned to the business world and founded the Li Ning sports brand
After retiring, Li Ning did not enter the national team as a coach or work in the national sports department like other athletes, but chose a different path, that is, to become a businessman.
In fact, as early as when Li Ning was still an athlete, he had the idea of creating a sports brand that belonged to the Chinese, and at that time, he represented the national team to participate in the competition abroad, wearing foreign brand sportswear, and the domestic sports brand type was really single, and the functionality was very weak.
In some of the world's major events, the figure of Chinese sports brands was basically invisible, which made Li Ning feel depressed at that time.
As a Chinese athlete, if you can wear Chinese brand sportswear to participate in the competition on the international stage, it is of great significance to every athlete, which has always been a grand wish in Li Ning's heart.
During his service, he did not have the time and energy to realize this wish, and after retiring from the army, he had more energy to fulfill this wish.
After retiring, Li Ning put all his energy into starting his own sports brand that belonged to Chinese.
At the beginning, Li Ning's sports brand was not so smooth, after all, the foreign big brands of that era had a great impact on local sports brands, even if the husband and wife took out all their savings, it was also a drop in the bucket for the capital needs in the early stage of entrepreneurship.
At this time, Li Ning's friend Li Jingwei, the founder of Jianlibao Group, gave him great support.
In 1990, Li Ning joined the China Jianlibao Group, and with the support of Li Jingwei, Li Ning founded the "Li Ning" sports brand company under his own name.
On the one hand, in order to support China's sports industry, on the other hand, in order to build its own brand awareness, at the Asian Games held in 1990, Li Ning brand sponsored the Chinese team that participated in the Asian Games that year, and since then opened the company's brand business.
Immediately after the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, Li Ning won the sponsorship right of the Chinese team's "Olympic Medal Dress". This is the first time that the mainland has selected the Olympic medal gown provided by China's local sporting goods sponsors. Whether it is for Li Ning or for the Chinese people, it is a moment of extraordinary significance.
03 Redemption of all equity of Li Ning brand leads Li Ning brand to the peak
The Li Ning brand slowly opened up its popularity in the market. In 1994, the maturing Li Ning made a decision that could lead to infamy, and he decided to split the "Li Ning Sports Brand" from the "Jianlibao" group.
In the eyes of everyone, without the support of Li Jingwei Jianlibao Group, the Li Ning brand would not have developed so rapidly.
Nowadays, Li Ning's brand "wings" are hard and want to fly alone, is this not "ungrateful"? Li Ning also had this kind of idea in his heart, he was afraid that his proposal to divide the equity would hurt Li Jingwei, the "big brother" who had reached out to help in times of crisis, but after thinking about it again, Li Ning still took the initiative to put forward his own ideas to Li Jingwei.
However, to Li Ning's surprise, Li Jingwei was not only not displeased, but even very supportive of his idea. In Li Jingwei's eyes, he has always attached great importance to Li Ning's ability, and he feels that Li Ning's decision to split it separately is a mature and wise decision.
With his support, Li Ning redeemed all the shares of the Li Ning brand held by Jianlibao for 16 million. Since then, Li Ning has truly owned the ownership of the "Li Ning brand" and created the later brilliant moment of the "Li Ning brand".
In 2002, Li Ning repositioned the development direction of the brand, officially positioning "anything is possible" as the brand's development slogan. He proved to everyone with his own practical actions that everything is possible, and he built the brand of Li Ning Sports into a professional sports brand with fashion.
In 2004, Li Ning Co., Ltd. was successfully listed in Hong Kong, becoming the first Chinese sporting goods company listed in Hong Kong.
At this time, Li Ning once again made a surprising move to compete for the Beijing Olympic Games sports clothing sponsors, although it was finally won by Adidas, but Li Ning became the main torchbearer of the Beijing Olympic Games, and also let the Li Ning brand be known to the Chinese.
With the increasing popularity, the market of the Li Ning brand is also getting bigger and bigger, from clothing to shoes, and then from basketball to other sports equipment, the Li Ning brand has become synonymous with a national tide.
