Cao Yanhua and her ex-husband Shi Zhihao were once known as the "golden boy and jade girl" in the table tennis industry, Cao Yanhua is the first generation of table tennis "big sister", and her ex-husband is the meritorious coach of national table tennis.
Cao Yanhua was a goddess-like existence in the eighties, she became a world champion at the age of 17, and was the first Chinese women's table tennis player to win the World Table Tennis Championships Grand Slam after Lin Huiqing, even after retiring for many years, her "table tennis complex" did not fade due to the passage of time, but turned to run a school and cultivated table tennis stars like Xu Xin for the country.
Cao Yanhua is a maverick woman, who once violated the rules and fell in love with Shi Zhihao, and after retiring from the military, she lived with Shi Zhihao in Japan and Germany for nearly ten years, and then secretly divorced because of different ideas after more than ten years of love, after the two divorced, Shi Zhihao married Li Nan, a female disciple 23 years younger, and Cao Yanhua finally found his "warm man" after experiencing a long-term relationship window.
Hello everyone, I am Kong Yiji, who loves to steal books, and today I walked into the story of Cao Yanhua, a famous person in the table tennis world.
01 Become a sister at the age of eighteen
Cao Yanhua is a player who is "hated" by female table tennis players of the same generation, because she began to practice at the age of 5, entered the national team at the age of 14 from Shanghai Hongkou Sports School "jumping three levels", won the Asian Championship at the age of 16, and began to win the world championship at the age of 17, with Cao Yanhua led by the female table tennis player in 62 and 63, directly became a mountain that 65 and 66 could not cross.
In 1978, this was the year when Cao Yanhua's table tennis career began to take off, and the opportunity to take off was the whim of the then women's team coach Lin Huiqing, in the women's singles of the 1778 Table Tennis Asian Championships, four members of the Chinese women's team reached the semifinals, which means that the Chinese team has locked the singles championship.
In order to train young players, coach Lin Huiqing gave an order to let the four players open to play, in the era when handicap has become a habit, coach Lin Emi-ching can be said to set a precedent, and finally Cao Yanhua, who was born in the "guerrilla" team, defeated two senior masters in succession, and won the women's singles championship on her 16th birthday.
It is worth mentioning that in this Asian Championships, Cao Yanhua defeated the world singles champion Park Yingshun twice in the team and singles competitions, with her outstanding performance in this Asian Championships, Cao Yanhua quickly entered the main team of the women's team, and in the 1979 World Table Tennis Championships, she won the women's team championship, which was also her first world championship.
Soon after, Zhou Lansun became Cao Yanhua's coach, and soon after he took office, he began to implement the plan to masculinate women's technology, and also changed Cao Yanhua to arc circle play, and he was extremely strict with the female team members, even if the players came to menstruation, it would not reduce the intensity of training.
Once, Cao Yanhua could only take painkillers for training because of dysmenorrhea, one tablet, two tablets, three tablets, but Zhou Lansun was not moved at all, just told her that the feeding angle could be smaller, Cao Yanhua ran less, but when he really fed the ball, he used his famous push to push Cao Yanhua all over the ground and roll, and several times fell to the ground unconscious, but after waking up, he continued to practice.
Another time, Cao Yanhua's elbow accidentally hit the corner of the ping-pong table when playing a team match, blood gushed out, and bones loomed, but Zhou Lansun just asked the doctor to bandage her and let her continue to finish the game, and said calmly: What if this situation is encountered in the world competition?
Under such almost devilish training, Cao Yanhua made leaps and bounds in just a few months, quickly winning her first national championship, winning seven open singles titles in 1980, almost all the matches she played, officially establishing her status as the "first sister" of the national team.
02 "Disobedient Girl" is retired
After establishing the status of "first sister", Cao Lihua's future was originally promising, but she has always been a maverick, but she has made a lot of moths.
Because in this year, Cao Lihua and Shi Zhihao talked about love, although it was very secret at the beginning, but as time went on, the underground relationship between the two gradually surfaced, because every weekend, other team members are working overtime to practice, only Cao Yanhua is special, either going out with Shi Zhihao to talk about love, or chatting with her Jiangnan buddies, and smoking a little cigarette and drinking a little wine from time to time, at that time, the national team was completely prohibited for smoking, drinking, burning heads, and falling in love, but each of the above, Cao Yanhua seems to be inseparable.
Once, Cao Yanhua and others gathered in the dormitory of the Shanghai swimming team members Da Diao to smoke, each hand, not happy, smoking is smoke, fluttering, after finishing the matter to step on the cigarette butt, clean the battlefield, dashing away, but because there was an unstepped cigarette butt just thrown on the mop dipped in kerosene, it was the middle of the night, if someone did not pass by, the whole house would have to be burned, and their heroic deeds were also discovered by the leader.
