When it comes to volleyball, I think what comes to mind in most Chinese minds will be the Chinese women's volleyball team, the history of the five consecutive championships of the Chinese women's volleyball team in the last century, and the exciting moment when Coach Lang Ping led the Chinese women's volleyball team back to the first place in the world.
The championship is glorious, but every hard-working athlete deserves our respect, and the protagonist of today's story is not a female volleyball player, but a male volleyball player.
He was once a rising star in the Chinese volleyball world, but it is a pity that he suffered an accident at the most glorious moment, an athlete at the peak of his life was paralyzed in a wheelchair, how did he withstand such a huge blow?
01 Volleyball Twins
Success is never accidental, it always favors those who are prepared.
Tang Miao was born in Shanghai in 1982, and he grew up in Shanghai, where he has the grace of a southerner, but with a little more heroism.
He began to learn football when he was in elementary school, and originally aspired to be a football player, but as he grew older, Tang Miao became taller and taller, and gradually became a little unsuitable for football, so he was forced to change to volleyball.
Tang Miao is two meters and four meters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, which is a good seedling for volleyball.
Although learning volleyball was not his original dream, Tang Miao quickly fell in love with the sport, and since he wanted to do it, he must do his best.
Tang Miao has been training every day since then, volleyball is easy to get injured, the young Tang Miao often practiced and his body was full of injuries, but he never mentioned it to his parents, and he went to practice volleyball every day happily, which made his parents feel that he had always been full of enthusiasm.
Sweat and hard work will not disappoint everyone, and such hard training has also allowed Tang Miao's volleyball skills to continue to grow, laying the foundation for his sports career.
Tang Miao is tall, has strong jumping ability, opens and closes his playing style, is very strong, and his style is more like a European player, and such a unique style also made Tang Miao successfully selected for the Shanghai team.
Soon, Tang Miao, who had not been in the team for a long time, ushered in the most important opportunity in his life.
The top six matches of the Chinese Men's Volleyball League in 2001 were the games that changed Tang Miao's fate.
In this game, the Shanghai men's volleyball team lost several games in a row due to the age of the main players in the team and lost the opportunity to advance.
The last game was against the Jiangsu team, which was in full swing at the time, and the Jiangsu team had Lu Weizhong, Shi Hairong and other national players.
Seeing this scene, Shen Fulin, the head coach of the Shanghai team, simply chose to "train", and did not let the old players in the team play, but chose to use young players and let them practice their hands.
At this time, Tang Miao had a chance, in this game, he and another young player Shen Qiong stood out, and amazed the audience with their excellent performance, and the two were also known as "twin stars".
Originally, it was just a helpless move, thinking about changing young players to accumulate experience, but I didn't expect the young players to dare to fight, and the effect was unexpected, so that coaches and fans saw the hope of the new generation of the Chinese men's volleyball team.
Since then, Tang Miao has been out of control in volleyball, and it didn't take long for him and Shen Qiong to be favored by the head coach of the national team, Di Anhe, and they were absorbed into the national team.
02 suffered a tragic accident at the peak
After entering the national team, Tang Miao also ushered in the highlight moment of his life.
In the 2003 Asian Championships, Tang Miao replaced his injured teammates in international competitions, started in five games, and led the team to score as the main player in the game.
In three years, from the provincial team to the national team, Tang Miao's transformation seems to be short, but it is actually the accumulation of more than ten years of hard training.
In the 2003 Chinese men's volleyball finals, Tang Miao suffered a defeat, and the Shanghai team with him and Shen Qiong was strong and strong, and many people had high hopes of winning the championship, but in the game against the Zhejiang team, they were defeated by the veterans of the Zhejiang team.
People are proud and disappointed, and it is not terrible to fail, but it is terrible to not be able to come out of failure.
In the 2004 domestic league and the 2005 National Games, Tang Miao's Shanghai men's volleyball team won the championship one after another.
In the season from 2005 to 2006, Tang Miao helped the Shanghai men's volleyball team reach the finals for the fourth consecutive year, winning the opponent Jiangsu men's volleyball team, extending the record of three consecutive championships.
In the 06 to 07 season, although Tang Miao had a back injury, he still helped the Shanghai men's volleyball team win the championship again, and it can be said that at that time, Tang Miao was the best setter of the men's volleyball team in China.
In an interview with reporters, he also said: "I just want to prove myself and surpass myself, although the back injury has not recovered, it is still the best setter in China." ”
If the current trend develops, Tang Miao will play steadily in volleyball, and he will definitely be a generation of volleyball stars in the future.
It's a pity that the sky didn't fulfill people's wishes, and just at the peak of Tang Miao's sports career, an accident happened.
