Some time ago, I packed up the bookcase and accidentally found a notebook of "Liaoning Youth Magazine", which contained some yellowed manuscript paper, and when I opened it, it turned out to be the original manuscript of an article "Watching the Ball" that I wrote in high school.
After reading the article from beginning to end, the whole thing gradually became clear... This article was written in August and September 1996, when I was a sophomore in high school, and the summer vacation coincided with the 26th Atlanta Olympic Games, and I spent the entire holiday accompanied by the Olympics. The golden generation of the Chinese men's basketball team played against the invincible American Dream Third Team, and the fledgling Wang Zhizhi covered Robinson with a big hat; Lang Ping took charge of the Chinese women's volleyball team for the first time, and won three silver medals in the women's football, women's volleyball and women's softball team; Guo Jingjing, who was still following Fu Mingxia with a green face at that time; the birth of the badminton women's doubles Ge Fei/Gu Jun; The 5,000-meter gold medal and the 10,000-meter silver medal of Dongfang Shenlu Wang Junxia filled the gap in the athletics events of the Chinese Olympic Games, and there were many unforgettable scenes...
But the most exciting thing at that time was our national ball table tennis, which won the gold medals in the four events of men's and women's sports, especially the women's singles Deng Yaping and Chen Jing's championship match, which made people's blood boil, at that time, the mood could not be calm for a long time after watching it, I remember learning a "Watching Ball" written by Zang Kejia in elementary school, and I also wrote a "Watching Ball" for the blue background according to this article, but the big writer watched women's volleyball, and I watched women's table tennis.
'96 Olympic Table Tennis Women's Singles Final
After the start of school, I showed the article to the language teacher, and the teacher said that the writing was okay, and then revised it, it could become a model article, but the Olympic Games have ended, the heat has long passed, so it is no longer a newsletter, and the school does not have a school newspaper, so it cannot be published, you first take the right opportunity I will inform you. I put it away, I didn't expect that this harvest would be 27 years, not to mention Atlanta, even Beijing has held two Olympic Games, so many years of school and work, how many times I moved, I didn't expect to be saved. Now that it has been discovered, copying this article again today can be regarded as a compensation for the regret caused by the lack of a place to display it back then. The article is recorded according to the original text written in that year, and the following is this article:
The 100th anniversary of the Olympic Games, the sacrament of the century, the 26th Atlanta Olympic Games is famous for its large scale, events, and gold medals. The mainland is a table tennis country, in the 43rd World Table Tennis Championships held in Tianjin last year, mainland players won all 7 gold medals in the competition, many foreign journalists, athletes, coaches said that we took advantage of the time, location, people and factors, we will see you in Atlanta. Therefore, this trip to Atlanta, the Chinese team is also full of energy, to once again show the strength of a table tennis country, including all gold medals. The table tennis competition is divided into four events, men's doubles, men's singles, women's doubles and women's singles. A few days ago, the gold medals in men's doubles and women's doubles were taken away by Kong Linghui/Liu Guoliang and Deng Yaping/Qiao Hong from the mainland, although the men's singles were not carried out, but between a Chinese player Liu Guoliang and Wang Tao, which has belonged to China, only the women's singles were produced between Deng Yaping of the mainland and Chen Jing of Chinese Taipei.
The gold medals in men's and women's doubles have gone to China
This battle is related to the important task of the Chinese table tennis team to win all the gold medals on this trip, and it is particularly important. The Chinese team's original plan for Deng Yaping to meet Qiao Hong in the final did not materialize, Qiao Hong was defeated 3-0 by Chen Jing, but Qiao Hong also defeated another strong opponent, Zhili Koyama, who had defeated Deng Yaping at the Hiroshima Asian Games in '94, which relieved Deng Yaping's worries. In the women's doubles competition, Deng Yaping/Qiao Hong faced the extremely powerful pair of Chen Jing/Chen Qiudan, and narrowly defeated the opponent 3:2, so Deng Yaping is bound to go through a severe test. Let's introduce the players of both sides, Deng Yaping's 92-year Barcelona Olympic champion, Chen Jing's '88 Olympic champion, and the narrow road of the two Olympic champions meeting each other, which cannot but add a tense and intense atmosphere to this game.
In the 88 Olympic Games, Chen Jing (middle) won the women's table tennis singles championship
At 5 a.m. on August 1, the gripping competition was broadcast, and IOC President Samaranch was also seated.
The athletes from both sides appeared, Deng Yaping was very calm, and Chen Jing also seemed very calm, and when they looked at the situation, they knew that this match could not be ended in a short time. First of all, the test ball, the little ping-pong ball flew between the two rackets, and everyone was deeply fascinated, I don't understand what this is called, but the docent introduced that the two people play exactly the same way.
