In the history of the Chinese table tennis team, there are many world champions and Olympic champions.
Some fans may not be familiar with all of these world champions and Olympic champions, but there is such a person who did not have outstanding achievements as an athlete, but she can still be remembered by fans after more than ten years of retirement.
She is Bai Yang, who was once called "the first beauty of national table tennis" by fans, and of course, she is remembered by everyone along with Bai Yang, as well as her young and ignorant relationship with Ma Lin.
Today, let's walk into the table tennis world of Poplar and her and Marlene's love-hate relationship:
One
On June 13, 1984, Baiyang was born in an ordinary family in Hebei Province.
Neither of Poplar's parents were involved in sports, and after she was born, her parents did not think about training her to become professional athletes.
In fact, when Bai Yang was a child, her parents enrolled her in interest classes such as dance and calligraphy, hoping that she would become a lady who was proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting in the future.
However, Poplar's physique was relatively weak when she was a child, and her stomach has always been not very good, which can be seen from the fact that she later became a professional table tennis player and entered the national team, and her body was still slightly thin.
Therefore, when Poplar was five or six years old, a friend suggested to Poplar's parents that Poplar could practice sports to enhance his physical fitness.
At that time, Topol's parents considered basketball, football, volleyball and other sports, but these sports also had high requirements for the physical fitness of beginners, and there was also a lot of physical contact, which was not suitable for the weak Topol.
After all, table tennis, as China's national sport, has a very large number of participants in China, and at the same time, table tennis has basically no physical contact, and there are almost no requirements for the physical fitness of beginners.
In this way, the 5-year-old Bai Yang began to embark on the road of table tennis, and she also met Tang Yinsheng, the enlightenment coach of her career.
Not long after practicing, Poplar showed his super high talent in table tennis, so Coach Tang Yinsheng liked Poplar and often gave her a small stove.
But at the same time, Coach Tang Yinsheng is also very strict with Poplar, once in an intra-team game, Poplar played against a player who was not as strong as herself, but she played in an uproar.
Coach Tang Yinsheng was very angry at that time, and he had a feeling of hating iron but not steel, and after the game, he directly gave Bai Yang a few mouths.
After the training in the evening, Bai Yang also said this when she called her father, but she didn't complain to her father, but told her father that Coach Tang Yinsheng's slaps woke her up, and she also knew that the coach was for her own good, so she would only listen to the coach more and train more hard.
Listening to his daughter's words, Poplar's father couldn't help crying on the other end of the phone, he himself worked outside all the year round because of work, and Poplar was almost taken care of by his mother alone.
Therefore, Poplar's father felt that his daughter must have been very uncomfortable after being beaten by the coach, but she sensibly did not cry to her parents, but turned to comfort her father.
Baiyang's father actually didn't want his daughter to be so sensible, after all, other children were still babies in their parents' arms at this age, but he also knew that his daughter wanted to go further on the road of table tennis, which was the best choice.
So, he not only praised his daughter for being sensible, but also told her the story of the clay figure Zhang, telling her that she can make a name for herself if she pinched a clay figure, and as long as she has the heart to do something, she will definitely be able to do it well.
Young Poplar didn't know what her father meant by "doing a good job", but she knew that as long as she didn't play when she was training, she would train hard when other children didn't train seriously.
Two
Baiyang's talent in table tennis is indeed very good, and after practicing for six or seven years, she was selected for the Hebei Provincial Team, and also began to represent the Hebei team in the Table Tennis Super League.
In the league, there was a period of Poplar playing very well, so there was a beginning to be a little conservative, the ball was obviously a little tight, at this time Coach Tang Yinsheng said to Poplar: "If you win, you can't win the world championship, and if you lose, it will be worthless, no one asks you to achieve anything, just do your best." ”
So, in the later games, Poplar really had no pressure, and Coach Tang Yinsheng's evaluation of Poplar was "smart, obedient, and not stubborn".
In 1997, at the age of 13, Poplar entered the national second team, and that year she also won first place in the round robin competition of the second team, so she was selected for the first team.
But after the 13-year-old Poplar entered the first team, he looked a little immature as soon as he played with these big players in the first team, because within a few months, Poplar was demoted to the second team.
