Text: Northern Autumn
Edited by Beiqiu
In 1999, Pi Hongyan won the U.S. Open Badminton Championships on behalf of China, expecting to receive flowers and applause, but was expelled after returning to China, and in a fit of rage, she became a French citizen and won 14 gold medals for France.
What happened to her to win multiple world-class titles for France, to fight against Chinese athletes at the Beijing Olympics, to get married and have children there, why did she give up her nationality and come back?
Pi Hongyan, who was expelled after winning the championship
In 1979, Pi Hongyan was born in a not wealthy family in Chongqing, although she was pampered in every way, she was still frail and sickly, stunted, and always a head shorter than her peers.
For the sake of Pi Hongyan's health, her parents decided to let her enroll in an exercise class, and badminton, a sport that can jump and exercise muscles, was immediately favored by them.
When Pi Hongyan first came into contact with badminton, she fell in love with the sport and showed amazing talent.
Coupled with her hard training, she soon stood out among the crowd, and quickly defeated her fellow sisters and became the best member of the school to play badminton.
At that time, her school coaches and teachers also liked her very much, and they were impressed by her short body and unyielding fighting spirit, so whenever there was a competition, they would take her with them.
When other children were still studying in the classroom at this age, she had already won a lot of honors for the school.
When she was 12 years old, the Sichuan badminton team noticed Pi Hongyan and was attracted by her superb skills, threw an olive branch to her, and successfully recruited.
After coming to the provincial team, Pi Hongyan realized her shortcomings, after all, there are masters from all over the world, and she is short in stature, so it didn't go well at first, and she can be regarded as the most inconspicuous little person in the provincial team.
However, Pi Hongyan has had a "competitive" heart since she was a child, others practice for 4 hours, she practices for 8 hours, and every day she is the earliest to come and the last to go, sweating like rain in the stadium all day long.
A teacher who knew her said: The sweat of the skin Hongyan in those years. A swimming pool can be filled. This sentence may be an exaggeration, but it also represents the teacher's admiration for her hard training.
The hard work paid off, and with her efforts, she also became a dazzling star in the provincial team again, and her overall record was among the best.
In 1997, because Pi Hongyan achieved a lot of good results in the provincial team, even if she was 1.64 meters tall at that time, her height was a shortcoming.
But the national team was still moved by her hard work and invited her to join the national team, but she was as a sparring partner, and Pi Hongyan was 18 years old this year.
That is, in the national team, for a while, Pi Hongyan thought about giving up, after all, there are too many masters here, there are Olympic champions, there are world champions, and her height is a big disadvantage.
The proud ball skills seem to be vulnerable in front of these people, and he is just a sparring partner, so it is difficult to have a chance to stand out.
But she soon dispelled this idea, she felt that many people who had an advantage in height compared to her in the provincial team failed to enter the national team.
And since I have come here, it means that I must have something extraordinary, and it doesn't matter if I am a sparring partner now, as long as I work hard enough, I will definitely have a bright day.
So she practiced like crazy again, carefully learning the skills and timing of other people's plays, and through her own efforts, she once again became the best of the sparring partners, and even became a nightmare for other team members for a while.
At the 1999 U.S. Open Badminton Championships, Pi Hongyan saw that the team members did not have their own names, and she immediately knew what was going on.
But she wants to give herself a chance, not to prove how amazing she is, but to prove that her years of hard work have not been in vain.
So when I found the coach, I said very sincerely and even humbly: Let me go, just because I am a number, it is really not good, I will pay the travel expenses myself.
The coach couldn't resist her, and finally let her travel with the team, after all, in his opinion, Pi Hongyan is also going to see the world, because in his heart, there are too many people who are better than her.
However, to everyone's surprise, this sparring partner, the short Pi Hongyan, actually passed five levels and killed six generals, fought her way out of the encirclement, and went directly to the finals, and finally won the women's singles championship, you know, this is her first time participating in an international competition.
When she stood on the podium, her heart was overflowing with joy, and she fantasized about the flowers and applause after returning to China, and the future of badminton.
But when she returned to the national team, the coach found her and said to her: You go, go back to your provincial team, you are not suitable for the national team, you are too low, you will only waste time here, and turn around and leave after speaking.
