"The sadness of the athletes. When you are okay and can get results for a certain place, he will try his best to get all the leaders to speak. Find all kinds of ways to threaten you. When you can't fight, you look to anyone, and no one ignores you. Speaking of difficulty, have you ever thought about the difficulties of athletes? Not human"
On the morning of June 4, 2013, Miao Lijie, the "first sister of the women's basketball team", publicly complained about the leader of a provincial sports bureau on Weibo, and in an interview with the media, she did not shy away, dared to act boldly, and bluntly said that Weibo was posted by herself.
After that, Miao Lijie posted another Weibo: "My Weibo is not to resent the country, don't misunderstand!" I'm fine. It is very guaranteed with their own efforts. I just hate the self-righteous leaders, don't pretend if you're okay. Listening to you is feelings, not listening is duty"
As we all know, Miao Lijie is known as the "Chinese female Kobe", played for the national team for 15 years, and single-handedly sent the women's basketball team to the Olympic Final Four at the 08 Athens Olympics.
She is also the only WCBA player to score 7,000+ points and is a member of both WCBA and WNBA championships, but why would such a women's basketball legend publicly criticize leadership? What kind of untold story does she have?
Hello everyone, I am Kong Yiji, who loves to steal books, welcome to Miao Lijie's story.
01 Naughty kids are finally taken care of
Miao Lijiang was born in 1981 in Bin County, Heilongjiang Province.
When she was a child, Miao Lijie was a very naughty child, in her words, the kind that "when you go out, you will play and forget to go home".
As a child, Miao Lijie was not interested in basketball, and her favorite was volleyball.
When playing volleyball once, a basketball coach felt that her physical talent was suitable for basketball, so she invited Miao Lijie to join the basketball team, but Miao Lijie directly refused.
That coach didn't want to miss a talent like Miao Lijie, so he kept chasing Miao Lijie's parents to do work, and Miao Lijie's parents also hoped that someone could take care of this naughty child for them, so they agreed to send Miao Lijie to practice basketball.
Miao Lijie, who was new to basketball, felt that everything was new and loved basketball, and she soon showed amazing talent, and was selected to train on the city's basketball team in 1990.
With the increase of training intensity, Miao Lijie is always exhausted when he returns home, her parents are very distressed after seeing it, and propose to let Miao Lijie give up basketball to concentrate on reading, but at that time, Miao Lijie has long been deeply attracted by the irregularity and unpredictability of basketball, she likes basketball, likes competition, and resolutely refuses to give up, and eventually her parents can only give up this idea.
In 1992, Miao Lijie was selected to join the Harbin Hualong team for professional basketball training, when her physical fitness was worse than that of other players, but Miao Lijie was not willing to be left behind, and constantly gave himself incremental strength and physical training.
In 1994, 13-year-old Miao Lijie participated in the Asian Middle School Basketball Tournament held in Hong Kong and won the only MVP medal in that tournament, at that time she did not know the gold content of this intercontinental MVP, but just felt that as long as it was the only one, it was good, and her parents were sports blind, they felt that as long as their daughter was happy, they just casually praised "My girl is not bad."
After winning the MVP, Miao Lijie also won the favor of Liu Jizeng, the head coach of the national youth team, and was selected for the national youth team in September 1994, when she was only 13 years old.
In November 1997, with the gradual withdrawal of women's basketball players at the same time as Zheng Haixia and Li Xin, Miao Lijie and Sui Feifei were selected by the new coach Ma Yuenan into the national team and officially began their fifteen-year career.
02 Setbacks
However, the road forward is by no means a smooth horse, the journey must be full of twists and turns and trials, in the early days of Miao Lijie's national team career, accompanied by more failures.
In the 1998 World Championships, the Chinese women's basketball team only won the twelfth place, and in the 1999 Asian Championships, the Chinese women's basketball team had an even more dismal record, only finishing fourth, which means that the Chinese women's basketball team will not be able to qualify for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, which is a great shame for the Chinese women's basketball team that has participated in the Olympic Games for four consecutive times and won 1 silver and 1 bronze.
In the key Olympic qualification battle, Miao Lijie and Chen Bin missed free throws at key moments and became the "sinners" of the national women's basketball team, and this fiasco caused great psychological trauma to Miao Lijie and other young players.
