At the 4th National Games in 1979, athletes from all over the world were full of momentum and energy.
In the women's volleyball arena, the Chinese players are straight and straight, and there is a girl who looks different from others, her left arm is hoisted by a white strap, and then hung around the neck.
There was no expression on her face, her eyes were full of determination, the originally quiet audience was noisy, obviously everyone noticed her, and the camera also cut the camera to the girl's body with everyone's curiosity.
Still unhurried, she swung one arm to the arena. After this competition, the girl had a new title - "One-Armed General". She is Chen Zhaodi, the Chinese women's volleyball player.
An indissoluble relationship with volleyball
In 1955, Chen Zhaodi was born in an ordinary family in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, with several children in the family, and the parents wanted to earn money to support the family, so naturally they could not take full care of it.
Chen Zhaodi loves to play by nature, and is always not conscious enough about learning, although the results are not outrageous, but they are not a reading material.
However, she is larger than children of the same age, and she has endless energy since she was a child, and she does not feel tired after running and jumping for a day, so she has a natural advantage in sports.
Among all the study subjects, Chen Zhaodi's favorite is sports, running, long jump, throwing shot put, each of which she can get the first place.
In 1972, the Zhejiang provincial team began to prepare for the women's volleyball player, Chen Zhaodi was recommended at the first time, the coach tested her bouncing power and endurance, and directly identified her as a candidate.
The professional training at the sports school was much worse than her usual playful exercise, and Chen Zhaodi had never been exposed to volleyball before, so she found it difficult when she first started training.
However, after training for a period of time and gradually mastering the tricks, Chen Zhaodi completely fell in love with the sport. Soon after, she was selected to train in the Beijing Sports Academy youth team because of her outstanding ability, but this time she needed to be away from home.
Coming to the strange north, Chen Zhaodi first came to an illness because he was not adaptable. Fortunately, the coach found out about her condition in time, giving her time to adjust her body.
Later, she came to the Bayi volleyball team, where she spent two years before entering the national volleyball training team in 1976 and became teammates with Lang Ping, Sun Jinfang and others.
The teammates here are all selected through a thousand miles, everyone has super strength, and the small gap must be balanced with great efforts.
Chen Zhaodi can't accept being behind others, so she trains extra hard, but it also leads to many irregular movements.
At that time, she had not been in the team for a long time, participating in college competitions, but she failed when she was hanging the ball. Coach Yuan Weimin saw it and found that she used the wrong movements, which was very hindering the efficiency.
Chen Zhaodi was arrogant at the time, feeling that he had been doing this for a long time, no one had ever said that it was wrong, and this failure could only be said to be an accident.
She was very unconvinced in her heart, thinking: "When you saw that I was not 'hanged', why didn't you see it when I was 'hanged'?" I must 'hang a good one for you to see.' ”
So I hoisted the ball again according to the original operation, and unfortunately it was a failure. Chen Zhaodi, who did not prove it to himself, seemed a little weak-minded, and did not go to Coach Yuan to watch the whole game.
When it was over, there was no accident, she was criticized by Coach Yuan, and then bitterly advised her to have a collective consciousness and change herself appropriately to be better.
Chen Zhaodi listened, and she no longer blindly fought alone, but began to learn to cooperate. Under the guidance of Coach Yuan, Chen Zhaodi made progress again, and the hard work of sweating every day also made her gain.
Practicing the ball has become the most important thing in Chen Zhaodi's life, and she and her teammates stay in the brightly lit stadium for a day, never shouting tired.
Once everyone strengthened their training, and after the end of the day, they were so tired that they collapsed directly on the ground and did not want to get up, and when they slowed down a little, they began to pick up the volleyball that had fallen to the ground.
This was Coach Yuan's usual gentle voice coming over like a magic voice: "Who wants to practice a little longer?" Chen Zhaodi took a breath, straightened up and said loudly, "I'll practice for a while." After saying that, she moved her joints and practiced 15 more.
Later, this experience was also placed in the middle school Language textbook, with the title of "Hard Practice", so that the new generation of the motherland could learn to see her willingness to endure hardships.
The "broken arm" is still on the field
Chen Zhaodi's personality is also implemented in all aspects of life, she will not admit defeat, even if she uses her best efforts, she will not give up.
When she was playing in the National League in 1978, she fell to the ground and injured the radius of her left arm, and when the bandaging was over, she optimistically teased that she was not a big problem and did not affect playing during the game.
But everyone knows that the most important thing for athletes is their physical condition, not to mention arm injuries, even if they are finger injuries, they will have a certain impact.
And bumps on the field are inevitable, the probability of causing secondary injuries is also very large, plus volleyball is mainly used by hand, not completely well-fed, it is difficult to participate in the game.
After that, Chen Zhaodi followed the doctor's advice and used the fastest time to recover the wound. When the match against Japan began in Taiyuan in 1979, Chen Zhaodi stood on the field again.
The coach and teammates were originally worried that Chen Zhaodi's arm had not fully recovered, so they repeatedly told her to do what she could before the game, and Chen Zhaodi smiled at the active arm and said that she had no problem.