04 Li Ning brand was hit hard Nirvana rebirth led the national tide
Seeing that the company is gradually on the right track, Li Ning feels that his knowledge reserves are also in urgent need of improvement, so he made a decision to hand over the company to professional managers to help take care of it, and continue to study and learn financial and management knowledge.
Behind every success is bound to experience countless setbacks and tribulations.
In 2011, due to the blind expansion of the market and the failure of product positioning, coupled with the overall market downturn at that time, the business empire created by Li Ning was hit hard, and the performance declined all the way, and there was a loss situation.
Just when everyone thought that the Li Ning brand would withdraw from the stage of the sports brand in this silent smoke, with the belief that "everything is possible", Li Ning decided to re-emerge from the mountain, he personally endorsed the brand, with the technical backbone to the market to conduct research, and reorganized the market positioning of the product.
After countless days and nights of research and design, the Li Ning brand has been readjusted, and in 2016, it finally turned a loss into a profit and began to enter the normal mode of profitability.
From a loss of 3.1 billion yuan in 2011 to a revenue of 10.2 billion yuan in 2021, Li Ning's success again has refreshed everyone's perception of the Li Ning brand.
Li Ning's success stems from "cultural self-confidence". He is well aware of today's young people's sense of honor and pride in the country, but also has absolute confidence in Chinese culture, Li Ning's rebranding is to seize this point, the national tide Li Ning instantly swept the entire domestic market.
The road to brand rejuvenation for 10 years is not easy for Li Ning, fortunately, he always has the company of his wife Chen Yongyan, the couple from the arena to the business world, they support each other, and experience the baptism of wind and rain together.
Although the years have left an indelible mark on Li Ning's body, his heart is still young, which can be seen in the selection of brand endorsements.
In March 2021, Li Ning signed a contract with Xiao Zhan, a young actor in China, as the new image spokesperson of the Li Ning brand, and the top-notch addition also created a new record for the sales of the Li Ning brand in China, which is Li Ning's vision, good at grasping the market orientation and following the trend.
From its inception to the present, the Li Ning brand has experienced more than thirty years of ups and downs, from the beginning of the small brand gradually developed to today's well-known well-known sports brand, and even became the first domestic sports brand to appear in New York Fashion Week, experiencing countless ups and downs and setbacks, before creating today's national tide brand.
05 Enthusiastic about public welfare undertakings and practicing social responsibility
While his career is successful, Li Ning is also very enthusiastic about public welfare. He led the establishment of the China Athletes Education Foundation, which provides learning opportunities for active or retired athletes, including Olympic champions such as Liu Xuan and Guo Jingjing, through which they have studied.
In September 2003, Li Ning donated more than 10 million yuan to all parts of the country through the Red Cross Society of China, and in the same year, he donated materials including sportswear, sneakers and sports equipment to middle schools in poor mountainous areas of Yunnan, totaling 210,000 yuan.
In 2005, Li Ning provided all clothing sponsorship for the "Bright Action" in Tibet for the development of medical and health undertakings in Tibet, and in December of the same year, he once again donated more than 13.4 million yuan of materials to the disaster areas and poor areas through the Red Cross.
In February 2008, during the snow disaster in the south, Li Ning Company took the initiative to provide cotton clothes of one million yuan to the disaster area.
The following month, the "China Health Express" Charity Foundation Director and Ambassador, Li Ning Foundation donated 2.7 million yuan to the China Health Express Foundation, providing full support for the Health Express to carry out surgery in Nanyang, Henan.
In addition, Li Ning is also the ambassador of the "Chinese Bone Marrow Bank", for the protection of wild animals, he is also a personal practice, personally participating in the "shark protection action", calling on the whole society to protect wild animals.
For him, it is the motherland that has cultivated him and given him unlimited glory, and Li Ning, who has achieved fame and success, has not forgotten to repay the society and has done his best to practice the social responsibility of Li Ning's sports brand.