In 2007, Tang Miao, who was following the Shanghai team to Russia to participate in a friendly match, had an accident in the warm-up training before the game, and accidentally fell to the ground with her head while practicing flexibility, which also caused Tang Miao's cervical spine to suffer a comminuted fracture.
Tang Miao was rescued after eight hours of surgery in the hospital, not only was the cervical vertebra comminuted fractured, but the nerves were also seriously injured, and he was unable to breathe on his own for a while.
For a volleyball player, suffering such a serious injury basically ended his career.
03 Life after paralysis
Tang Miao followed her family to seek medical treatment after the injury, and was treated at Beijing Bo'ai Hospital at the end of 2007, where she was diagnosed with a burst fracture of the sixth cervical vertebra with complete spinal cord injury.
In fact, before the injury, Tang Miao not only had great achievements in sports, but also had a sweet relationship.
Tang Miao's wife is named Zhou Suhong, who is also a volleyball player, and the two also became acquainted because of volleyball.
During a training session, Tang Miao was called to be a sparring partner for the women's volleyball team, and during the practice, Tang Miao accidentally hit the ball in Zhou Suhong's face, so frightened that Tang Miao quickly ran to Zhou Suhong's side to apologize and care for others.
After that, Tang Miao often went to Zhou Suhong as a sparring partner, at that time Tang Miao was heroic on the court, attracting the attention of many girls, Zhou Suhong was also very beautiful, the two gradually got along with each other, fell in love, and got married in January 2007.
The newlywed Yan'er had an accident, Zhou Suhong didn't think about leaving Tang Miao, and wanted to take care of him.
But Tang Miao felt that she could only stay in a wheelchair for the rest of her life, and she didn't want to delay Zhou Suhong for the rest of her life, so she wanted to divorce her and let Zhou Suhong pursue her new life.
Zhou Suhong is not a merciless person, she left at the most difficult moment of Tang Miao's life, she wanted to accompany her husband, in the face of Tang Miao's resolute request for divorce, Zhou Suhong made a "five-year covenant" with him, and put the matter of divorce five years later.
In 2008, Zhou Suhong chose to retire and put more energy into taking care of Tang Miao, and shared the task of rehabilitating him with Tang Miao's parents.
From being bedridden to being able to use a wheelchair, to being able to move her fingers to type, Tang Miao recovered day by day.
In 2012, seeing that Tang Miao had recovered well and had a certain ability to take care of herself, she was able to leave with peace of mind, so Zhou Suhong and Tang Miao went through the divorce procedures.
Although they are divorced, the two have not broken off contact like other divorced couples, but have changed from a husband and wife relationship to a sister and brother relationship, and they still often care.
04 A new life after being paralyzed
After Zhou Suhong left, Tang Miao did not give up his life, he tried to do some other things, such as writing, painting, and doing public welfare to enrich his life.
Although he can't pick up his beloved volleyball again, Tang Miao's heart has always been in the volleyball career, he pays attention to volleyball games at home and abroad every day, and often goes to watch the games, giving advice and sharing experience with some young players.
In his love life, Tang Miao also met his other half, he got married, and in 2017, he also won a daughter through IVF technology, and his daughter's name is Zhenzhen.
He shared this news with Zhou Suhong for the first time, which shows that the relationship between the two is still deep.
Zhou Suhong has a three-year-old daughter, and Tang Miao and Zhou Suhong agreed to be each other's godfather and godmother, which means that Zhenzhen also has a three-year-old sister.
In fact, the arrival of Zhenzhen is extremely difficult, many indicators are abnormal when she is pregnant, and she is often on the way to various hospitals, and in the end, Tang Miao and his son are still determined to have this child.
Fortunately, although Zhen Zhen was born a little prematurely, the child is very healthy, and his eyebrows and eyes are similar to Tang Miao.
Knowing that Tang Miao had her own daughter, Coach Lang Ping in the United States also sent blessings and red envelopes as soon as possible, and visited Tang Miao's home after returning to China.
Today's Tang Miao's life has taken a new turn, her daughter is six years old, and she is about to go to primary school, and Tang Miao has national subsidies and subsidies, and her life is also guaranteed, and she is usually enthusiastic about public welfare and her favorite volleyball career.
In the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Chinese women's volleyball team won the championship, Tang Miao stayed up all night to watch the game and was so excited that he didn't sleep all night.
At this moment, he is also in a wheelchair and imagining what kind of life he would have had if he hadn't suffered an accident, and whether he could win this trophy with his teammates.
05 Postscript
Life is impermanent, and you can only face it calmly; In all kinds of helplessness, we must also forge ahead.
Tang Miao has experienced the ups and downs of life, and ended his career due to an accident at the most glorious moment, which can't help but make people sigh, but fortunately, in the most difficult moment of his life, he has the attention and love of his family, teammates, and society.
Now he has a new life of his own, with a six-year-old daughter, and hopes that he can live a different life in the future.