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Text | Editor: Where is the south wind blowing?
In the 80s of the 20th century, Chinese women excluded Lang Ping, and there was another "triple crown" hero - Zhou Xiaolan.
Because of her quick and fickle and very accurate judgment of blocking nets, she is known as the "Tiananmen City Wall" that is difficult to break through.
After retiring from the national team, Zhou Xiaolan also began her career as the director of the Volleyball Division of the Ball Department of the General Administration of Sports of the People's Republic of China, and continued to contribute to the Chinese women's volleyball team.
And her husband Hou Xiaofei was also a treasure of the national men's volleyball team, and the two can be called a "couple" in the sports world.
However, in 1995, Zhou Xiaolan suddenly chose to resign from her position and go to the United States to settle down with her husband.
Now that 27 years have passed, how is her life going?
01.
Others have been in sports since childhood, but Zhou Xiaolan entered the sports world by accident, and it was not until she was 16 years old that she officially contacted training.
Because of genetics, Zhou Xiaolan, who is just 16 years old, is much taller than her peers, and has grown to a height of 1.7 meters.
Coincidentally, when the coach of Taiyuan Youth Sports School came to the school to select good seedlings, Zhou Xiaolan stood out with her height advantage.
Since then, the gears of fate have begun to turn, and Zhou Xiaolan has had an indissoluble bond with volleyball.
But at this time, because of her age, she started much later than other volleyball players.
However, in volleyball practice again and again, Zhou Xiaolan not only fell in love with this sport, but also learned various technical movements.
Even though she was often bruised and purple when she worked overtime every day, she was quickly selected into the Shanxi women's volleyball team with her own perseverance.
You know, compared to the previous hardships, the life of being able to eat white rice for free here is already the best.
Chinese have a traditional virtue of hardship and hard work, and Zhou Xiaolan has not escaped this truth.
Affected by the environment, Zhou Xiaolan was sent to live in a remote mountain village in Gujiaoli, Shanxi Province with her parents since she was a child.
The conditions here are harsh, resources are scarce, and she is hungry almost all day long while studying and helping her mother.
During the day, not only do you have to run long distances to fetch water, but you also have to climb up hillsides to get to school.
At night, the family lived a very hard life by eating chaff vegetables in a small house lit by kerosene lamps.
And this special life experience also left a certain foundation for Zhou Xiaolan to become an excellent volleyball player in the future.
In 1973, she was still a leader in the provincial team, which will also mean that there will be a wider stage to show her talent in the future.
A year later, Zhou Xiaolan, who has outstanding ability, successfully joined the national youth women's volleyball team and became a member of the national team.
In 1976, her athletic career reached a new peak when she was lucky enough to be selected for the national team coached by Yuan Weimin.
With such a rare opportunity, Zhou Xiaolan's hard work and persistence have finally paid off.
In 1979, the Chinese women's volleyball team went south to Chenzhou Sports Base for winter training for the first time.
However, due to the lack of funds, the team members at that time were built of Nanzhu in the first two training halls, and if they were not careful, they would be scratched by the simple wooden floor inside, and the pain would be piercing.
But even if Zhou Xiaolan accidentally poked a wooden thorn in the training competition, she continued to complete the training course without frowning.
However, while the training was extremely intense, the very simple wooden floor began to become more and more "crazy".
They were like hidden needletips, piercing into the skin mercilessly, and the most time, Zhou Xiaolan actually found that 13 wooden thorns had been poked into her body.
In order to remove the pain caused by the plucking of the wooden thorns, even if Zhou Xiaolan's brows were furrowed, she had no intention of retreating.
The winter nights are cold and long, and the dormitory they live in often leaks rain because of its low size.
finally lit a charcoal fire to keep warm, but because Zhou Xiaolan closed the window too tightly and tightly, they were almost poisoned, but fortunately they were sent to the hospital in time.
Fortunately, hard work and success are directly proportional.
In 1981, the Chinese women's volleyball team, which won the world championship, was a magnificent moment.
They have proved with persistence and sweat that the Chinese women's volleyball team has occupied an irreplaceable position on the historical stage so far.
Especially as the eldest sister of the team, Cao Huiying cried the most sadly, because of the steel plate embedded in her legs, she was praised as the "Iron Girl" when she was only 27 years old.
You must know that as early as the 1977 Women's Volleyball World Cup, although Cao Huiying alone won the best net, outstanding athlete, and dare to fight award.
But when she returned to China, she said sadly: "If you win 100 awards individually, it is better for the whole team to win a championship." ”
Because that year, the Chinese women's volleyball team only won the fourth place.
02.