But Miao Lijie is a very lively and cheerful girl, and after the failure, she made up her mind, but practiced harder.
In the late autumn of 1999, coach Gong Luming, who had led the Chinese men's basketball team to the top eight of the Olympic Games in 1996, returned from further study abroad, facing the troubled Chinese women's basketball team, he resolutely took over the coaching whip and immediately led the Chinese women's basketball team to the plateau for special training, opening the beginning of lying down and tasting courage and climbing from the trough to the peak.
2002 was the most crucial year of Miao Lijie's career, she first won the domestic league MVP, then won the sixth place in the World Championship with her teammates, and in the match against Brazil, Miao Lijie hit two free throws in the final moment, making up for the regret of missing free throws at key moments in the 1999 Asian Championships.
In the 2002 Busan Asian Games, another championship trophy that had been separated for 16 years announced the strong return of the Chinese women's basketball team, and under the leadership of coach Gong Luming, Miao Lijie gradually became the core figure of the national women's basketball team.
In 2004, under the leadership of coach Gong Luming, the young women's basketball team with Miao Lijie, Chen Nan, Sui Feifei, Chen Luyun and Ye Li as the core launched an attack on the Athens Olympic Games, however, the Chinese women's basketball team suffered another heavy setback, in the key quarterfinals, facing New Zealand, first Chen Luyun was injured, and then was pressed to kill, blocking the Chinese women's basketball team from the quarterfinals.
At that time, Miao Miao and the girls of the women's basketball team vowed to play a beautiful turnaround battle at the Beijing Olympics, and for this moment, Sui Feifei and Miao Lijie went to the WNBA to experience, they are also the second and third people in China to enter the WNBA since Zheng Haixia, and they are lucky to win the WNBA championship.
However, in the 2006 World Championships, due to the departure of Chen Luyun and Ye Li, the coach was replaced by a foreign coach Tom Maher, and the new players had not yet run-in, and the Chinese women's basketball team once again fell into a trough and ranked twelfth again in the World Championships.
However, Miao Lijie gave full play to his leadership role and actively encouraged the team to work hard, and the team won the championship again in the Asian Games in '06, and also won the runner-up in the Asian Championships in '07, successfully qualifying for the Asian Games.
Miao Lijie, Chen Nan and Sui Feifei once again led the players to the Olympics, this time to make up for the regrets of four years ago.
03 Battle of the Gods
When the test came again, the Chinese women's basketball team withstood the pressure, first narrowly beating rivals Spain 67-64 in the first game, and then victory in succession, Mali, New Zealand and the Czech Republic to advance to the quarterfinals of the Beijing Olympics with second place in Group B.
In the 1/4 final, Chen Nan was overwhelmed by the opponent's tall inside, and Miao Lijie stepped up just when he caught a cold, scoring 28 points alone, shooting more than 70%, leading the Chinese women's basketball team to a 77-62 victory over Belarus, and again in the final four after 16 years, although he lost to Australia and Russia in the semifinals and third-place competition, Miao Lijie's performance of 17.8 points per game throughout the Olympic Games was enough to conquer everyone.
Except for Jackson, the Australian center who chased Yao Ming, no one can score more than Miao Lijie, and her "Chinese female Kobe" and "Rakshasa" names are terrifying.
After the Beijing Olympics, Miao Lijie did not take pride in his achievements, but fully affirmed the help of coaches, teammates and fans to the Chinese women's basketball team, which is what a leader should do.
After helping the Chinese team return to the final four, Miao Lijie has been born with the intention of retirement, she has decided to retire after 11 years of fighting in the national team, but at this time the Heilongjiang Sports Bureau found her, did not allow her to retire, let her continue to help Heilongjiang play the National Games, as a condition, Heilongjiang Sports Bureau promised to give Miao Lijie a house and department-level treatment after retirement.
However, when Miao Lijie led the Heilongjiang team to the top four of the National Games, the Heilongjiang team refused to fulfill its promise and agreed to Miao Lijie's transfer to Shenbu, and Miao Lijie also looked for them at that time, but they were all beaten back by a set of taijiquan.
