The Golden Age of Chinese Table Tennis: From Guo Yan to Liu Shiwen
In modern society, many people face all kinds of pressures to choose not to marry and not have children, and this phenomenon does not only happen to ordinary people, but also exists among sports stars.
For example, China's table tennis team has four outstanding athletes known as "golden leftover women", they are Guo Yan, Guo Yue, Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen.
Guo Yan was born in 1983 and is now 41 years old; Guo Yue was born in 1988 and is 36 years old this year; Ding Ning was born in 1990 and is 34 years old this year; Liu Shiwen was born in 1991 and is 33 years old this year. The age difference between the four athletes is nearly 10 years, and they are all over 30 years old, but they are still unmarried.
They are not only of similar age, but more importantly, they are all outstanding players of the Chinese table tennis team, who have won many honors for the motherland in the international arena and have made remarkable achievements.
These four athletes represent the golden generation of Chinese women's table tennis. They share similar career trajectories: they were introduced to table tennis from a young age, showed extraordinary talent as teenagers, and then went on to make it to the national team and achieve great results in world-class competitions.
However, their careers have also been distinctive, with different challenges and opportunities.
From Guo Yan to Liu Shiwen, their stories not only reflect the development of Chinese table tennis, but also show how the outstanding female athletes of our time choose and balance their professional and personal lives.
The story of this golden generation is worth exploring and understanding in depth.
Talent and opportunity together led the way to table tennis.
These four table tennis stars have their own unique table tennis paths, but they can all show their extraordinary talent and ability to seize opportunities.
Guo Yue's story is the most compelling. She entered the provincial sports school at the age of 8, was selected for the provincial team at the age of 10, won the championship of the National Youth Table Tennis Championship at the age of 11, and was personally photographed by Cai Zhenhua, the then head coach of the national table tennis team, in the tower competition, becoming the youngest national player in the history of the Chinese table tennis team.
This record has not been broken so far, demonstrating Guo Yue's super talent in table tennis.
The beginning of Guo Yan's table tennis career was an accident. Because of her lively personality, at the suggestion of her teacher, her parents enrolled her in a sports interest class, which happened to be table tennis.
She showed great interest and talent in the sport, and when she was in the third grade of primary school, she was selected by the Shichahai Sports School in Beijing, where she met her coach Li Falcon, who had a profound influence on her.
Ding Ning's story fully demonstrates the influence of family background. Although her parents were athletes, she initially didn't want her daughter to follow the path of a professional athlete.
However, Ding Ning's love for table tennis and her amazing talent successfully persuaded her parents to change their views When she was 10 years old, Ding Ning participated in the national excellent table tennis seedling training camp, and was favored by the coach of Beijing Shichahai Sports School, and began professional training.
Liu Shiwen's table tennis initiation was influenced by her mother. Her mother used to be a professional table tennis player and wanted her daughter to carry on her unfulfilled dream.
Liu Shiwen practiced with her mother since she was a child, and later received guidance from Wang Nan's mentor Zhang Jingqing, which laid the foundation for her future success.
The stories of these four athletes illustrate the importance of talent, family support and seizing opportunities, as well as the success of China's table tennis talent selection and training system.
The glory of the world championship is at its peak.
These four outstanding table tennis players have reached the top of the world in their respective careers and achieved remarkable results.
In 2006, Guo Yan made a major breakthrough in his career. In the final of the Women's Singles World Cup, she faced Zhang Yining, the first sister of women's table tennis who has achieved a Grand Slam and is worthy of the name. With his extraordinary strength and excellent psychological quality, Guo Yan defeated Zhang Yining with a score of 4-3 and won his first singles world championship.
This victory not only proves Guo Yan's strength, but also marks her official entry into the main layer of women's table tennis.
Guo Yue's achievements came earlier and faster. At the 2007 World Table Tennis Championships in Zagreb, Guo Yue, who was only 19 years old, amazed the audience with his leading strength. She defeated Zhang Yining first, and then Li Xiaoxia, and successfully won the first women's singles gold medal of her career at the World Championships.
Not only that, but she also partnered with Wang Liqin in the same competition and won the mixed doubles championship in one fell swoop, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.
Ding Ning's achievements are particularly brilliant. She defeated Liu Shiwen in the women's singles final at the 2015 World Championships in Suzhou to qualify for the Rio Olympics. In the women's singles final of the 2016 Rio Olympics, she successfully defeated Li Xiaoxia to realize her dream of Olympic gold medal, becoming the fifth Chinese women's table tennis Grand Slam winner.
This achievement made Ding Ning's name forever engraved in the history of table tennis.
Liu's path to the World Championship has been full of challenges and setbacks. In 2009, she made her mark at the Women's Singles World Cup, but in 2019, at the age of 28, she won her first career World Singles title at the World Championships in Budapest.
This was described by the media as "ten years of sharpening a sword", which fully reflects Liu Shiwen's indomitable spirit.
The arduous journey of these four players to win the world championship not only shows the strong strength of the Chinese women's table tennis team, but also fully interprets the true meaning of sportsmanship - "one minute on the stage, ten years of work off the stage".