At the beginning of the game, everyone was ready to go, and the two sides seemed to be evenly matched, and it was difficult to divide up and down. However, just when Chen Zhaodi jumped up to block the net, he was knocked to the ground by the opposing player, and just hit the left arm that was injured before. She snorted twice, and her face instantly turned white.
Other teammates rushed to help her to the treatment room, but Chen Zhaodi shook her head and said that she did not have much of a problem, insisted on watching everyone play in the audience, and waited until the game was won, Chen Zhaodi cheered with everyone before hurrying to go to treatment.
Sure enough, her arm broke again, and the fourth National Games two months later did not recover. However, this game is very important, Chen Zhaodi did not want to leave the field because of illness to bring bad influence to everyone, so he appeared on the field with an arm hanging.
Her strong appearance won the praise of the blockbuster, and the applause in the audience was thunderous, and the shouts of encouragement were endless. The title of "General with Broken Arm" is both admiration and respect for her. The following year, Chen Zhaodi won the title of sportsman for her infectious sportsmanship.
The general training intensity of Desperate Sanlang made Chen Zhaodi injured all over his body, but as an athlete, everyone would more or less feel unwell, so Chen Zhaodi did not say much to outsiders.
In addition to the old injury to her arm, the most painful thing is her waist injury, because of the long standing, jumping, for the strength of the waist and abdomen is very important, Chen Zhaodi early on aware of her own problems, on time to take medication treatment.
But diseases like this are useless only by drug treatment, and they mainly rely on recuperation.
But let Chen Zhaodi recuperate, it is better not to say, she still has to endure discomfort in the game, although every time she goes off the field to rest, she is in pain and cannot walk, but every time she plays she is like a miracle upper body, completely unaware of her physical discomfort.
In the third World Cup volleyball tournament in 1981, the Chinese women's volleyball team went to Japan to participate as the Asian champion, and all the team members were under great pressure.
Chen Zhaodi, as a veteran team member, was arranged to help the new team member Lang Ping one-on-one, they lived in a room, together to give each other encouragement, the Chinese women's volleyball team finally won 7 wins.
And Chen Zhaodi had a recurrence of a waist injury during the competition, clenched his teeth to persevere, and was still helped to the podium by Lang Pingren when receiving the award.
In 1982, the Chinese women's volleyball team entered the rematch of the World Championships with a negative score, coach Yuan stood in front of the entire women's volleyball team to boost morale, everyone has strength, as long as the play is stable, it will definitely win.
Chen Zhaodi was also quite nervous inside, this game was about whether he could turn the tide of battle, and all the players were riveted to play the ball.
In the end, China won the Cuban team 3-0, and then defeated the former Soviet Union team 3-0, just like a headwind, turning defeat into victory, and successfully entered the top four.
He again defeated his opponents 3-0 against Peru and won the tournament.
Since then, the Chinese women's volleyball team has won the third, fourth and fifth consecutive world championships, and won the historical achievement of five consecutive championships with extremely brilliant performance.
However, Chen Zhaodi did not participate in the next three matches, and she could no longer participate in the competition due to her aggravated waist injury, and she had no choice but to leave the arena.
Until a long time later, Chen Zhaodi still clearly remembered the feeling of the recurrence of her waist injury, she could not move her whole body, and the slightest turning of her body was a sharp pain in the cone.
Normal up and down the stairs has also become a big obstacle, can only let the soldiers carry her up and down to do things, for this reason, Chen Zhaodi also said: "My heart is particularly too unwilling to go, I always feel that it will cause trouble for others, but if I don't carry it, it is difficult to walk." ”
Although he left the front line, Chen Zhaodi still contributed to the volleyball career in mainland China. In 1983, she first went to beijing to study at the Sports Academy.
After graduation, she served as the deputy political commissar of the "Bayi" women's volleyball team, providing technical guidance for new women's volleyball players, and was also elected as a deputy to the Sixth National People's Congress.
Frozen at the age of 58
In the period of retreat to the second line, Chen Zhaodi also completed the major events of his life and married his lover Guo Xiaoming.
Every time she talked about her husband, Chen Zhaodi was happy and she said: "We met in the army, he began to go to the sea to do business after he changed careers, the two of us did not interfere with each other's work, and we discussed and solved things together." ”
In the summer of 1986, Chen Zhaodi noticed that her appetite was weak, her body was always tired, and she thought that she was tired from work and her body could not eat.
Colleagues always vomited when they saw her, and somewhat suspiciously asked her to go to the hospital for a check-up, because she reacted like she was pregnant.
Chen Zhaodi felt that the colleague's analysis was reasonable, and she did have a child when she came to the hospital, but she was busy at work at this time, and she wanted to take the athletes to play games, running around in the north and south, afraid of affecting the children, but she did not want to give up the team members she brought up.
In the end, he just touched his stomach, whispered an apology to the baby in his belly, and let her work hard with him.
After the birth of the child, he was really influenced by his mother, and he was interested in volleyball from an early age, and when the child could not speak and walk, he liked to hold the tennis ball and play tirelessly.