In fact, as the first person in the women's basketball team at that time, Miao Lijie's conditions were not bad, so there was not much pursuit of this matter, however, 4 years later, the Heilongjiang Provincial Sports Bureau repeated the same trick and found Miao Lijie again, in addition to drawing cakes, but also soft and hard, which also caused Miao Lijie a deep disgust...
Miao Lijie is a relatively casual and honest person off the field, so in the 2013 Weibo complaining about this, Miao Lijie said in an interview: "My conditions are also very good, I don't need any relief, I just vent, I must have credibility as a person, and also hold grievances for the disadvantaged athlete group." “
Unloading grinding and killing donkeys, people walking tea and cooling is a common phenomenon in the sports world, especially some unpopular projects, even if they win more championships, they may not be well placed after retirement, and tragedies such as Caili, Zhang Shangwu, Guo Ping abound.
After the Beijing Olympics, Miao Lijie, who failed to retire, returned to the national team and won the 2009 Asian Championships, the 2010 Asian Games and the 2011 Asian Championships with his teammates, continuing his dominance in Asia.
However, at the 2010 World Championships, the Chinese women's basketball team only finished 13th, which was unacceptable for the Olympic Final Four teams two years ago.
Although coach Sun Fengwu has always emphasized the need to train new talents for the 2012 London Olympics, the women's basketball team has not been a reliable newcomer in those years, and Bian Lan, who is regarded as Miao Lijie's successor, frequently suffered injuries, and finally put the treasure on Miao Lijie and Cheng Nan, although Miao Lijie averaged 16 points, 4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game in the World Championships, but in the end it did not help.
However, after the World Championships, the women's basketball players still achieved a certain growth, so in the 2012 Olympic Games, in addition to Miao Lijie, Chen Nan, there are gradually more reliable newcomers, Chen Nan is in better condition averaging 15.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, and Miao Lijie is the third in the team with an average of 9.3 points per game, of course, and Ma Zengyu with 12.5 points, in this Olympic Games, the Chinese women's basketball team won the sixth place.
Despite being a 31-year-old veteran at the time, she contributed 17 points and 10 assists in the win over Croatia and 12 points, five rebounds and eight assists against World Cup champions Czech Republic.
After 2012, Miao Lijie chose to end his national team career, from 1997 to 2012, she played for the national team for 15 years, and this is also the generation of Zheng Haixia, another revival of women's basketball, Miao Lijie represented the Chinese team in the Olympic Games 3 times, once fourth, once sixth, once ninth, and also won a number of Asian championships, Asian Games championships, can be said to be the iconic figure of Chinese women's basketball.
She was still in form, but she chose to make way for the youngsters, saying: "I've been playing in the national team for 15 years, it's really too long, I have to give up the opportunity to the youngsters, and it's also important to get myself in good condition and get into the next stage of work." ”
04 Fulfilling dreams and sorrows
Since the establishment of the WCBA in 2002 to 2011, Liaoning and Bayi teams have won nine consecutive championships.
For Miao Lijie, she has long been famous, whether at home or abroad, she has won almost all the honors, the scoring king of international competitions, the scoring king of the league, MVP... She has won almost all the honors that domestic women's basketball players can get, and her biggest regret is that she has never won a championship.
In the last 1:07 of Game 5 of the 2011 CBA Finals, Shen Bu trailed Guangdong 61-64, and in this final time, Miao Lijie broke through to the Guangdong team penalty area twice, caused opponent fouls twice, and made all 4 free throws, helping the team win 65-64 against Guangdong team, breaking the consecutive dominance of Bayi women's basketball and Liaoning women's basketball team, and helping Shen Department become the third WCBA champion team.
Throughout the season, the 30-year-old Miao Lijie averaged 23 points per game, and in the key 9 playoff games, she averaged 28 points per game, and at the award ceremony, Miao Lijie stood on the podium and kissed the championship trophy affectionately, his cheeks were full of glory and joy...
After 2012, Miao Lijie began to suffer injuries, in the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons, Miao Lijie did not appear on the WCBA field, until 2014-2015, Miao Lijie returned from injury to return to the field again, but after playing 10 games, Miao Lijie retired again due to injury, thus ending his WCBA career.
