Born in 1990, Zhang Nan's parents were both former professional athletes, and although they are not well-known, they still know a little about sports. Zhang Nan was very weak when he was a child and was always sick, and his parents let him learn badminton, a gentle sport, in order to make him stronger.
At first, Zhang Nan was not interested in badminton, he actually preferred football. But with the encouragement of his teachers and parents, Zhang Nan still came to the badminton court to play diligently, and it didn't take long for him to start liking the program.
Zhang Nan trained very hard and hard, and gradually his strength made great progress.
At the age of 12, Zhang Nan competed in an important junior competition, where he met an opponent two years his senior. It was the weakest period for Zhang Nan, but he still tried his best and postponed the game until the third game before losing.
This defeat did not hit Zhang Nan, on the contrary, his love for badminton grew stronger and higher.
Zhang Nan's outstanding performance in the competition quickly attracted the attention of the coaching staff of Beijing Institute of Sport, although Zhang Nan was still in primary school, the school still decided to make an exception to let Zhang Nan enter the school in advance to start professional training.
It was quite a challenge for a 12-year-old to leave home and live on campus, but Zhang finally mustered up the courage to embark on the path of a professional athlete.
At the age of 15, Zhang Nan was selected for the Beijing team as he wished. Originally, his main event was singles, but in order to prepare for the National Games, the coach suddenly asked Zhang Nan to change to doubles.
This is a huge challenge for an introverted Zhang Nan, who is not good at words and has a hard time getting along with his doubles partners. In training and competitions, Zhang Nan performed extremely badly, and the coach repeatedly criticized him for his poor cooperation.
Zhang Nan once fell into a rebellious period, and he was very dissatisfied with being forced to play doubles. In one game, his ball sense was very poor, and the coach even angrily told him to "leave if you don't want to practice".
Zhang Nan left the field angrily, leaving the usually kind coach at a loss. However, the matter was quickly resolved under the guidance of the coach. Zhang Nan also realized that he still needed to work hard to adapt.
Three years later, 19-year-old Zhang Nan was finally selected for the national second team. It was a huge metamorphosis for him. The difficulty and intensity of training are several times higher than that of the Beijing team, Zhang Nan can't adapt at first, and often has to practice singles immediately after training doubles, and his legs take turns cramping.
Many of the athletes on the team are several years older than Zhang Nan, and he is not sociable and often seems a little withdrawn. Zhang Nan even fell into a low period and once thought about retiring.
But with the help of coaches and teammates, through hard training, Zhang Nan's physical fitness and ball skills have been greatly improved. Three years later, a brand-new Zhang Nan finally fully adapted to the intensive training of the national team, laying a solid foundation for the future to the top.
In 2010, the 20-year-old Zhang Nan was selected for the Thomas Cup for the first time, which was his first major international tournament for the national team. In this year's soup cup, Zhang Nan played well, escorted the Chinese team, and finally helped the team win the championship, which was also the first world championship title in his life.
At this time, Zhang Nan began to have a relationship with Tian Qing, a female player in the team who was 4 years older than him, and the two quickly confirmed their relationship. On the other hand, Zhang Nan's doubles strength is also improving rapidly, and soon he and women's player Zhao Yunlei became a pair of golden boys and girls.
After the two won important honors such as the All England Championship, their relationship became more and more warm.
For a while, Zhang Nan was in a dilemma. He was faced with a trade-off between two girls, which made him difficult to choose. In the end, Zhang Nan still failed to take the initiative to give up any relationship, and this also buried the hidden danger of chaos in the relationship within the team in the future.
But Zhang Nan obviously didn't realize it at that time, and simply enjoyed the sweetness and pain brought by the coexistence of love and glory.
The following years, 2011 and 2014, were the heyday of Zhang Nan's career. He and his partner Zhao Yunlei's doubles strength has reached unprecedented heights, and the two have won the mixed doubles championship in many important events such as the Asian Championships, the World Championships, and the Olympic Games.
At the same time, Zhao Yunlei also formed a women's doubles with another female player, Tian Qing, and also achieved brilliant results.
But a layer of window paper can't hide the increasingly obvious cracks. The delicate relationship between Zhang Nan and the two female players gradually surfaced contradictions within the team. Especially the short-tempered Zhao Yunlei, she can't tolerate Tian Qing's ambiguity with Zhang Nan from time to time.
So in many arenas, it can be clearly seen that Zhao Yunlei completely refuses to communicate and cooperate with the two.
Signs are beginning to cast doubt on the stability of this "dream team". For Zhang Nan, the entanglement of career and relationship undoubtedly brought him a dilemma. He couldn't give up either side, but the contradictions between the two became more and more acute.
The root of the bane finally broke out in 2016, after the Rio Olympics, Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei announced their breakup, and the Chinese team also fell into unprecedented chaos, which is sad.
Despite the emotional controversy, that hasn't diminished Zhang's stellar achievements on the court. In his 25-year career, Zhang Nan has won many important honors for the Chinese team, such as the men's doubles championship at the World Championships and the men's team championship at the Asian Games.
This undoubtedly proves that he is one of the most outstanding men's doubles players in the history of Chinese badminton.
However, Zhang Nan's lace news and the negative news of the chaotic relationship within the team still had a certain impact on his public image, and he was more or less labeled as a "flower heart".
While this may be unfair to Zhang himself, it's hard to deny that it did prevent him from becoming a household name as a star athlete like Lin Dan.
In 2018, after experiencing all kinds of ups and downs, Zhang Nan finally chose to combine with Tian Qing. Now they have a lovely child.
In 2022, Zhang Nan announced his official retirement, drawing a perfect end to his legendary sports career. Over the past 25 years, honor and controversy have coexisted, constituting Zhang Nan's unique life.
Looking back on Zhang Nan's growth and career, it is not difficult to draw a conclusion: he is an excellent athlete with extremely high badminton talent, and can always maintain a high level of consistent performance in important competitions.
This is something that many athletes can't do.
At the same time, it should also be noted that Zhang Nan's emotional problems have indeed had a negative impact on him personally and the team. This also makes people reflect on the fact that if a sports team wants to dominate the international arena, personal emotional management is also very important.
Of course, we have no reason to criticize Zhang Nan's choice. Feelings are irrational, but they are difficult to measure from a utilitarian perspective. He also paid for the problems he brought.
Therefore, for Zhang Nan, we should evaluate it from a positive perspective.
For a team to run efficiently for a long time, it is important to create a harmonious atmosphere. Coaches and players need to work more on this to resolve problems in a timely manner. Rather than pursuing success, it is more important to learn how to live in harmony with others.
This is probably the most valuable lesson Zhang Nan has given us.
Overall, despite the negligence, Zhang Nan's outstanding achievements and contributions are irrefutable. His life is both admirable and embarrassing. Life is like this, honor and disgrace coexist, light and shadow coexist.
This may be a portrayal of Zhang Nan's generation.