06 Career has become a child and daughter Li Ning's peak life
If Li Ning can achieve such results, at the beginning is supported by Li Jingwei, a nobleman, then after the Li Ning brand separated from the Jianlibao Group, what made Li Ning was his xiannei assistant - Chen Yongyan.
One is the prince of gymnastics, the other is the princess of gymnastics, and the combination of the two has become a good story in the gymnastics world.
In 1984, after the Los Angeles Olympics, the 22-year-old Chen Yongyan announced her retirement. In 1993, the sports couple who had been in love for many years, in the witness of everyone, entered the palace of marriage, and Chen Yongyan officially became the woman behind Li Ning who accompanied him all the way through the storm.
In order to support her husband's career, his wife Chen Yongyan traveled to the United States alone, founded a gymnastics school, and used the funds to start the school to support the development and growth of the Li Ning brand. It is also Li Ning's honor to be able to get this virtuous wife in this life.
In 1998, Li Ning and Chen Yongyan, who had a small career, gave birth to their love crystal Chen Xiaoning, in order to take care of the family and support her husband's career, Chen Yongyan sold the American gymnastics company.
In 2005, Chen Yongyan became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter named Chen Xiaoyan, at this time Chen Yongyan once again put down the work in her hands and threw herself into the family, so that Li Ning had no worries and completed Li Ning's career.
With both children and daughters and a successful career, Li Ning's life has reached its peak. For the development and education of the two children, Li Ning and Chen Yongyan, who are also former gymnastics champions, naturally hope that the two children can inherit their sports careers, devote themselves to gymnastics, and win glory for the country.
However, the two children were not very interested in gymnastics training, and seeing this situation, the couple gave up the idea of letting them continue to learn gymnastics.
In an interview, Li Ning also said with a smile: "The reason why Xiaoning can't take the road of gymnastics is because there is no national training, and there is no championship." ”
However, although they are not interested in gymnastics, the two children love to learn, which also makes the two feel at ease.
In a business event, Li Ning took Li Xiaoning and Li Xiaoyan to participate in the event, and from the photos, it can be clearly seen that Li Xiaoning, who is 22 years old, has surpassed Li Ning in height, and his appearance is almost perfectly reproduced of his father's appearance, looking sunny and confident.
And daughter Li Xiaoyan is also wearing a casual and cute skirt, long hair fluttering, smiling, without the slightest stage fright. From the performance of the two children, it can be seen that they are well protected and educated by their parents. Like ordinary parents, for two children, couples are more likely to hope that their children can grow up independently, confidently and healthily.
Conclusion
After decades of ups and downs in the commercial sea, Li Ning's sideburns have long been white, and the years have finally left an indelible mark on this celebrity who created the "gymnastics myth" and "business miracle".
But so what? For Li Ning, everything is possible, even if he is no longer young, it does not affect him to continue to gallop in the business war!
Whether it is in the era of athletes, winning countless honors for the motherland, or after retiring from the army, turning to the business world and creating his own sports brand for China, Li Ning's influence and contribution to china's sports industry are obvious.
As an athlete, Li Ning has achieved the peak, and as a businessman, Li Ning has achieved the ultimate.
If it is said that he has won countless medals in 9 years and made him well known to countless Chinese people, then at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Li Ning, who held a torch and flew to the sky to light the sacred flame, has been remembered by people all over the world.
Li Ning often put the phrase "starting from the beginning" on his lips, he used his own practical actions to practice these four words, from the sports field to the business world, Li Ning really did it from scratch, and he did it very successfully. Li Ning's life is legendary, and his great contribution to China's sports industry is enough to be remembered by history!
Reference articles
[1] New image in the west: Li Ning with his son and daughter: The 22-year-old son is handsome, taller than Li Ning, and his daughter is beautiful and lovely
[2] China network recommendation: "Gymnastics Prince" Li Ning with his children to attend the event, the son is tall and handsome, the daughter is sweet and lovely
[3] China News Network: Sports brand Li Ning is enthusiastic about public welfare undertakings and loves to ignite a bright future
[4] People's Daily News: Li Ning: A legend of Chinese brands