Preamble:
At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the Chinese table tennis team won the first Olympic gold medal, and the creators of this miracle were Chen Longcan and Wei Qingguang.
Chen Longcan (left) and Wei Qingguang
In 2000, Chen Longcan, who had been retired for 9 years, defeated Liu Guoliang, who was in the limelight, in the Club World Cup, and even the well-known Ai Fukuhara was his apprentice.
Because of his strong table tennis strength, Japan invited him to join the Japanese nationality twice, but was unsurprisingly rejected by Chen Longcan. So, how legendary is Chen Longcan's table tennis career, and how is his life going today?
Chen Longcan
A famous table tennis house out of the town
On March 21, 1965, Chen Longcan was born in a poor family in Sichuan, and when he was older, his brothers and sisters often took him to play table tennis.
Chen Longcan and Wei Qingguang held the trophy high
At the beginning, Chen Longcan was not someone else's opponent, and sometimes he couldn't catch the opponent's ball, which aroused the desire in his heart not to admit defeat, so he made up his mind to win this piece of friends.
Children playing table tennis (scenario simulation)
After a long period of fighting, his table tennis skills have improved greatly, but before he realized his original dream, he was sent to the county sports school by his parents, when Chen Longcan was only 8 years old.
There, Chen Longcan is like a "dragon returning to the sea", coupled with the careful guidance of the coach, his table tennis skills are increasing day by day.
Chen Longcan teaches children to play
In February 1976, Zigong held a provincial table tennis competition, Chen Longcan happily registered, and it was on that field that he met Cheng Jianxin, who was "selecting people from all over the place".
Table tennis competition (scenario simulation)
At that time, Cheng Jianxin watched Chen Longcan's game throughout the whole process, and he thought that Chen Longcan's reaction speed was very fast, and he also had a good sense of the ball, and his movements were also very coordinated, so he applied to the leader to transfer Chen Longcan to the provincial team to learn Xi.
Table tennis matches
In 1978, Chen Longcan, who was only 13 years old, came to the provincial team in this way, and the coach there taught him according to his aptitude, strengthened his weak basic skills, and corrected some of his previous wrong playing styles.
In the three years of hard training of the provincial team, Chen Longcan slowly formed a "tricky and fast" ball skills, which laid a certain foundation for him to compete in the world table tennis arena in the future.
Chen Longcan
During that period, because he practiced Xi straight fast attack, he got a precious training camp, although the training was extremely hard, but his ball skills were greatly improved.
Chen Longcan
In 1984, the teenager Chen Longcan participated in the Asian Table Tennis Championships for the first time, he participated in the men's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles events, and finally he won the second place in the first two and the third place in the third event.
Chen Longcan and Jiang Jialiang
After the match, Chen Longcan did not rush to celebrate the victory in front of him, but sat with his coach, carefully studied the shortcomings on the field and the advantages of his opponent, and formulated a follow-up training plan.
Chen Longcan
Xi In 1985, he met Waldner, known as the "God of Table Tennis", the first table tennis Grand Slam winner since the 80s.
Waldner
In front of a strong opponent, Chen Longcan did not have a trace of timidity, relying on the momentum of the "newborn calf", he played a 20:15 lead, if he won one more point, he could win the game.
But Waldner is not an ordinary person, he quickly changed his tactics and relied on his strong strength to beat the score to 20:19, such a stalemate made the Chinese people pinch a cold sweat for Chen Longcan.
Waldner
Some people may say that Chen Longcan is on the way to the top, and Waldner has already "achieved fame", so there is no shame in losing to the other party.
Waldner
But Chen Longcan doesn't think so, if he can't win this game, he is likely to be given up by the coach, so in order to continue playing, he must go all out.
In the end, he snatched the crucial point from Waldner and helped the team win the team title.
In 1985, at the World Table Tennis Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, Chen Longcan won the men's team championship with the Chinese team
In 1986, Chen Longcan participated in the World Table Tennis Championships again, and along the way he defeated many famous players in a row, and finally won the men's singles championship, which was the only men's singles championship in his career, when he was only 23 years old.
Chen Longcan
In 1988, he and Wei Qingguang teamed up to "kill all sides" at the Seoul Olympics, and finally won the men's doubles gold medal, which was the first gold medal won by the Chinese table tennis team in the Olympic Games.
