Zhou Xiaolan, a women's volleyball star of the same era as Lang Ping, Sun Jinfang, and Zhang Rongfang, is one of the founders of the "women's volleyball spirit".
In 1995, Zhou Xiaolan, who was already the youngest deputy director-level leader in the sports commission system, suddenly resigned and settled in the United States.
28 years have passed so far, how is Zhou Xiaolan doing in the United States? Why did she resolutely give up her bright future and settle in the United States?
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"Tiananmen City Wall"
Zhou Xiaolan was born in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province in 1957, and later followed her parents to the countryside and spent three extremely difficult years in Gujiao Village, Shanxi.
It was also these three years of hard life that gave Zhou Xiaolan an extremely tenacious mind and laid a psychological foundation for her subsequent career as an athlete.
In 1973, 16-year-old Zhou Xiaolan was selected to study volleyball in an amateur sports school, and was selected for the Shanxi women's volleyball team in the same year.
Compared with most athletes, Zhou Xiaolan's "entry" time is not too early, but she is tall and has slender limbs, and she showed amazing talent soon after she first came into contact with volleyball, which perfectly made up for the disadvantage of a late start.
In 1977, Zhou Xiaolan, who performed well in the provincial team, was selected for the national youth volleyball team, and soon after successfully entered the national team. Athletes at the same time as her include Lang Ping, Sun Jinfang, Zhang Rongfang and others.
Since then, the "Chinese women's volleyball team" has begun its journey to compete in international competitions.
Later, Zhou Xiaolan recalled the scene of training and preparation at the beginning, and she was still infinitely emotional.
"At that time, it was a straw shed or a bamboo shed, and the roof would leak when it rained, and the floor was really rough, but it didn't trap us, and the desire to win the championship has always inspired us to overcome everything, and I have experienced more difficult lives, and I can stand up to it."
In 1981, the Chinese women's volleyball team went to Japan to participate in the 3rd World Cup Women's Volleyball Tournament, and after defeating the United States team with all its might, the Japanese women's volleyball team at that time launched the final championship match.
The game was extremely intense, and the situation was once in a stalemate, and even near the end of the game, the Chinese women's volleyball team was still at a disadvantage.
However, in line with the principle of fighting until the last moment, no one on the court chose to give up, and finally Lang Ping attacked to regain the right to serve, Chen Yaqiong scored twice on serve, and Zhou Xiaolan successfully intercepted the opponent's attack with the cooperation of her teammates.
In the end, the Chinese women's volleyball team won the last game 17:15 and won the World Cup women's volleyball championship 3:2.
It was also in this game that because of her excellent blocking ability, the Japanese media praised Zhou Xiaolan as the "Tiananmen City Wall", which was reflected in major reports together with Lang Ping's "Iron Hammer".
The following year, the Chinese women's volleyball team won the 9th World Women's Volleyball Championship.
In 1984, the Chinese women's volleyball team won the gold medal in the women's volleyball competition at the 23rd Olympiad.
Since then, the Chinese women's volleyball team has won three top international championships in the field of volleyball, and the glory of "three consecutive championships" made every Chinese extremely proud at that time.
Together with the "three consecutive championships" is the "women's volleyball spirit" of "dare to fight, dare to fight, dare to rob", at that time New China was in the stage of a hundred ruins waiting to be rebuilt, and the "women's volleyball spirit" inspired the vast number of Chinese people to struggle and forge ahead, which has also become a valuable spiritual wealth of the entire Chinese nation.
Resigned to the United States
In 1985, after Zhou Xiaolan retired from the national team with the glory of the championship, she chose to go to Shanghai Institute of Sport for further study, and after graduation, she entered the National Sports Commission, and was soon promoted to the director of the volleyball department of the ball department.
At the same time, Zhou Xiaolan's husband, Hou Xiaofei, a former Bayi men's volleyball player, registered and ran a sports culture company.
The so-called "three fires for new officials", not to mention that Zhou Xiaolan has her own ideas about the country's volleyball career, so after serving as the director of the volleyball department, she soon launched a series of management system reforms, trying to improve the organizational form and training methods of the game.
At this time, Zhou Xiaolan's former teammate Lang Ping has also changed from an athlete to the coach of the Yaohan Star United, and under the discussion and initiative of the two, the women's volleyball national team began to frequently hold commercial leagues with the Yaohan Star United.
Among the organizers of these leagues is Hou Xiaofei's sports company.
Zhou Xiaolan explained that her behavior is intended to "train with competition", which can allow athletes to better adapt to the atmosphere and rhythm of the competition, and serve the trophy competition more directly.
Although this move was questioned and opposed by women's volleyball coach Li Xiaofeng and some other industry insiders, this decision was not changed in the end.
For a long time after that, women's volleyball players were either playing commercial games or on the way to commercial games, and there was very little time to calm down and train.
In 1994, the 12th Women's Volleyball World Championship was held in Brazil, and the Chinese women's volleyball team played as scheduled, but in the end only finished eighth.
This result caused strong dissatisfaction among fans, and the huge pressure of public opinion made Li Xiaofeng choose to resign to calm the anger of many parties.
And this defeat also pushed Zhou Xiaolan and her husband Hou Xiaofei, who advocated reform, to the forefront, and fans demanded that they explain the poor results.
In desperation, Hou Xiaofei chose to cancel the company in response, and therefore went to the United States to settle down.
And Zhou Xiaolan, who once made contributions to the women's volleyball team, made the public slowly stop blaming her, but cracks have already arisen.
Zhou Xiaolan also realized this, but she felt that sooner or later everyone would understand her good intentions, and she never wanted to destroy the Chinese women's volleyball team.
After Li Xiaofeng left, the Chinese women's volleyball team was leaderless, and Zhou Xiaolan strongly recommended Lang Ping to be the head coach of the national team.
However, it was at this time that Zhou Xiaolan found that she underestimated the "crack" too much.
Lang Ping took the plane back to China, and the sports committee naturally arranged someone to greet him, but Zhou Xiaolan, the hero of this, was not on the list of pick-up personnel.
Later, Zhou Xiaolan stubbornly went as a teammate and friend, but she attracted a lot of eyes.
Zhou Xiaolan couldn't afford this situation, and she began to confide her grievances to her husband on the other side of the Pacific, but Hou Xiaofei persuaded her: "Come to the United States, at least I will accompany you here." ”
In 1995, Zhou Xiaolan resigned from public office in surprise and incomprehension from the outside world and went to the United States to settle down, 28 years have passed in the blink of an eye.
After arriving in the United States, Ms. Zhou worked as a volleyball coach for a time and later as an engineer for a medical device company, where she is now in leadership.
However, Zhou Xiaolan's family in the United States has not gotten rid of their identity as Chinese, they still speak Chinese and eat Chinese food at home, and during the Beijing Olympics in 08, Zhou Xiaolan also conveyed her blessings to the country and the national team through the camera.
The "spirit of the women's volleyball team" has inspired generation after generation, and I also hope that our national team can achieve more brilliant results in the future events, which is Zhou Xiaolan's hope and the hope of the Chinese people!