On September 10, 2015, Sun Mingming, a former Chinese basketball player with a height of 2.36 meters, and his wife Xu Yan, who is 1.87 meters tall, appeared on the "Guinness World Records 2016" with a total height of 4.23 meters, becoming the world's tallest couple.
Sun Mingming has a height of 2.36 meters, 10cm taller than Yao Ming, and can complete the dunk without jumping, and in the early 21st century, it was called "THENEXTMING" by many American media (the next Ming, this "Ming" refers to Yao Ming)", many websites even put Sun Mingming in the NBA draft hot list, but unfortunately, fate did not favor this giant, but he brought many tribulations.
But as the saying goes, when God closes a door for you, he will open a window for you, and in Sun Mingming's bumpy life, two nobles appeared, one was the basketball celebrity Zhang Weiping, and the other was his wife Xu Yan, one saved his life, and the other accompanied him for the rest of his life.
Hello everyone, I am Kong Yiji, who doesn't like to steal books, today let's walk into the story of the giant Sun Ming, understand his past and present, and taste different lives.
01 Basketball made him no longer feel inferior
In the 8th and 90s of the last century, the Chinese men's basketball team was known as the "smartest team in the world", with the "small and fast" style of play, it has repeatedly refreshed the best record, whether it is the 86 generation, or the 94, 96 generation, playing is extremely smart, but since the emergence of a Yao Ming who killed all sides in the NBA, Chinese basketball seems to have been picking "the next Yao Ming", and Sun Mingming, who is 2.36 meters, is a typical representative.
Sun Mingming was born on August 23, 1983 in a rural family in Bayan County, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province.
At first, Sun Mingming's parents were very happy to watch him grow up, but soon turned into sorrow, because Sun Ming not only ate more and more, but also couldn't wear clothes and shoes after two months of buying, and the clothes were barely available, but there was nowhere to buy shoes, there was no way, and his mother could only make cloth shoes for him to wear.
In 1998, 15-year-old Sun Ming has grown to 2.03 meters, but he was greeted not by flowers and applause, but by the ridicule and cold eyes of the people around him.
Sun Mingming had not been in contact with basketball before, but with his extraordinary height, he finally entered the Heilongjiang Sports Team, although he started very late, but Sun Mingming from the countryside was not afraid of hardship, practiced diligently, and had a height advantage, and was recognized by the team.
In 2000, Sun Mingming entered the Heilongjiang Provincial Youth Team from the sports team, height was both an opportunity and a challenge for him, giving him the opportunity to play, but he had to accept the fact that he couldn't buy shoes, so he could only play in the cloth shoes made by his mother, so he had to often bend down to lift the heel when playing, which looked very funny on the court and often made the audience laugh.
In addition to often falling off, it is very easy to slip when playing with cloth shoes, and you will fall down if you are not careful, especially on rainy days, Sun Mingming is like wearing ice skates, and often falls on all fours on the court, and finally has no choice but to take off your shoes and play barefoot.
Later, the coach really couldn't look at it, so he took him to the leather shoe store to customize a pair of leather shoes, but the leather shoes were heavy and hard, and often grinded Sun Mingming's feet bloody, according to Sun Mingming, his feet were rotten for 365 years a year and more than 200 days, but he could only endure pain training during the day, and he would go to medicine his feet at night, so the cycle went on and on, and it hurt to think about it.
But for Sun Mingming, he has no other choice, he can only train hard and dedicatedly, and he can only swallow his broken teeth into his stomach.
02 Noble Zhang Weiping
Since 2002, Sun Mingming has entered the men's basketball team in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, and participated in the secondary league with the team.
2002 was the most reluctant year in the history of Chinese basketball, first losing Wang Zhizhi at the peak of his peak due to complex reasons, and then losing in the World Championships and Asian Games one after another, and the head of basketball Xin Lancheng resigned...... The entire Chinese basketball world was in mourning, so the Basketball Association decided to form the 2008 Olympic Hope Team, and Zhang Weiping guided the team leader and head coach.
At that time, Zhang Weiping heard that Sun Mingming had grown to 2.27 meters, taller than Yao Ming, so he personally went to Daqing, Heilongjiang to inspect and see if he could create "the next Yao Ming".
Although Sun Mingming came into contact with basketball late, and there is a natural basketball defect - not flexible enough, Sun Weiping feels that Sun Mingming's hand is relatively soft, and he works very hard, and there is a certain space for training. He was selected into the Olympic hope team and took him to Haikou for training.
After Sun Mingming entered the team, he received widespread attention from the basketball world, and the media also hyped up the "next Yao Ming", but Zhang Weiping's guidance was very calm, he thought that Sun Mingming was not as flexible as Yao Ming, and whether he could be cultivated or not had to wait and see.
In 2003, Zhang Weiping led the Olympic hope team to the United States for training, and the tall Sun Mingming attracted wide attention from the American media, and also attracted the attention of American basketball agent Charles Bansgerno, and the American will add a lot of color to Sun Mingming's basketball career in the future.