Setbacks and trials in your career: ups and downs.
Although these four table tennis stars have achieved outstanding results, they have also suffered different degrees of setbacks and tests in their careers.
Guo Yan suffered a major blow to her career ahead of the 2012 London Olympics. She was originally qualified for the competition, but she was eventually replaced by Ding Ning due to an accidental injury. The specific reason is only known to the parties concerned, but missing this opportunity is undoubtedly a huge regret for the 29-year-old Guo Yan.
The setback also marked her gradual retirement from the national team's main squad.
The reason for Guo Yue's predicament can be traced back to the bias of the coach. Despite her outstanding talent and excellent results, the head coach of the women's team, Shi Zhihao, treated her coldly.
This led to Guo Yue being pressed on the bench many times, the most typical example is the 2010 Moscow World Table Tennis Championships, this environment, coupled with his own injuries and bottlenecks, gradually smoothed out the edges and corners of this talented girl Even at the 2012 London Olympics, the 24-year-old Guo Yue, who was at his peak, could only compete as a team third person and did not get a singles quota.
Ding Ning experienced setbacks and successful turns at the Olympics. In the women's singles final at the London 2012 Olympics, she lost to Li Xiaoxia and missed out on the chance to become the fastest Grand Slam for the women's team.
In the 2013 World Championships women's singles semifinals, she lost to Li Xiaoxia again, however, Ding Ning was not defeated by setbacks, and finally had the last laugh at the 2016 Rio Olympics, realizing her Olympic dream of becoming a champion.
Liu Shiwen's career is full of regrets, and she missed the Olympic singles event. At London 2012 and Rio 2016, she failed to qualify for the singles event twice.
In 2019, she won the women's singles title at the World Championships, and thought she would finally be able to compete in the singles event at the Olympics, but due to injuries and the pandemic, she only qualified for the mixed doubles.
These setbacks and trials bring to light the brutality of professional sports, but also highlight the strength and resilience of the athlete in the face of difficulties.
A series of major transitions: from retirement to rebirth
For every athlete, retirement is an important turning point in their lives. When the four table tennis stars faced retirement, they also chose different life plans.
Guo Yue's retirement was extremely sudden and early. In 2014, Guo Yue, who was only 26 years old, announced his retirement. This decision came as a shock to many, because according to the athlete's career, she should have been in her prime.
After retiring, Guo Yue briefly served as the coach of the Liaoning team, but eventually chose to work in the banking system, completely away from table tennis, a decision that reflects that the psychological trauma caused by a table tennis career may be deeper than the outside world thinks.
After losing the 2012 Olympics, Guo Yan chose to retire, albeit in a relatively uneventful manner. After retiring, she served as Ding Ning's head coach. Now, she has chosen a completely different path from table tennis - entering the field of short videos and starting a new career of live streaming.
Ding Ning's retirement road shows her pursuit of self-improvement. In 2020, she chose to retire after a year of postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. After retiring, Ding Ning did not stay away from the sports world, but chose to study at the Department of Physical Education and Research of Peking University.
After graduating, she chose to stay on as a teacher to pass on her experience to the next generation.
Liu Shiwen's situation is special. She first faded out of the national team, but did not announce her retirement. She then chose to work at the ITTF, a decision that allowed her to continue to contribute her experience and talents to table tennis, while also starting a new career.
The retirement choices of these four athletes reflect the challenges and opportunities faced by elite athletes after their careers, and their experiences also provide a reference for future athletes to choose different life choices.
Reflections and prospects for the future of Chinese women's table tennis.
The careers of these four athletes, Guo Yan, Guo Yue, Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen, not only reflect their personal achievements, but also have an important impact on the development of table tennis in China. Their stories show the strong strength and profound heritage of the Chinese women's table tennis team, but also expose some issues worthy of reflection.
These four athletes showed extraordinary talent at a young age, and entered the national team as teenagers, which shows the success of China's table tennis talent selection and training system.
However, the setbacks and dilemmas they have encountered in their careers, including coaching bias, injury troubles, psychological stress, etc., remind us that we need to pay more attention to the holistic development and physical and mental health of athletes.
From their retirement options, we can see that the development of elite athletes after retirement has a diversified character, some choose to continue in the field of sports, and some turn to completely different industries.
This reminds us that athletes should be provided with more comprehensive career planning and development support.
Although these four athletes have retired or are retiring from the competitive stage, the future of Chinese women's table tennis is still full of hope. A new generation of young players such as Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Chen Meng, etc., have emerged and achieved excellent results in the international arena.
They will inherit the mantle of their predecessors and promote the continued development of table tennis in China.
Looking forward to the future, while improving the level of competition, Chinese women's table tennis must pay more attention to the all-round development of athletes. In addition, the Chinese women's table tennis team should be committed to maintaining its dominant position in the fierce international competition, and at the same time pay attention to cultivating more outstanding reserve talents.
In general, the future of Chinese women's table tennis belongs to the courage to innovate in inheritance and continue to grow in challenges.