In addition, there was a love affair with Shi Zhihao, when the matter was reported to the General Administration of Sports, and then the leaders of various training teams were scolded by the team, and some party members were also punished with warnings within the party.
After the leader was scolded, he immediately came over to find Cao Yanhua and Shi Zhihao to settle the account, but Cao Yanhua did not admit it, and the leader had no way, because Cao Yanhua was suffering from pneumonia at that time and belonged to the "Australian anti-positive", so the leader looked for Shi Zhihao for blood tests twice in three days to see if he had become positive, once found it was ironclad evidence, but fortunately, each blood test did not yield.
But Cao Yanhua's head coach Zhou Lansun is not so lucky, and he is criticized by the leader every day, but Zhou Lansun resisted the pressure, helped Cao Yanhua say good things every day, praised her for her great progress, no distraction, and then found Cao Yanhua privately, he is a fatherly existence in Cao Yanhua's heart, when he said the sentence: "I am not asking you now as a coach, but as a father, is what they said true?" At that time, Cao Yanhua confessed everything.
But Zhou Lansun, who learned the truth, not only did not scold Cao Yanhua, but also did not force them to break up, but said to Cao Yanhua in a serious manner: "You must not affect the training, you must fight for yourself." ”
Cao Yanhua was very touched by what the coach did, and since then, Cao Yanhua has converged her maverick personality and become a good girl.
In the 1981 World Table Tennis Championships, she played a total of 20 times in the team competition, without a single defeat, and also won the women's doubles championship with Zhang Deying, and also passed all the way in the singles competition, defeated the South Korean dark horse Li Shouzi in the semifinals, met teammate Tong Ling in the final, Cao Yanhua who is good at straight board anti-rubber arc circle play Tong Ling, in the qualifying match of the team, Cao Yanhua has never lost to Tong Ling, but because of Cao Yanhua's bohemian personality, it is considered to have a problem with thinking and is not loved by leaders, So on the grounds that Tong Ling had made great achievements in the team competition, he asked Cao Yanhua to give the ball, and in the end, Cao Yanhua played a match-fixing with a grievance...
In 1983, ushered in the opportunity to "vent anger", at the National Games that year, Cao Yanhua met Tong Ling in the four events of women's team, women's singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles, Cao Yanhua easily won all the victories with a handle, especially in the women's singles final, Cao Yanhua swept Tong Ling 3-0, which can be described as full of anger.
In the same year's World Table Tennis Championships, Cao Yanhua won the women's singles championship and the women's team championship, and then won the women's singles championship in the first Asian Cup.
In 1985, Cao Yanhua participated in the World Championships again, but this time her position in the women's team was inexplicably replaced by He Zhili (Zhili Koyama), and Tong Ling, who was no longer a key member of the team, also entered the women's team list, but the 83-year World Table Tennis Championships champion Cao Yanhua was not selected, such a mysterious operation made Cao Yanhua depressed, but she still won the women's singles championship and mixed doubles championship that year, and successfully completed the World Championship Grand Slam.
Also in 1985, Cao Yanhua, who was not yet 23 years old, announced her retirement due to liver disease, the most important thing is that table tennis is about to become an official sport in the Seoul Olympics 3 years later, although some teammates persuaded her to retire after participating in the Olympics, but Cao Yanhua still chose to retire from the rapids.
In 1985, Jiefang Daily hosted a grand farewell exhibition match for Cao Yanhua at the Shanghai Gymnasium, which ended her career as an athlete, and in 1985, she won the title of international athlete and "National Top Ten Athletes".
Of course, if there is any regret in her table tennis career, it must be that she lacks an Olympic gold medal among her 56 gold medals, and if she waits another three years, maybe there will be no regrets...
03 Ten years of sojourning
Cao Yanhua and Shi Zhihao have only partnered once in mixed doubles in their entire careers.
At that time, five men and four women, including Cao Yanhua and Shi Zhihao, went to Europe to compete, and the two gradually developed feelings during a month and a half of getting along.
Shi Zhihao diligently helped Cao Yanhua carry his luggage, and invited Cao Yanhua to watch a movie when he had nothing to do, and Cao Yanhua saw that Cao Yanhua's bag belt was broken, so he used unskilled needlework to help him sew up, and after sewing, Shi Zhihao couldn't even reach his hand...
After returning to China, the two began an "underground romance", not only with Shi Zhihao's teammate Cai Zhenhua to help cover, but also Cao Yanhua's coach turned a blind eye, so although the underground relationship between the two has always loomed, it has never been really exposed.
Until January 1983, this relationship finally could not be hidden, and Shi Zhihao's state declined after the 36th World Table Tennis Championships, and he could talk about results in love, and he could pretend not to know, if he couldn't talk about results, he had to play Mandarin Duck, so Shi Zhihao was returned to the Bayi team, and in 1984 he went to the Shanghai Sports Institute for further study.