When she first returned to the second team from the first team, Bai Yang felt a little unable to raise her head, in her opinion, she was also a person who had entered the first team, and now she returned to the second team to train with the members of the second team, which was a little shameless.
In this regard, the coaching staff, including Poplar's parents, did a lot of work for Poplar, and Poplar slowly put down his so-called self-esteem and calmed down to train.
Bai Yang holds the racket horizontally with her left hand and plays like Chen Jing, the women's singles champion of the Seoul Olympics, so although Bai Yang did not enter the national first team, she was often transferred to the first team as a sparring partner.
At that time, Bai Yang, who was only fifteen or sixteen years old, although he was not very old, but he looked at the problem from a very mature perspective, and the other team members felt that the old sparring partner could have any advantage, but Bai Yang did not see it that way.
In Bai Yang's opinion: "There are a few people who can play with masters like Sister Wang Nan and Sister Li Ju all day long, I am practicing with them, but on the other hand, aren't they also practicing with me? ”
In 1998, Poplar participated in the first Table Tennis World Junior Championships and won the women's team and women's doubles championships, as well as the women's singles runner-up.
In 2000, Poplar won the Luneng Cup Super League Women's Team Championship and the Swedish Open Women's Doubles Championship with the club's players.
Before the Sydney Olympics, the Chinese table tennis team decided to implement "lean and streamlined" for the national first team, which means that the relevant leaders believe that there are too many players in the national first team and should be streamlined.
This is not good news for the players of the national second team, because it means that it will be more difficult to get into the national first team in the future than before.
It was in this situation that Poplar became the first player to enter the national first team after the implementation of the "elite army" in the national first team, because Poplar had been relatively stable in major domestic competitions for more than a year, and his singles results were basically stable in the top three.
In 2000, when it was the Olympic Games, although Bai Yang did not have the opportunity to compete, she also came to Sydney with the Chinese Olympic team as a sparring partner.
When his teammates were playing, Poplar sat in the audience of the table tennis hall almost every day, watching the game seriously, and writing in his notebook while watching.
Three
In 2000, the 16-year-old Poplar won the women's singles championship of the National Championships, and everyone said that she was a genius girl for a while.
The mentality of wanting to win and being afraid of losing made Poplar not put himself in the right position for a while and took a detour.
Coupled with the change of rubber later, Poplar was a little confused during that period of time, the more she thought about it, the more pressure she felt, and she suddenly found that these pressures could not be converted into motivation at all, but like a huge burden, which made her a little overwhelmed.
"For a period of time, my grades were not very good, many people thought that I didn't work hard or didn't care, but in fact, I put too much pressure on myself, I wanted to play well too much, in fact, I have been working hard, as I got older, I gradually understood that I have to go with the flow, now I don't think so much, I try to play every game well, and I work hard to train every day" This is what Poplar said in an interview before the 2003 World Table Tennis Championships in Paris.
In addition to the interview on the career, the reporter at the time also interviewed Bai Yang's views on love, Bai Yang said: "I don't pay much attention to appearance, but I especially believe in love at first sight, there may be something in him that particularly attracts me, but first of all, he must honor his parents, if he doesn't even love his parents, he will definitely have no conscience, and he will not love me well, and secondly, he must be ambitious, I don't care what his career has become, but he must have a positive and enterprising spirit." ”
At this time, it was rumored that Poplar and Ma Lin of the men's team were in love again, but at this time, Poplar had no time to take care of these, because she had just been confirmed to participate in the 2003 Paris World Table Tennis Championships.
Originally, Baiyang had no chance to participate in the Paris World Table Tennis Championships, but less than a month before the World Table Tennis Championships, the coaching staff decided to let her partner with Liu Guozheng to participate in mixed doubles, and she caught the last train of the Paris World Table Tennis Championships.
Because of the restrictions on her playing style, it is difficult for Bai Yang to get ahead in the fierce competition within the Chinese women's singles, so partnering Liu Guozheng in the mixed doubles competition at the Paris World Table Tennis Championships this time may be her most likely chance to win the world championship.
And she and Liu Guozheng also seemed to be like divine help, and they went all the way to the finals, and their opponents in the finals were Wang Nan and Ma Lin, which made Poplar difficult to understand.