Later, in order to commemorate this historic training hall, a replica model of the original hall was specially made and displayed in the exhibition hall.
In 1984, the 23rd Olympic Games were held in Los Angeles, USA, and the Chinese women's volleyball team defeated the Japanese team 3:0, and defeated the United States team 3:0 in the final to win the championship.
And Zhou Xiaolan's blocking technology is even more first-class, and even because of her wonderful performance in the finals, she was called the "Tiananmen City Wall" by the international media.
As we all know, athletes basically eat "youth rice", not only because the career of athletes is quite short, but also because various large and small training competitions will also indirectly cause their bodies to be easily damaged.
By 1985, Zhou Xiaolan was 28 years old.
Because of her older age and more injuries in her body, Zhou Xiaolan, who has dedicated her youth to the national team for more than ten years, retired with 3 heavy gold medals.
In the same year, the retired Zhou Xiaolan and the male ranking general Hou Xiaofei came together, and held a simple and warm wedding in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province under the unanimous witness of their teammates.
The two who have been in love for many years were once rumored to be "a good story in the sports world".
After marriage, the two chose to enter the Shanghai Institute of Sport for further study, and they looked no different from ordinary classmates when they lived in a collective dormitory.
Until graduation, Zhou Xiaolan was assigned to work in the National Sports Commission as the director of volleyball, and Hou Xiaofei registered a sports and culture company in Beijing.
But in addition to her, other team members, including Lang Ping, also retired one after another.
Therefore, the strength of the women's volleyball team is far less than before, in 1992, when the Chinese women's volleyball team lost in the Barcelona Olympics, Hu Jin resigned, and Li Xiaofeng, the head coach of the Bayi women's volleyball team, served as the coach of the Chinese women's volleyball team.
In order to promote the development of the national volleyball team, Zhou Xiaolan, who loves volleyball, has made a lot of reforms, and she actively proposes to hold a series of commercial matches with Yaohan Star United.
Although this resolution caused a lot of controversy, Zhou Xiaolan, who did not flinch because of this, still arranged everything carefully and thoughtfully when the document was developed.
From December 25, 1993 to January 16, 1994, the Chinese women's volleyball team and Yaohan Star United played a total of 15 rounds and 30 matches in 8 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan and Guangzhou, with an average of one game every 3 days.
But unexpectedly, in October 1994, the 12th Women's Volleyball World Championship was held in Brazil, and the Chinese women's volleyball team only won the 8th place.
This unacceptable result for fans makes people think that it is because the events with the Yaohan Star United Team are too intensive, which caused the Chinese women's volleyball team to "give up" the winter training and affect the results.
In addition, this event was co-hosted by Zhou Xiaolan and Hou Xiaofei, so many people questioned Zhou Xiaolan's use of the future of the Chinese women's volleyball team for her husband's personal gain.
In order to settle the controversy, Hou Xiaofei chose to close the company and went to the United States for development, just to protect Zhou Xiaolan's innocence.
But after Li Xiaofeng's resignation, if you want the Chinese women's volleyball team to return to its former peak, you must find a suitable head coach.
After several searches, Zhou Xiaolan thought of Lang Ping, who was far away in the United States.
After learning about the situation of the Chinese women's volleyball team, Lang Ping was also very willing to return to China, but what he never expected was that after the news of Lang Ping's return to China leaked, it actually caused crazy hype in the media, and some high-level personnel were also dissatisfied.
Therefore, when Lang Ping returned to China, the unit did not arrange for Zhou Xiaolan to greet her, but she still insisted on going to the airport to pick up Lang Ping in her own name.
In 1995, in consideration of Zhou Xiaolan's contribution to China's sports industry, she was promoted to the deputy director of the ball department of the National Sports Commission, and was the youngest deputy director-level leader in the sports commission system.
But at the same time as her career was just right, Zhou Xiaolan was also overwhelmed by various obstacles from work, and because she had accumulated a lot of stubborn patients all year round.
So, she made an unexpected decision to resign and settle in the United States with her husband.
At first, Zhou Xiaolan, who had just arrived in the United States, first became a volleyball coach at George Washington University and then worked in trade.
Thanks to the couple's efforts, they have not only achieved stable career success in the United States, but also made their family life very happy because of the arrival of two children.
Although they moved to the United States, because their parents are still in China, they will return to China to visit relatives every Chinese New Year, and their communication with their two daughters has always been in Chinese.
epilogue
Today's Zhou Xiaolan has entered the age of sixties, and being able to choose to move to the United States must be the best result after weighing.
And isn't it a kind of happiness to live a peaceful and comfortable life?