The first game began, and both sides showed their extraordinary strength, but Deng Yaping's tiger anger shocked Chen Jing, and every time he scored a point, he clenched his fists and bent his arms, and he was full of confidence.
The game was a battle between two armies, saber rattling, and although the battlefield was thousands of miles away in Atlanta, I was like a warrior, nervous and only the clarion call to battle in my ears. When I saw that our side did not catch the opponent's ball, I stood up anxiously and wanted to slap the ball back, and when I saw that my side made a mistake in serving, I couldn't help but make a sound of regret, every point we scored, applause and cheers, and the national flag fluttered on the field. In this game, Deng Yaping won 21:14 against Chen Jing.
At the beginning of the second game, Chen Jing hit the killer and pushed the game to a fever pitch. Deng Yaping dared to fight and scored repeatedly, and their tendencies could be heard from the size and strength of the cheering voice. The little ping-pong ball in the player's hand touches 2.4 billion eyes and 120,000,000 hearts, plus overseas Chinese, international students, and international friends who sympathize with us, it is innumerable. Chen Jing also performed well in this game and played very well. A good Deng Yaping, won the crucial second set with a score of 21:17. I was so happy and excited, we must win, we must win, win another game, win another game!
The third game began, and if Deng Yaping won this game, she would have won the women's singles championship and realized the plan of the Chinese table tennis team. Chen Jing was simply desperate, pouring out all his various playing styles like flowing water, and Deng Yaping was not to be outdone, and made a powerful counterattack, and the score was tied several times.
Each side did its best
The scores were entangled, and there were several draws
Yes, this game has reached a climax, I am somehow nervous in my heart, but I am relaxing myself, even if I lose this game, Deng Yaping still has a chance, and the other party loses and has no chance. Players, deeply understand this, the win or loss of a ball is not only related to the personal gold medal, but also related to the honor of the great motherland! It is necessary not only to play at the level of individuals, but also to play our national character, victory is not only the embodiment of personal strength, but also to win glory for the motherland! The two sides tangled until 20 draws, and Deng Yaping played very impatiently in the last few balls, eager to win. This mood is understandable, if you get three or four points, you will become a world champion, and there is no reason not to win quickly. But this mentality is a taboo in the sports field, and the calmer you behave, the better, which gave Chen Jing the last chance to struggle, and finally defeated Deng Yaping 22:20.
After the start of the fourth game, Chen Jing took advantage of the victory to chase, the score rose quickly, and Deng Yaping made a few small mistakes. Chen Jing's face always showed an incomprehensible expression, not nervous, unhappy, not smiling, not angry, Deng Yaping probably has not recovered psychologically, Chen Jing won the fourth game at 21:17.
What the? Chen Jing won two games in a row, how is this possible? Now when we lose two games in a row and lose temporarily, as a table tennis fan, as a member of the great motherland, our hearts are uneasy, and our emotions are like the ebb and flow of the waves.
In the fifth game, at the last moment of deciding the victory or defeat, I hoped to win, but I was afraid that hope would turn into disappointment; Afraid of failure, but I feel that I will not fail, now my mood can no longer be described by the word nervousness, probably already several times or even more than ten times nervousness, my hands have a lot of sweat, and my breathing has become very rapid. At this critical moment, the power went out! How did I do it, I was so anxious to cry, how disappointing, how frustrating! I left the TV with a melancholy, complaints, and reluctance, lying on the bed, without a trace of sleep, I was concerned about the results of the competition, like I was concerned about the results of each exam, this concern is a kind of patriotism from the heart, a part of the descendants of all things, who can not do this? The call came at nine o'clock, and at ten o'clock I watched the women's springboard dive, and mainland diver Fu Mingxia won the gold medal in this event, and I felt a little comfort, but I was most concerned about the fifth game that I couldn't see, and I could only wait until twelve o'clock to watch the noon Olympic report. In my heart, there seems to be the announcer's regretful accent "Chinese table tennis star Deng Yaping lost the gold medal 3:2", and the announcer's happy accent "Chinese table tennis star Deng Yaping won the women's singles championship again". My mood is really complicated, to be honest, I can't eat well today, and I always think about the last game. At this time, a picture appeared on the TV screen, a picture that I could not even imagine, but it did appear, as if my sigh moved God, specially made up for me to make up for the fifth game that I could not see, my mood was already too ... Too...... Too...... It's just indescribable.
That's how the fifth game went. The two sides have now reached a 2-2 draw, and I know that the mood of the two players is also very complicated. At first, the battle was fierce, but a few minutes later, Deng Yaping quickly opened the score with her superb ball skills and stable psychological quality, and the more courageous she became, she was heard shouting "Sai" on the field.