But at this time, the training of the Chinese women's volleyball team was also imminent, chen Zhaodi disregarded the body not long after giving birth, and sent her to Hangzhou to be cared for by her mother when she was not yet 2 years old.
She almost lived in the team, trained with the new women's volleyball players, improved together, and finally under her leadership, the Chinese women's volleyball team ranked third in the world, reaching the second place in 1990 and 1991.
Later, in 1993, Chen Zhaodi returned to work in the Culture and Sports Bureau of the General Political Department because of the expiration of her secondment period, and she was not a person who would be at ease by nature.
Here she is still conscientious, organizing various sports activities and competitions, sometimes holding several jobs, and can continue to work overtime when busy, working two days and two nights.
Although she no longer has direct contact with the field, Chen Zhaodi's sportsmanship has always existed, and she still plays on the court in her occasional free time.
And she once said: "No matter what kind of stadium, no matter whether my strength can win or not, I will always want to play and win, which has formed a conditioned reflex." ”
Her love for volleyball continued unabated, and once wanted to return to the women's volleyball team as a coach, but unfortunately, in 1998, Chen Zhaodi suffered from rectal cancer and underwent surgery, and her body could no longer support her dream.
In addition, she further improved herself, completing all the courses of Tsinghua University's postgraduate refresher courses in her spare time, she once said: "When I was young, I spent all my time playing ball and didn't learn many things, so I had to keep learning and improving." ”
Her outstanding career is visible to everyone, and in 2006, Chen Zhaodi was approved by the Central Military Commission to be promoted to the rank of major general. Since then, she has continued to do her duty and served as a commentator for the Chinese women's volleyball team at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Later, she gradually faded out of the public eye, and the young women's volleyball players grew up generation by generation, and she was relieved and proud of the women's volleyball girls.
Around 2013, Chen Zhaodi's health problems again, and years later she was admitted to the hospital under the arrangement of her family for a comprehensive examination.
At this time, her rectal cancer metastasized, and when she was found, she was already in advanced stages of liver cancer. Perhaps realizing that her body had reached the extreme, Chen Zhaodi always wanted to do something last.
She communicated well with Lang Ping, who had just returned to China, and put forward the current situation of the Chinese women's volleyball team, and said: "When today, who will be the coach to turn the tide?" A thousand heavy burdens to give up the king! "Strongly invite Lang Ping to return to China to teach.
At that time, Lang Ping did not reply, just hesitated for a while, and then shook Chen Zhaodi's hand to let her treat well, and their old women's volleyball team was still waiting to meet again.
However, Chen Zhaodi's condition has not improved over and over again, and the daughter who usually relies on her, who always seems to have not grown up, has suddenly matured a lot, and she accompanies her bed every day in the hope that Chen Zhaodi will recover her health as soon as possible.
Her husband, Guo Xiaoming, also suspended his work and tried to make her body more comfortable. At the beginning, Chen Zhaodi carried more than forty days in the hospital, and on April 1, her condition deteriorated and she was pushed into the operating room for emergency treatment.
This time, Chen Zhaodi never woke up, and her daughter sent a mournful Weibo: "Mother is good, there is no pain in that place, no disease, only happiness." Two days before I turn 26, you lie to me again, I don't hate you, I still love you. ”
Chen Zhaodi's relatives and friends, as well as his former teammates and coaches, soon got the news, and they came from all over the country to send Chen Zhaodi on his last journey.
On April 5, beijing had just rained a little, the air was still wet, and the entrance to the East Auditorium of Babaoshan was densely packed with more than 600 people, all of whom had come to send Off Chen Zhaodi.
Everyone stood quietly and watched Guo Chen walk into the spiritual hall holding the portrait of his mother, and spontaneously bid farewell in sorrow.
At the memorial service, Chen Zhaodi's old coach Yuan Weimin laid a wreath for her, and her former teammate Lang Ping cried silently, remembering the chat a month ago, she couldn't help but blush, looking at Chen Zhaodi in the ice coffin and saying: "We must be teammates in the next life." ”
Shortly after Chen Zhaodi's death, Lang Ping returned to the Chinese women's volleyball team as the head coach. She listened to Chen Zhaodi's hope for her before she died, and wanted to contribute her own strength to the Chinese women's volleyball team.
Under her leadership, the women's volleyball team won the Rio Olympic Championship in 2016, the third place in the 2018 Women's Volleyball World Championship, and the 2019 Women's Volleyball World Cup Champion.
And Chen Zhaodi's daughter Guo Chen, also inherited the mantle of her mother and became an excellent volleyball player. The spirit of the women's volleyball team has always existed, and Chen Zhaodi's lifelong experience of struggling for this has always existed in the heart of every women's volleyball girl, she is the inheritor, but also the role model of future generations.
Resources
[1] "Guangming Net", "Desperate Sanlang" of the Chinese Women's Volleyball Team
[2] "China News Network", "Female Ranking Returns Chen Zhaodi's Soul to Her Hometown, And Everyone Remembers and Weeps"
[3] "Guangming Net", "Chen Zhaodi: The One-Armed General"