There is a saying among fans that world champions are easy to get, but national games champions are difficult to win. There is nothing wrong with this statement.
In the history of national table tennis, there have been many Grand Slam players, but even stronger players such as Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui and Zhang Jike have not won singles championships at the National Games.
Liu Shiwen of women's table tennis has always been considered strong by fans, and even thought that her strength is far superior to that of Slam winner Ding Ning, but even so, Liu Shiwen has never won a championship in the National Games.
Such a difficult National Games, if someone can win the championship, it means that this player must have extraordinary strength, but what if she can win the championship in two consecutive National Games?
In fact, so far, there are few athletes who have won two consecutive National Games singles championships in the National Games, and the men's team seems to be the only one who has completed this feat, and the women's team, three people, they are Jiao Zhimin, Deng Yaping and Zhang Yining.
For Deng Yaping and Zhang Yining, many fans are very familiar with them, and they are also called the Great Devil by fans.
However, for Jiao Zhimin, many fans are not familiar with it, but in fact, Jiao Zhimin was also a very strong athlete in the history of Chinese women's table tennis, and she was expected to become the first Olympic singles champion in the history of national table tennis, but because she was forced to give up the ball, she had no choice but to announce her retirement.
What's going on here?
It all started with the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
At the Seoul Olympics, the then Chinese women's table tennis sent Jiao Zhimin, Li Huifen and Chen Jing to participate in the singles competition, and before the competition, Jiao Zhimin was considered the biggest favorite to win the singles championship.
In fact, Jiao Zhimin at that time was indeed the most powerful player of the three, and she won the women's singles championship twice in a row in the 1983 and 1987 National Games, when there were few opponents in China.
However, it was such a strong player who was forced to give the ball to teammate Lee Hye-fen in the women's singles semifinals of the Seoul Olympic Games.
What's going on here? Why did the coaching staff let Jiao Zhimin give way?
It turned out that at the Seoul Olympics, when Jiao Zhimin, Li Huifen and Chen Jing reached the women's singles semifinals, there was inevitably a civil war, Jiao Zhimin against Li Huifen, and another semi-final was Chen Jing against Czech Player Herakhova.
However, before the semi-finals between Jiao Zhimin and Li Huifen began, the coaching team leaders suddenly informed Jiao Zhimin that jiao Zhimin would give the ball to Li Huifen in the semifinals.
In fact, the coaching staff was worried about another semi-final, Chen Jing's match against Khlakhova, a very powerful athlete in Europe at that time, who had defeated Jiao Zhimin at the World Table Tennis Championships in New Delhi a year ago.
If Jiao Zhimin beats Li Huifen to reach the final, and the other semi-final is in case Chen Jing can't stop Klakhova, the women's singles gold medal is likely to fall.
In this case, the coaching staff once again made the decision to ask Jiao Zhimin to concede the ball.
Although Jiao Zhimin was extremely unwilling in her heart, Jiao Zhimin did not dare to disobey the orders of the coaching staff, because she knew what serious consequences would be brought about by disobeying the orders.
In this way, in the semi-finals, Jiao Zhimin gave the ball to Li Huifen, but unexpectedly in another semi-final, the young Chen Jing swept Khlakhova with a score of 3-0 and also advanced to the final.
This also made Jiao Zhimin's handicap meaningless.
What is even more ironic is that in the third place battle, Jiao Zhimin defeated Khlakhova 3-0, proving that he had the strength to defeat his opponents, and also proved that the decision of the coaching team leaders to concede the ball was wrong!
But standing on the podium of the third place, Jiao Zhimin burst into tears, and at this moment, Jiao Zhimin made a decision, that is, to retire and stop playing.
Yeah, sports have come to this point, what's the point? Whether you can win or not is not based on your own strength, but on the eyes of the leader!
Returning to Beijing from Seoul, just after getting off the plane, Jiao Zhimin held a brief press conference in front of many media and fans, and Jiao Zhimin announced: From this moment on, I will retire immediately and will never play table tennis again!
In this way, the two-time National Games champion Jiao Zhimin bid farewell to the national table tennis and never returned.
The second year after his retirement, Jiao Zhimin married his Korean boyfriend Ahn Jae-hyung in South Korea, and in the face of the invitation of the Korean Table Tennis Association, Jiao Zhimin kept his promise and was resolutely unwilling to play table tennis again! It also avoided becoming the strongest enemy of Chinese women's table tennis like He Zhili and Chen Jing!