And Chen Jing? Not to mention the attack, even the power to parry is gone, the serve is repeatedly missed, and the catch also looks very old and sluggish. You know, the competition field is not only more than technology, but more importantly than psychology, the mainland gymnastics team technology can be said to be in the forefront of the world, but there are very big mistakes in the competition, this is a psychological problem. In the fifth game, Deng Yaping has won the game, 19:5, good! Two more points left, another beautiful ball, 20:5, there was already applause and cheers on the field. 21：5！ Oh...... The audience stood up and cheered, overseas Chinese and international students cheered, Chinese cheered, the entire Yangtze River and Yellow River cheered, and Samaranch also applauded.
In the end, Deng Yaping won
21:5 is a disparity in the score, the first four games of the two are not much different, each shows their strength, but how can this game be like the score of two world champions, people look at it, they think it is a match between a world champion and a second-rate player. So we can see that Chen Jing's psychology has completely collapsed, originally in the fifth game, she won two consecutive games, psychologically in an absolute advantage, and Deng Yaping was at a trough, but the score was exactly the opposite, which shows that the two have similar skills, but the psychological quality is simply a world of difference. After the game, many coaches praised Deng Yaping's superb psychological quality, in the case of her winning two consecutive games but losing two consecutive games ups and downs, she can quickly stabilize her psychology, for most athletes, it is unbearable, that is, the latecomer is superior, but Deng Yaping is an exception, it cannot be said that she is the best athlete in the mainland table tennis since the founding of the People's Republic of China. The award ceremony was presented by IOC President Samaranch himself, who expressed his high appreciation for Deng Yaping.
Samaranch personally presented the award
"The glorious laurels have always been made of thorns", Ai Qing's famous saying is not unreasonable. In the usual training, Deng Yaping is not afraid of hardship, not afraid of fatigue, sweats more than anyone, shows a will that ordinary women rarely have, a little hard work, a little receiving goods! As she said in an interview with reporters after the game: "It's too hard, it's really too hard, because... After four years, to continue to win this Olympic gold medal, for me (speaking of this, my voice has choked) paid too much", just said this sentence, she was already crying, too excited...
Not only tears of excitement, but also tears of the results of the hard training she has put in for several years! Deng Yaping, well, let's wish her continued good results in future matches!
This is all this article, it can be seen that the writing language in high school is not refined, the sentences are relatively lengthy and repetitive, and the theme of the article is not prominent enough, but the love for Guoping in my heart is sincere, and I am also full of admiration for Deng Yaping, and the desire to win the game rises to patriotism is also the simple thought of every Chinese in that era. And Chen Jing is also an excellent table tennis player, won the gold medal on behalf of the Chinese team at the 88 Seoul Olympics, and later retired for special reasons, because the technical and tactical level is really high, was poached by the Chinese Taipei team, after winning the silver medal in the 96 Olympic Games, the 2000 Sydney Olympics won the bronze medal, collecting the Olympic gold, silver and bronze medals.
Sydney Olympic Awards, from left to right: Li Ju (silver), Wang Nan (gold), Chen Jing (bronze)
But it is the 5th game of this final mentioned in this article that has been controversial for many years, and many fans and spectators feel that Chen Jing has let go, she is also a veteran who has been playing in the battlefield for many years, how did she only score 5 points? Now looking back at the video of the game that year, Chen Jing had a chance in the 5th game, just like suddenly not playing, fearful, mistakes continued, and later Chen Jing herself also clarified, saying that there was a little chaos on the scene at that time, which interfered with her, and the athletes stood at the scene of the game and wanted to win, without releasing water.
In a later interview, Deng Yaping responded domineeringly: "I don't need others to give the ball to win the championship." What is right and wrong, do not delve into it, and now it is generally believed that Chen Jing was indeed disturbed in the 5th game, and she did not make adjustments in time, just played mechanically, did not play her true level, Chen Jing achieved Deng Yaping in the first 2 games, achieved himself in the last 2 games, and achieved the country in the 5th game, grateful for the Chinese table tennis team's training grace for themselves, you see Chen Jing smiled happier than Deng Yaping at the award ceremony after the game.
Let's look at Chen Jing's next life trajectory, she filmed advertisements, published books, released records, and hosted in Taiwan, her life was colorful, she left Taiwan in 2001 and returned to Guangzhou, studied for a doctorate degree in sports psychology at South China Normal University, became a school professor after graduation, served as a torchbearer for the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and at the invitation of the National Table Tennis Center, served as a psychology tutor for the national table tennis team, and the Beijing Olympic table tennis gold medal also has her behind-the-scenes credit.
In 2008, he served as the torchbearer for the Beijing Olympic Games
Table tennis club was established, from left to right: Chen Jing, Liu Chengmin, Wei Qingguang
Later, it also opened China's first table tennis club funded by individuals. Like Deng Yaping, she has such a wonderful life experience, which has long faded into glitz and achieved the glory of her career.
(Note: Some pictures come from the Internet and have been appropriately edited, if there is infringement, please contact to delete)