The first trip to the United States had a great impact on Sun Mingming, he fully saw American basketball, and also had a deep relationship with Zhang Weiping's guidance, Sun Mingming's father died early, and he lacked father's love in the process of growing up, and Zhang Weiping was a kind and careful person, he has always taken great care of Sun Ming, bought him plus-size shoes, took care of his daily life, carefully guided his basketball skills, taught him to be a man, the truth of playing, in Sun Mingming's heart, Zhang Weiping guided also a master and a father.
However, the Olympic Hope Team was not officially established, and had to be reluctantly disbanded in 2004, and the team members went their separate ways, and Sun Mingming also returned to Heilongjiang.
But Sun Mingming's basketball career did not reach the end, in 2004, the American basketball agent Charles came to Heilongjiang, he found the Heilongjiang Sports Bureau, went through the procedures for Sun Mingming to play in the United States, and took Sun Mingming to the United States to seek an NBA contract.
In the past, the NBA was unattainable for Sun Mingming, and he never even entered the domestic first team, and he never thought that he would have a day of close contact with the NBA team.
After following Charles to the United States, Sun Mingming attracted the attention of many NBA teams, and scouts from the Jazz, Wizards, Pacers, Raptors, Bucks and Bobcats all went to watch Sun Mingming's practice.
However, Charles gradually felt that something was wrong, he found that Sun Mingming always lacked endurance and reacted slowly when he played, so he took him to the hospital for examination, and after an examination, he learned that Sun Mingming had a pituitary tumor, which constantly secreted growth hormone, which would lead to gigantism, and his height would continue to grow, and even life-threatening, and he had to undergo surgery immediately.
Hearing the news, Sun Mingming fell into a panic, not because he was afraid of surgery, because this operation was relatively mature, and the doctor who operated on him was very experienced, what worried him was the huge medical expenses of 100,000 US dollars, and Sun Ming's worry was not that he didn't have so much money, but that he didn't have money at all.
When Sun Mingming needed help the most, his mentor Zhang Weiping once again lent a helping hand, Zhang Weiping and Charles went around to seek rescue for him, sought donations through press conferences, and worked hard to raise money for him, but in the end the money was still a lot short, Zhang Weiping and Charles personally guaranteed with the hospital, so that the hospital would do the operation first to save people, and the operation fee would be owed first.
In the end, with the efforts of all parties, Sun Mingming underwent surgery in 2009, and since then he has gotten rid of gigantism, and his height has been fixed at 2.36 meters, becoming a normal person.
After the operation, Sun Mingming lived in the house of his agent Charles, and Charles has been trying to help him contact the team and find a contract, although the agent is also to make money, but at least, he still sincerely helped Sun Mingming, and he is also a kind person.
After recovering his health, Sun Mingming continued to play in the United States, and successively joined the Dodgers City Legends team in the USBL, the Maryland Nighthawks in the ABA League, and the Flying Rangers in the IBL League, but all of them performed mediocre and failed to enter the vision of NBA scouts.
Since 2007, Sun Mingming has been tossing and turning in leagues such as Mexico and Japan, although he has occasionally performed brilliantly, but his fatal flaw of moving too slowly has caused him to never be able to give full play to his height advantage.
It's not that Sun Mingming doesn't work hard enough, but there are some things that don't come to fruition with hard work, this is fate.
03 A blessing in disguise
In 2009, Sun Mingming chose to return to China, in order to take care of his elderly and frail mother, Sun Mingming settled his home in Daqing, Heilongjiang, and returned to Fengshen, Zhaozhou, Heilongjiang to participate in the NBL League, but suffered an injury before the game and had no choice but to leave the team.
But Sun Mingming still got the opportunity to participate in the 2009 National Games, in the National Games, Sun Mingming, as a "foreign student" big tall man showed good ability in defense, rebounding, passing, etc., and even played well against Battle and Wang Zhizhi.
At that time, local centers were scarce resources in China, and the Beijing team, which had been short of centers since Battle left, gave Sun Mingming a chance to try, and finally signed Sun Mingming with a three-year contract, which caused a sensation in the basketball world.
As the saying goes, good things come in pairs, and in addition to bringing Sun Mingming a contract to this National Games, this National Games also made him realize the second noble person in his life - former national handball player Xu Yan.
Xu Yan is also a native of Heilongjiang, is an excellent handball player, and was selected for the national women's handball team in April 2007, becoming the youngest handball goalkeeper at that time and the second national handball player in Heilongjiang.
Sun Mingming suffered a fracture and was hospitalized at the National Games, and Xu Yan also happened to be hospitalized due to injuries at that time, so the two got acquainted and gradually attracted each other's attention in conversation, and the two talked happily.
After getting along for a while, Sun Mingming found that he was in love with Xu Yan, and he confessed decisively: "Are you okay to be my girlfriend?"