Pi Hongyan's sentence: But that's how I am, I won the championship, and I still have the gold medal on my chest, so Pi Hongyan returned to the provincial team with a disgraced face, but the reality gave her a slap in the face.
French citizenship is famous all over the world
Pi Hongyan, who returned to the provincial team, was negative for a long time, she didn't understand why she was expelled when she won the gold medal, and she didn't understand what mistakes she made conscientiously.
If her height was not good, why did she choose herself at that time, and she even felt that she was really not suitable for playing badminton.
Fortunately, the coach and players before the provincial team often comforted her, and she soon got out of this confused time, but the ideal will eventually bow to reality.
Years of lifeless practice have already caused her body to have a lot of sequelae, and she also knows that the opportunities and golden career of athletes are actually only a few years, and if you can grasp it, you will be famous in history, and if you can't grasp it, you may be unknown for the rest of your life.
The salary of 600 yuan a month is not enough to see a doctor and support herself, and the opportunity to enter the national team again is gone.
It also happened that at this time, she was contacted by a Danish club, and they liked Pi Hongyan's spirit of not admitting defeat very much.
Because they especially respect sportsmanship and not just medals, Pi Hongyan's temperament and inner hard work make them very appreciative.
After thinking about it for a long time, Pi Hongyan accepted Denmark's invitation, even if she was reluctant to give up on the country, but she still wanted to live, and she also wanted to gallop on the field.
When I came to Denmark, I was as red as a dragon in the sea, there was no discrimination here, and the opportunity was fair to everyone, plus European badminton generally did not play very well.
So Pi Hongyan quickly became well-known here, her inner unwillingness and grievances, as well as her dedication to ideals, made her do her best in every game, and soon, Pi Hongyan swept the entire European badminton world with her skills.
He was also soon invited by France to represent France in major competitions, which required her to give up her Chinese nationality, which made Pi Hongyan very embarrassed.
She knew that going to France would allow her Olympic dream to come true and that she would have a place to finally compete, but this required her to give up her home country citizenship and finally decided to become a French citizen after several days of insomnia.
Her move also caused an uproar on the Internet at the time, and many domestic netizens and media criticized her as a "traitor white-eyed wolf", saying that she "forgot her ancestors".
They believe that no matter what achievements Pi Hongyan makes, she is cultivated by the country after all, and she cannot abandon her nationality for her own selfish desires.
Pi Hongyan didn't respond to this, because she believed that sooner or later, her decision would be understood by others.
After joining France, Pi Hongyan competed in all directions, whether it was the European World Championships or the World World Championships, she has achieved good results, and has won 14 gold medals for France, and countless French people are proud of her.
They all thought that it was one of their smartest decisions that France could bring in Pi Hongyan, and at their most brilliant, Pi Hongyan even became the second player in the world rankings of the International Badminton League.
Fierce battle with Chinese players in the Olympics
In the 2004 Olympic Games, Pi Hongyan, who had been silently exercising for a long time, stood on the Olympic stage for the first time, but the god of fate did not favor her this time.
Because some time before the game, Pi Hongyan was unfortunately injured during training, so she did not play well and was eliminated in the first round.
Over the next four years, Pi Hongyan practiced hard to prepare for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, during which time she won several gold medals for France.
In the blink of an eye, the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games, Pi Hongyan was careful before the game this time to avoid early injury like the last time, coupled with her superb ball skills, she went all the way to the quarterfinals, at this time she was most unwilling to see and had to face what happened.
She has to face her old teammate, former Olympic champion Zhang Ning, but now the two represent different countries, and finally after a fierce battle, Pi Hongyan stopped in the top 8 and lost to Zhang Ning.
At that moment, she jokingly said to Zhang Ning: I lost to you, but I also helped you clear some obstacles, and we are still good friends.
In 2012, Pi Hongyan chose to retire and ended her career as a badminton player in France, but after retiring, she did not completely leave the industry, but became a coach, teaching French children how to play badminton well.
And she also met her husband in France, her husband was very good to her, very romantic, always gave her a lot of surprises, and now the two live their lives happily and sweetly, and have a common child, which can be regarded as a winner in life.
epilogue
Pi Hongyan's story tells us that as long as we work hard, there will be results, and life is about choice, not because of choosing the right thing, but trying to make my choice right, and I hope she will get better and better.
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