At that time, it was said that Ma Lin and Poplar were in love, but it was not certain whether it was true or false, but before that, whenever Ma Lin competed, Poplar must be present to watch the game, if the winner is Ma Lin, it is Ma Lin who laughs heartily in the crowd, and it is Poplar who smiles with restraint outside the crowd, although the two are not intimate lovers at that time, but they are definitely confidant, so the two meet in the finals, it is inevitable that there is some cruelty, everyone wants to win the championship, but there is only one champion.
Of the four people in the final, Wang Nan is already a member of the Grand Slam team, Ma Lin and Liu Guozheng also have world championship titles, and only Poplar has nothing.
Four
In the mixed doubles final of the 2003 Paris World Table Tennis Championships, Baiyang Liu Guozheng finally lost to Ma Lin Wang Nan.
After the game, Poplar sat in her seat and covered her face with a towel, and from her gently twitching back, the fans at the scene knew that Poplar was crying.
The reason for the loss is not that Poplar played badly, after all, the game is changing rapidly, I can't tell if it's luck or something else, the victory passed by her, and the pain derived from regret is the most hurtful, and finally she can no longer hold back the tears in her heart after suffering countless failures and waiting.
Of course, the reason why Poplar cried was in addition to losing the mixed doubles title, and such an opportunity is very difficult for her to have again.
Also because of Ma Lin's "trick" ball in the game, it was even more angry, in the game, Ma Lin had a ball that grazed the bottom of the table, which should be invalid, but the referee did not see it, indicating that the ball was valid.
Liu Guozheng and Bai Yang objected at the time and asked Ma Lin that Ma Lin should explain the situation to the referee as usual, but Ma Lin did not say.
After losing the game, Liu Guozheng was very considerate, saying that Poplar wanted to win this championship very much, and he felt very sorry that he couldn't win this championship for her.
After the game, Poplar also mentioned the ball many times in an interview: "The ball is obviously underneath, and he also saw it, why didn't he pretend not to see it?"
The most important thing is that Liu Guozheng has been by Baiyang's side for a few days, and Baiyang has ignored Ma Lin for a few days, and the media also rumored that the relationship between Ma Lin and Liu Guozheng has become tense because of this, and it is even said that Liu Guozheng is digging Ma Lin's corner.
Probably because of these scandals, at the beginning of 2004, the coaching staff of the Chinese table tennis team issued a statement expelling Bai Yang, Fan Ying, Li Nan, and Hou Yingchao from the national team.
This is because the Chinese table tennis team is very strict about the management of mutual love between players, after all, like Bai Yang and Ma Lin, there is competition when they partner with each other in mixed doubles.
Therefore, if there is an awkward time, it will also have an impact on the game, and the most important thing is that Ma Lin was still one of the absolute main forces of the men's team at that time, and these things must not be allowed to affect the game.
Fan Ying was expelled because she fell in love with Wang Hao, Wang Hao was also one of the main players of the men's team at that time, and Li Nan and Hou Yingchao were a couple, because the two were not the main force, so they were expelled from the national team together.
Although this kind of punishment is relatively severe, in the atmosphere of the national table tennis team at that time, it is the Olympic year again, and it is necessary to use "heavy punishment" to stop this "unhealthy trend".
Not long after being expelled from the national team, Bai Yang returned to the national team again, and also partnered with Liu Guozheng and Guo Yan to participate in the mixed doubles and women's doubles competitions at the 2005 World Table Tennis Championships, and won the mixed doubles runner-up and women's doubles third place respectively.
But it was also her best result for the national team, and in 2007 she was sent to Croatia to play in the club league.
During his time playing in Croatia, some staff of table tennis associations in other countries invited Poplar to change his nationality to play for their country, and even promised a generous salary, but Poplar was unmoved.
In 2009, Poplar announced his retirement after representing the Hebei team in the National Games.
In 2010, 26-year-old Bai Yang officially became a soldier through the athlete recruitment of the Physical Work Brigade of the Political Department of the Armed Police.
It is worth mentioning that Bai Yang's former lover was married for the second time at that time, and when he divorced his ex-wife, the two had a quarrel in court, and finally Ma Lin was able to divorce after paying tens of millions of assets.
And Poplar didn't marry a businessman until 2021 at the age of 38, and gave birth to a baby soon after getting married, and now his life is also happy.
That's all for the story of Poplar, if you want to see the unknown stories of other athletes, please leave a message in the comment area!