Sun Mingming thought that his abrupt confession would make Xu Yan angry, but he didn't expect Xu Yan to nod shyly, it turned out that Xu Yan had already fallen in love with this big tall man who was responsible, kind, thrifty, filial, and caring for his family, although Sun Mingming was not financially wealthy at that time, but Xu Yan didn't care about these, she thought that as long as people were good, she thought that as long as people were good.
In November 2009, Sun Mingming officially joined Beijing Shougang, but his slow movement ability was incompatible with Beijing Shougang's style of play, and he basically couldn't get playing time, but Beijing did not cut him, but let him stay in the team until 2012, and Sun Mingming won the 2012 CBA championship.
Although Sun Mingming talked about falling in love, the outside world was not optimistic, because it was difficult to accept a large height difference in Chinese tradition, and Sun Ming's 2.36 meters and Xu Yan's 1.87 meters were 39cm different, which made his family also worried about his marriage and love, worried that Xu Yan's family would not be able to accept it, and also worried that Sun Mingming would not find a wife.
But Sun Mingming didn't seem worried, and he also joked: In this world, men who are as tall as me are not as good-looking as me, and good-looking men are not as tall as me.
After falling in love, he wanted to take a driver's license and occasionally take his girlfriend out to play, but all driving schools did not accept him, the reason was that the car of the driving school could not sit down, so Sun Mingming was distressed for a while, and finally a coach told him to let him take the B plate, because B can drive a car.
But after Sun Mingming got his driver's license, he found that he couldn't buy a suitable car at all, and he couldn't drive a truck when he went out, right? When Sun Mingming was distressed, a car company expressed its willingness to customize a giant car for him, with a body of 4230mm×1720mm×1550mm, and the interior space was also very wide, so Sun Mingming finally drove the car.
The trouble that height brings to Sun Mingming is far more than that, he is afraid of collapsing the toilet when he goes to the toilet, he can only cover half of his body when he lives in a hotel, his feet can only hang out of the bed, his head is often knocked by the door, and he has to be pointed at by others when he goes out......
But since having Xu Yan, these troubles have gradually become sweeter, and the two support each other, look down on the cold eyes of the world, and keep a low profile
04 The transformation was successful, and I wanted my daughter to play basketball
Sun Mingming failed to get a new contract after leaving Beijing Shougang, but Xu Yan did not choose to leave Sun Mingming because he lost his job, and the two officially registered their marriage in Beijing on August 4, 2013.
Although Sun Mingming's ball skills are average, but the popularity is good, CCTV host Zhang Bin, world champion Sang Lan, acting star Sun Qian, Beijing team members Chen Lei, Zhu Yanxi and others all attended the giant's wedding, at the wedding Xu Yan talked about Sun Mingming's shining points: "I feel that others are very down-to-earth, and he basically has the advantages that a man should have." ”
And Sun Mingming also made a promise at the wedding: after getting married, he must take on more responsibilities, give his wife a happy life, and let them practice sports when they have children, because sports make people physically and mentally healthy!
Because his basketball career was not smooth, Sun Mingming was relatively poor when he got married, and the money for the wedding was collected with the help of his friends, and after retiring, he only had a basic salary of 2-3000 per month, so he has been working hard to make money since he got married, and has tried many ways to make money.
Sun Mingming's first attempt was a movie, as early as 2007, Sun Mingming played a kung fu giant in the American movie "Rush Hour 3", and he threw Jackie Chan out in the first action he appeared, which was very impressive.
After retiring, Sun Mingming starred in many movies, including the monster Red Roar in "Ghost Blowing the Lantern: The Essence of the Ancient City", the King Kong Finger in "Qimen Dunjia", and the big knife in "The First Dart Game in the World" all left a good impression...... , in 2022, the movie "Book of Heaven" in which he starred will also be officially released.
In addition, Sun Mingming has also participated in variety shows many times, and has performed well in CCTV's "Open the Door", Hunan Satellite TV's "Perfect Release" and other programs, among which the hug with Liu Yan in "Perfect Release" is even more impressive.
In 2015 "The Happy Comedian". Sun Mingming also made a cameo appearance in Song Xiaobao's sketch "I Am an Actor's Martial Arts Drama" as the "second brother" Wu Song, holding Song Xiaobao to kill three big men with a sword, and staged a good show of heroes saving beauty.
Of course, making movies and participating in variety shows is just Sun Mingming's sideline, Sun Mingming founded Sun Mingming Sports Culture Media Co., Ltd. in 2014, specializing in basketball training, and also providing indoor basketball courts, which is extremely popular in the winter of Northeast China, and has achieved good development in the ten years from 2014 to 2023.
In the ten years after marriage, Sun Mingming and Xu Yan gave birth to two daughters, the eldest daughter was born in June 2016 and is now 7 years old, and the second daughter is younger, but she has also gone to kindergarten.
Now that Sun Mingming is 40 years old, he will often take his two daughters to practice Xi basketball, and he is often active on video platforms such as Douyin Xi.
As a 2.36-meter giant, although Sun Mingming's basketball career was bleak, he met many nobles, and he worked hard enough to live a happy life after retiring.
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