Chen Longcan (left) and Wei Qingguang
In 1991, Chen Longcan suddenly announced the news of his retirement, which made countless fans feel sorry, but the fans were not sad for long, and a good news about him came out again.
Chen Longcan
Those ten years in Japan
Not long after Chen Longcan announced his retirement, he and Song Yan, who had been in love for many years, entered the palace of marriage, and compared with her husband, Song Yan's career was not so dazzling.
Song Yan
She is also a table tennis player, and she and Chen Longcan met in the national youth team, and later the two often played together, and slowly turned into love.
No matter how dazzling Chen Longcan is, it is always her most trustworthy harbor, so after he retired, the two held a wedding, and after that, they came to Japan in the way of "communication".
Japan
When he came to a foreign country, everything was unfamiliar, so Chen Longcan went to teach in a table tennis club, but he didn't expect to solve a crisis for the other party.
Before Chen Longcan's arrival, the club had been on the verge of relegation because of unsatisfactory results, and now with Chen Longcan's help, their position has finally been retained, and this is still done under the premise of hindering the regulations of the local table tennis association.
Table tennis matches
In 1994, Chen Longcan and his wife, who had been here for three years, finally welcomed their first child and named him Chen Dinghao.
Due to the large family expenses, Chen Longcan transferred to another club, but the level of his teammates there was really limited, which made him feel "invincible" loneliness.
Chen Longcan
So in 1998, he changed clubs again, because his teammates were good, and Chen Longcan joined, so this club won the team championship in 1998 and 1999.
Chen Longcan (right)
At that time, the Japanese government said that Chen Longcan met the conditions for joining Japan and invited him to become a Japanese citizen, but Chen Longcan had no idea of changing his nationality, so he directly rejected their proposal.
Chen Longcan (left)
Who would have thought that the Japanese government did not give up, and after Chen Longcan defeated Liu Guoliang in 2000, they invited him to join Japan again, and the ending was the same as last time, and he was still refused.
During the ten years of wandering in Japan, Chen Longcan was like a rootless Ping, and then he couldn't help feeling homesick, so he returned to China with his wife and children in 2001.
Chen Longcan
Continue to dedicate yourself to the cause of table tennis
After returning to China, Chen Longcan did not rush to start working, he took his family to visit former relatives and friends, so that he could quickly integrate into the new life.
Chen Longcan (left) and Wei Qingguang
He watched his son grow up slowly, and he came up with the idea of teaching him table tennis, but what he didn't expect was that his son's talent in table tennis was not lower than him at all, and he became a member of the provincial team at the age of 15.
Just when Chen Longcan was immersed in the happiness of his son's "son inheriting his father's business", his son gave up the road of table tennis and chose to study hard.
Chen Dinghao, the son of Chen Longcan
In 2010, Chen Longcan had a new identity - a physical education teacher at Xihua University, which is also one of the few world champion teachers in Chinese universities.
Chen Longcan
If Chen Longcan is asked to only teach table tennis skills, he can talk about it for three days and three nights, but when it comes to the lesson plan, he seems to have no idea where to start, plus the college students are not professional athletes, and the uneven ball skills make the world champion scratch his head worriedly.
Chen Longcan (right)
However, he did not give in and guided each student according to the situation, and although he suffered from frozen shoulder, he still demonstrated the playing moves for the students.
Chen Longcan
In his more than ten years at Xihua University, he has trained many well-known table tennis players for the school, and this conscientious attitude has made him repeatedly on the list of "My Favorite Teacher".
Chen Longcan was named "My Favorite Teacher"
During this period, his son chose to study in the United States because of his excellent Xi grades, and he and his wife were left at home, afraid that his wife would feel lonely, and he did not participate in any entertainment after work, and hurriedly ran to the house to accompany his wife.
Chen Longcan carries the Olympic torch
Today, Chen Longcan and his wife have been married for 32 years, and it is also what everyone calls a "copper wedding".
The former world champion and his wife live happily every day.
Chen Longcan
Epilogue:
Chen Longcan has made great contributions to table tennis, and together with his teammates, he has created a miracle by winning the first Olympic gold medal for Chinese table tennis.
Although he had been adrift in Japan for ten years, he firmly refused to change his nationality in the face of various temptations from the other party, and finally returned to his homeland.
Now, he is a college physical education teacher, and in addition to continuing to shine in the field of table tennis, he also runs a happy family with his wife.
A corner of Chen Longcan's trophy