Although Cao Yanhua killed all sides after Shi Zhihao left, he missed his lover in Shanghai very much, coupled with suffering from various inexplicable treatment, and suffering from liver disease himself, he simply washed his hands in the golden basin and went home to get married.
In May 1986, Cao Yanhua and Shi Zhihao got a marriage license, and four months after the wedding, Cao Yanhua received an invitation from a Japanese company to study in Japan, originally saying that he was going to go with Shi Zhihao, but Shi Zhihao was still in the Bayi team at that time, belonging to the active military and could not study abroad at his own expense.
However, the director of the Shanghai Sports Commission extended a helping hand at this time, gave Shi Zhihao the green light, helped him transfer to the Shanghai Sports Commission, and arranged to be a coach in the gymnasium, but because of the influence, Shi Zhihao did not go abroad immediately, and waited for a while to go to join Cao Yanhua.
It is said that there are only two extremes of women's heroism: non-elegant is rough, while Cao Yanhua is elegant with cynicism, unruly and with the gentleness of Jiangnan women, many women also have to shake their heads when they see Cao Yanhua and "feel ashamed of themselves".
And when he was young, Shi Zhihao was also heroic and sassy, and he had a handsome style between his eyebrows, so the two were called the "golden boy and jade girl" of the table tennis when they were young.
In 1987, Shi Zhihao received an invitation from the German Glenzag Table Tennis Club to coach in Germany, and Cao Yanhua also went to Germany with Shi Zhihao, and the two became the 97th and 98th residents of a small town in central Germany.
The two are national players, Cao Yanhua is a Grand Slam player, in Germany is simply a dimensionality reduction, the two are also respected by Germans, in addition to Shi Zhihao coaching in Germany, Cao Yanhua has received sky-high contracts from many clubs, but Cao Yanhua has declined one by one, because she is not willing to work anymore, let alone meet the motherland.
Shi Zhihao's income in Germany is quite high, and three years later, he bought a high-end villa with a swimming pool and a high-end car, living carefree, and Cao Yanhua has also transformed from a generation of table tennis "big devils" into a housewife who washes, cooks, and cleans rooms, although she has no complaints about this, but with her character, she finally can't hold back the unruliness in her heart.
In order to pass the time, Cao Yanhua first opened a Chinese restaurant, and then started Sino-German trade, her language talent is very good, she learned to speak fluent Japanese when she studied in Japan, and learned German after coming to Germany, plus she is already proficient in English, and she is the kind of character who can deal with people, so her business in Germany is also doing well.
In early 1992, Cao Yanhua became pregnant, but miscarried soon after, she once suspected that it was caused by smoking, and regretted that she did not quit early.
Soon after, Cao Yanhua, who was recuperating her body, became pregnant again, and at 5 months, the German doctor told Shi Zhihao that she could see her gender, and then asked Shi Zhihao: "You must like boys very much", Shi Zhihao nodded, but the doctor grimaced and told him: Unfortunately, you can only wait for the next time.
In 1993, Cao Yanhua successfully gave birth to a son for Shi Zhihao, named Shi Zexi, nicknamed Little Billy.
Although the life of a family of three in Germany is very moist, but always in a foreign country also makes the two suffer from homesickness, in 1995 when Shi Zhihao's family of three returned to China, Cai Zhenhua, an old comrade-in-arms who was the head coach of men's table tennis at the time, said to the two: "Come back, there is a place for you in China!" ”
At the end of 1996, the family of three ended their trip to Germany and returned to the great motherland and hometown of Shanghai.
04 Lao Yan flew separately, and Cao Yanhua concentrated on running the school
After returning to China, Shi Zhihao became the head coach of Shanghai men's table tennis, but opened his own table tennis club and Cao Yanhua table tennis school, and even wrote a book specifically for himself: "The Woman Who Belongs to the Tiger - Cao Yanhua's Autobiography", and also started a business, in just one year, Cao Yanhua has multiple identities as a businessman, writer, and vice chairman of the Shanghai Table Tennis Association.
In 1997, Shi Zhihao was invited by Cai Zhenhua to coach the national second team, Shi Zhihao wanted his wife to go with him, but Cao Yanhua was unwilling to leave Shanghai, let alone give up his career, so Shi Zhihao had to enter Beijing alone, and before leaving, his 4-year-old son Shi Zexi hugged Shi Zhihao and said: "Dad, you must come back to see me often." ”
Listening to his son's words, the corners of Shi Zhihao's eyes couldn't help but moisten, and Cao Yanhua also turned around to hide his face and cry bitterly, and the family of three also lived a life of separation in two places.
On National Day in 1998, Cao Yanhua said to her husband, who was struggling to return home: "I don't want to live like this anymore!" The son is older, he needs the father's love, you come back. ”
But in the end, neither of them was willing to give up their respective careers, and before Shi Zhihao boarded the plane back to Beijing, Cao Yanhua choked up and pleaded with Shi Zhihao: "I hope you can seriously consider the feelings of my son and me."
