1. Looking back on the past, Wang Fang's career has been in full swing in the years after her retirement, with her perseverance and unremitting efforts; At the same time, as the third generation of a basketball family, she shares a happy family life with her family.
Time flies, and the stars change. Wang Fang, who has been away from the field for a long time, made brilliant achievements in her career as a representative of the Chinese women's basketball team in the changing 90s of the last century.
Today, she has been promoted to deputy director of the Liaoning Provincial Sports Bureau, and has become a deputy director-level leader, which can be called a monument in her professional career.
What's even more remarkable is that Wang Fang's family has been a basketball family for three generations, and the family members live in harmony with each other and live a different life. Wang Fang's husband Zhang Yan used to be the core forward of the Liaoning men's basketball team; And their only son, Zhang Zhenlin, has now become a national player in the Chinese men's basketball team.
In addition, Wang Fang's younger sister-in-law Jiang Xu is also from a basketball family, her father Jiang Xingquan once served as the head coach of the Chinese women's basketball team, and Jiang Xu herself has been selected for the national women's basketball team many times.
The family often gets together and talks about basketball. Sometimes, they will form a team and work it out on the pitch in person. Because of their tall stature, every time they go out, they always attract the attention of many fans, who ask for a group photo and autographs.
In Wang Fang's home, elements of basketball can be seen everywhere, and the ubiquitous basketball atmosphere makes people feel the family's love for basketball.
2. Looking back on Zhang Zhenlin's growth process and his basketball path: Zhang Zhenlin once played in the United States, but for the needs of the Liaoning men's basketball team, he chose to return to China; He has been interested in basketball since he was a child and has always been regarded as a rising star in the basketball world.
For Zhang, basketball seems to be his innate talent. During the Beijing Olympics, at the age of nine, he followed his mother, Wang Fang, and watched many exciting competitions up close.
At that time, the demeanor of superstars such as James and Kobe Bryant deeply attracted Zhang Zhenlin's attention and sowed endless yearning for basketball in his heart.
Since then, Zhang Zhenlin has firmly believed in basketball as his life's work. At the age of ten, he underwent a bone age test, which showed that he could be as tall as 2.1 meters tall as an adult, and was hailed as a rising star with endless potential.
Therefore, Wang Fang decided to send his son to the Liaoning Youth Basketball Team and began to receive systematic training, and the coach at that time, Tian Yu, was full of praise for Zhang Zhenlin and regarded him as a key training object.
In order to improve his son's basketball skills, Wang Fang's family decided to send him to the United States to study and engage in this sport since 2013. During his time in the United States, Zhang Zhenlin's basketball talent has been vividly unleashed, and his achievements are remarkable!
In 2017, at the age of 17, he became the absolute main force of La Lumire High School, leading the school to win the championship in the National High School Basketball League, becoming the first Chinese player in history to win this honor!
Since then, Zhang Zhenlin has been admitted to the prestigious Tulane University with excellent performance and officially embarked on the journey of the NCAA league. In his debut, he handed in an astonishing answer of 27 points and 7 rebounds, showing unparalleled basketball talent.
According to the normal development trajectory, as long as he insists on participating in the NCAA league for another two years, Zhang Zhenlin is expected to be favored by the NBA team and realize his dream of professional basketball. However, due to the call of the Liaoning men's basketball team in 2020, Zhang Zhenlin had to stop his studies in the United States and resolutely chose to return to China to play for the Liaoning team in his hometown.
Although he missed the road to the NBA because of this, he was eventually selected for the national men's basketball team and became a national player.
3. Wang Fang's brilliant career: In the mid-90s of the last century, Wang Fang, as a representative of the Chinese women's basketball team, helped the Chinese team achieve the best record in history; She has been selected into the best team many times and is known as the "Iron Maiden".
Looking back on Wang Fang's basketball career, we have to start with the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. That year, Wang Fang followed the Chinese women's basketball team to the Olympic arena and finally won the silver medal, which also became the best record of the Chinese women's basketball team in the history of the Olympic Games.
As a rising star on the Olympic stage for the first time, Wang Fang's performance in the game was amazing, averaging 3.4 points, 1.2 assists, 1.2 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game, showing her otherworldly strength and winning warm praise from fans and media.
Two years later, in the 1994 Women's Basketball World Championships, Wang Fang shined even more and fought bravely. In the group stage, the Chinese women's basketball team unexpectedly lost to the Italian team and only qualified as the second in the group.
In the first game of the subsequent rematch, the Chinese team was counterattacked by the Spanish team with a lead of 17 points, which was undoubtedly a heavy blow to Wang Fang and other players.
However, under the huge pressure and the shadow of failure, Wang Fang was not discouraged, but inspired her tenacious and unyielding fighting spirit. In the second game of the rematch, she scored 25 points to help her team win over Brazil; In the third game, she scored 23 points again, and finally led the Chinese team to defeat Cuba, laying a solid foundation for the next semi-finals.
In the quarterfinals of this year's Women's World Basketball Championships, Wang Fang defeated the host Australia team with a tenacious fighting spirit, thus successfully advancing to the final of the World Championship for the first time.
Although she failed to win the championship in this thrilling competition and only finished second, her performance throughout the event still won warm applause from the audience, and in the game, Wang Fang averaged 14.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game, ranking second on the scoring list.
However, due to the long-term injury plague and the inexorable passage of time, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics became a regrettable moment for Wang Fang to be unable to travel with the team. However, she never chose to give up, but firmly gritted her teeth and persevered, doing her best to prolong her career.
It is precisely because of this tenacious fighting spirit and incomparable enthusiasm for basketball that Wang Fang is respected by the majority of fans as the "Iron Maiden".
Next, let's review Wang Fang's basketball beginnings in reverse order: she was born in a basketball family, and was successfully selected for the Anshan Sports School team at the age of 13, and then joined the Liaoning Provincial Team and the national team.
For Wang Fang, playing basketball seems to be an innate talent, she was born in a pure basketball family, her father Wang Zuozhong used to be the main second center of the Liaoning men's basketball team, and her mother played for the Liaoning women's basketball team as a guard.
Under the careful guidance of her parents, 13-year-old Wang Fang was selected to enter the basketball class of Anshan Sports School and embarked on her own basketball journey. As a young athlete, the process of basic training is undoubtedly boring and challenging, but Wang Fang is not tired of it, not only successfully completing the prescribed training tasks, but also taking the initiative to practice, fully demonstrating her persistent pursuit of basketball.
After five years of hard work, Wang Fang's basketball skills have been significantly improved, and the technical and tactical level has also achieved a qualitative leap In 1985, she finally joined the Liaoning women's basketball team as she wished, officially starting her career.
Under the careful guidance of two famous coaches in Liaoning, Wang Fang has been comprehensively consolidated and improved in many aspects such as movement ability, passing skills, dribbling skills, and shooting accuracy, and gradually showed the unique style of a small forward.
In 1989, Lu Changxin, who was the head coach of the national team at the time, discovered the extraordinary potential of this post-90s player, decisively recruited her into the national team, and entrusted her with the important task of the main small forward.
In the end, Wang Fang successfully opened the door to the pinnacle of her professional basketball career and embarked on her brilliant basketball journey!