But Miao Lijie's career as a basketball player is not over, because she has another regret, that is, she has never won the National Games championship.
In the 2017 National Games, veteran Miao Lijie and veteran Chen Nan completed the last joint team of their careers in the People's Liberation Army women's basketball team, but competitive sports do not talk about feelings, and the eight-consecutive championship of the People's Liberation Army women's basketball team finally lost to the young Guangdong women's basketball team, which made Miao Lijie retire with regret.
Before this National Games, Miao Lijie has been away from the field for 1027 days, but in order to perfect the curtain call, she still chose to return to the arena, in the post-game interview, Miao Lijie said: First of all, I am a soldier, I must dutifully complete this task, and I also want to achieve a gold medal in the National Games to help the People's Liberation Army women's basketball team win 9 consecutive championships.
Although there are regrets, but when talking about Miao Lijie's career, you have to use the word great, when presenting the award to the runner-up team, Yao Ming, a contemporary of Miao Lijie, deliberately omitted Miao Lijie, and at the last moment, Yao Ming explained: "A player like Miao Lijie is to be put to the end."
Yao Ming's words are the biggest affirmation of Miao Lijie's career, the ups and downs along the way turned into smiles, and the setbacks along the way achieved brilliant.
Life after retirement
In 2014, after ending her CBA career, the 33-year-old Miao Lijie took over the coaching whip of Shen Bu, and after Shen Bu merged with the Bayi women's basketball team, she became the head coach of the People's Liberation Army youth team, as well as the head coach of the U15.
In December 2022, she won the title of National 38 Red Flag Bearer, and later became a member of the 14th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Miao Lijie is a bold and straightforward, daring figure, and dares to speak up for vulnerable groups, not only good ball skills, better personality, positive and courageous, dare to fight, is a model for Chinese women's basketball!
In 2016, Miao Lijie married Hu Haitao, a soldier three years older than her, and the two held a grand wedding, and many celebrities came to congratulate her.
Miao Lijie and Hu Haitao met after the 2012 London Olympics under the introduction of a friend, both of them are 1.78 meters tall, but the other party never plays basketball, and rarely watches basketball games, only when Miao Lijie plays, Miao Lijie once ridiculed him: "He is not my fan, he will only watch the game silently." Miao Lijie teased him.
Miao Lijie is the character of a female man, and Hu Haitao is a bit like a stuffy gourd, few words, when he first interacted with him, Miao Lijie was actually hesitant, but when Miao Lijie went to watch the movie "Charlotte Troubles" alone, and also saw himself crying, Hu Haitao's text message suddenly lit up on the mobile phone screen: "If you don't marry, I won't marry." ”
What the book says is not a book, so let's do it! When Miao Lijie was moved, Hu Haitao's confession text message was like Cupid's arrow, directly shot into Miao Lijie's heart.
When the groom Hu Haitao took Miao Lijie's hand from his father-in-law, he said sincerely: "I will love her well and love this family." ”
And Miao Lijie also took the microphone from Hu Haitao, and she said movingly: "Haitao may not be the best, nor is he rich and handsome, but for me, what he gives me is a particularly important sense of security." ”
In Miao Lijie's eyes, Hu Haitao is a real, kind and down-to-earth person, and she said to her parents: Please rest assured, although your daughter is married, but just like finding you another son, he will take good care of you.
Shortly after marriage, Miao Lijie gave birth to a daughter for Hu Haitao, and it is worth mentioning that Miao Lijie weaned her daughter when she was 8 months old in order to participate in the 2017 National Games, which is also the biggest debt she feels to her daughter.
Miao Lijie said: "After becoming a mother, women become superhumans, I hope to spend as much time as possible with my daughter, but the task is ahead, and sacrifices must be made." ”
Now Miao Lijie's daughter is also 6 years old, Miao Lijie will often take her to the court to play, and many fans hope that the daughter of the female basketball player's feared "Rakshasa" can embark on the road of basketball!
Because Miao Lijie only retired in 2017 and did not meet the requirements that the Basketball Hall of Fame must be retired for 5 years to be selected, Miao Lijie was not selected for the Hall of Fame, but with Miao Lijie's contribution, sooner or later he will be on the list!