In the three years from 1997 to 2000, Shi Zhihao stayed at home for only 20 days, and when he returned home, his son ran away when he saw him, and Cao Yanhua also showed Shi Zexi's essay "My Father" to Shi Zhihao.
When he saw what 7-year-old Shi Zexi wrote: "My father is very handsome, he is the coach of the national team, I miss him, but I have no impression of him..." After Shi Zhihao suddenly cried, he really owed his son too much over the years...
Over the years, the two have quarreled countless times about living in a different place, and finally Cao Yanhua proposed: "Since we are not willing to give in to each other... Why still tether together? ”
In the end, the former "golden boy and jade girl" chose to secretly go through the divorce procedures without the parents and sons of both sides, although in the end Lao Yan separated, but the breakup of the two was quite decent, and after the divorce, Cao Yanhua will also take her son to see her grandparents and accompany them to the spring outing, and the relationship with Shi Zhihao has also been eased, after all, there is a son who is connected by flesh and blood, and he is destined to be a passerby in this life.
Years later, Cao Yanhua said in an interview that she did not regret marrying Shi Zhihao or regretting the divorce, but if she gave him another choice, she would not divorce, because the divorce hurt her son and the parents of both parties.
After the divorce, Cao Yanhua worked harder to run her own table tennis school, she taught in the process of business, although they have professional teaching, they have never just to teach ball, whether it is a 13-year-old mentally disabled child, or a 60-year-old American woman, she never refuses, because her teaching philosophy is: let every student find their place in life.
Cao Yanhua, as a former table tennis overlord, knows that it is not easy for an athlete to get ahead, after all, there are only a few like them who can get ahead by playing ball, so the purpose of her school is: in addition to playing table tennis, you must read as an adult, so that even if there is no way out in table tennis in the future, there are other skills to step into society.
Over the years, Cao Yanhua's table tennis school has cultivated excellent disciples such as Xu Xin, Zhao Zihao, and Shang Kun, and her best disciple is Xu Xin, who has ranked first in the standings many times, and Xu Xin and Cao Yanhua are also mother and son.
"My Olympic dream is on Xu Xin, I hope he can make up for my shortcomings," this is Cao Yanhua's greatest expectation for Xu Xin.
Although Xu Xin has not won the Olympic singles title, the two Olympic team champions in Rio and Tokyo also make up for Cao Yanhua's regret.
05 Each has its own belonging, the best of both worlds
After breaking up with Cao Yanhua, Shi Zhihao gradually fell in love with his disciple Li Nan, who was 23 years younger than him, in 2004, and the two married in 2010 after Li Nan officially withdrew from the national team, Li Nan gave birth to a daughter for Shi Zhihao, and the two have been very happy in their lives after marriage.
Shi Zhihao served as the head coach of Chinese women's table tennis from September 2005 to November 2012, leading Chinese women's table tennis to achieve good results in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics, but it was also controversial because of the incident of table tennis star Guo Yue...
Shi Zhihao was elected vice president of the ITTF after leaving the head coach of national table tennis, and is also the president of China Table Tennis Academy and the vice president of Shanghai Sports Institute, continuing to contribute to the table tennis world.
And Cao Yanhua experienced a longer relationship window after the divorce, and later married the former national player Diao Ming, who is 1.93 meters tall and participated in the 1983 Table Tennis World Championships, but due to the abundance of male table tennis talents at that time, Diao Ming quickly faded out of the table tennis world.
Because her marriage to her first husband Shi Zhihao received too much attention, Cao Yanhua hid her second marriage very well, except for an interview with Shanghai Youth Daily in 2014: "My current husband is a 'warm man'. "Beyond that, there was almost no talk of personal emotional issues.
Until 2019, when Cao Yanhua participated in a blind date program on Oriental Satellite TV, Cao Yanhua officially appeared with her second husband Diao Ming, and on April 13, 2019, Cao Yanhua posted a photo with her current husband on Weibo, with the text "My family is a warm man".
Cao Yanhua spoke highly of her current husband: "He is a super warm man, very handsome, and very tall, more than a head taller than me." ”
The two are very affectionate and often compete table tennis skills together, but as a former sister in the table tennis world, Cao Yanhua's ball skills are obviously much higher than her husband's.
Cao Yanhua now has multiple identities, both as a businessman, the principal of Cao Yanhua's table tennis school, and was elected vice president of the Shanghai Table Tennis Association in December 2022, but in Cao Yanhua's words, she "has been integrated with table tennis", so she has "dedicated her life to table tennis".
From the former table tennis "big sister" to the later housewife, divorce, remarriage, Cao Yanhua is constantly adjusting and living her wonderful life in her own way.