Text: Koi
Pioneer Valley
1998, on the eve of the Asian Games in Bangkok.
Deng Yaping, who has long since faded out of the national team, returned from United Kingdom.
Seeing that Wang Nan, Zhang Yining and others were worthy of being the pillars, she announced her official retirement.
26 years later, looking at the 51-year-old "big devil" Deng Yaping, she is still an irreplaceable "legend".
01
1990, Beijing Asian Games.
This is Deng Yaping's first appearance in front of a national audience.
In the women's table tennis team final, China vs. Korea was a fierce battle.
Seeing that after the first four rounds, the two sides tied the score in the form of 2-2.
The final game becomes the key to winning or losing.
Fortunately, Deng Yaping turned the tide.
In the fifth game, he narrowly defeated the Korea team and won the gold medal 3-2.
In addition to the women's singles, she also won the mixed doubles championship at the Asian Games.
Immediately, the world table tennis world opened the "Deng Yaping era".
Whether it's Barcelona or Atlanta.
She continues to play at a high level.
And the "Olympic Quadruple Champion" also left a strong mark on her short career.
Since Deng Yaping was crowned with the title of "Grand Slam", it has undoubtedly promoted national table tennis to a new height.
The outside world looks at her, she is full of ruthlessness when she plays, and her style of play is fierce.
No matter how big or small the event is, it can basically be said that it is invincible and invincible.
But she also has times when the old horse stumbles.
For example, against North Korea's Lee Fan-hee, and against Japan's Tomo-ri Koyama.
It's just that Deng Yaping never falls twice in a pit.
Whoever has a second chance to fight, she will win back what she lost.
However, what is behind the championship is a "pain" that is far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
02
Regarding Deng Yaping's story, some people say that she was born to play table tennis.
But she proved that 99% of the sweat is the key to success.
Deng Dasong, a man who loves table tennis.
When he was young, he played for the provincial team and his strength was on par with the national team.
So much so that after retiring, he became the head coach of the Henan men's team.
At the same time, he is also Deng Yaping's father.
Since Deng Yaping was two years old, Deng Dasong often took her to the workers' club to watch others play.
has been exposed to it for a long time, and subtly made her like table tennis.
It wasn't until she was five years old that her father, who was a coach, began to train her.
At that time, Deng Yaping's height condition just over the table was not superior.
Unexpectedly, "mountain people have their own clever plans".
Deng Yaping used the wooden board as a mat and began training.
Under Deng Dasong's step-by-step guidance, Deng Yaping has her own specialties and outstanding ball skills.
When she was eight years old, she saw the women's team win the World Championships, and finally understood what her father called "winning glory for the country".
It's a pity that height has become a "stumbling block" for her to become a professional table tennis player.
At the age of nine, he competed in the national amateur sports school division.
Deng Yaping won her first singles title.
Although she had excellent results, fifteen days after entering the Henan provincial team, she was rejected on the grounds of "too short".
That was the first time she had tears of sadness.
Fortunately, the words of his father Deng Dasong are like an initiation.
"The only way to deal with the lack of stature is to have a faster pace, a more ferocious attack and a more tenacious defense."
With this belief, Deng Yaping first stood out from the Zhengzhou table tennis team and even knocked on the door of the Henan provincial team.
The 13-year-old saw her defeat many world champions in the women's singles event at the National Championships.
Zhang Xielin, the coach of the national team, was moved by compassion for him.
Although he repeatedly proposed to the coaching staff to let Deng Yaping enter the team, most people were not optimistic about her.
Unexpectedly, the dialectic proposed by Zhang Xielin "saved" Deng Yaping's life.
"You think Deng's small size is a disadvantage, maybe this is her advantage, because she is small, and the ball that is very short in the eyes of others, she thinks it is a high ball, and she can directly smash the attack."
After several twists and turns, Deng Yaping finally had the qualification to enter the national team.
But before she can do that, she has to put her head to the national youth team.
After five round-robin competitions in the national top team a year, she was successfully promoted to a member of the national team with four firsts and one second.
Since Deng Yaping entered the national team, Deng Dasong has been as strict as ever with her.
Not only reminded her to train hard and produce results early, but also warned her to be humble and start from scratch.
Even though she has won multiple world titles, her father has not let up.
If her father is her navigator on the table tennis road.
So he who has presented Deng Yaping with awards five times is a bright light on his life road.
03
He has been ranked No. 1 in the world for eight consecutive years, and at the age of 24, he is in his prime.
Deng Yaping's official announcement of retirement shocked the entire sports world.
Not only China, but even relevant authorities of the International Table Tennis Federation have good words and persuasions for her.
"Why did you retire so early?"
"If you say that you only play once a year in the international competition, you are ranked No. 1 in the world, and you can continue to maintain it for 10 years."
This has to mention Samaranch, who once served as the president of the International Olympic Committee.
In 1991, the World Table Tennis Championships.
Lao Sa, who watched Deng Yaping play for the first time, couldn't help but appreciate her short stature.
Not only did he personally put on the gold medal for her gold medal in the women's singles, but he also invited her to the International Olympic Committee as a guest.
Unexpectedly, this visit laid the groundwork for her choice after retiring.
At the dinner, Lao Sa said to Deng Yaping:
"Did you know that you are the first athlete in the world to be officially invited by me to visit the IOC?"
And told her:
"It's important for you to learn English well in the future."
But 18-year-old Deng Yaping disagreed.
Since then, the two Olympic Games, witnessed by the whole world, the friendship of Lao Sa and Deng Yaping, who have forgotten their years, has been recorded in history.
With Lao Sa's recommendation, she became the first Chinese athlete to enter the International Olympic Committee.
And the second half of her life was rewritten because of this.
The 19 members communicated either in English or French.
But Deng Yaping, who gave up her studies early, was obviously not "qualified".
In every meeting, she had to rely on an interpreter to barely understand what the others were saying.
Deng Yaping thought that she should also "speak out" on behalf of Chinese athletes.
Unexpectedly, by the time she spoke, the others had already moved on to the next topic.
At this moment, she was stimulated.
Source: Internet
Once upon a time in the arena, Deng Yaping was the superior who despised his opponents.
Attending an IOC meeting for the first time, she felt unprecedented contempt and frustration.
With the end of the "Deng Yaping era", I found that she already had a layout.
04
When most athletes retire, they tend to transition to coaching.
For such a clear and clear life, Deng Yaping doesn't want it.
For her, she hopes to live the story of two lifetimes in one lifetime.
Reading is another mountain she needs to climb.
At first, Deng Yaping didn't even know the 26 letters of the English alphabet.
Even the Tsinghua tutor didn't have much confidence in her.
Who knows, that IOC meeting made Deng Yaping rekindle the small universe.
Three months later, Lisbon, Portugal.
Lao Sa asked her to speak by name, and she opened her mouth to read the content of the piece of paper.
A standard Cambridge sound stunned everyone in the room.
After she finished speaking, with Lao Sa's congratulations, the audience applauded.
Indeed, everyone was once again "deceived" by Deng Yaping's small body.
From Tsinghua to Cambridge to the University of Nottingham.
Deng Yaping has spent nearly four years learning English.
She not only presented her graduation thesis and defense in English, but also made great contributions to Beijing's Olympic bid during this period.
In 2001, Deng Yaping went to the mall to buy things.
A salesman ran up to her in a hurry.
She thought the other party was her fan.
As everyone knows, the saleswoman blurted out a sentence that made her feel deeply.
"You are an ambassador for the Olympic bid, you must work hard, and you must succeed! If Beijing can host the Olympic Games, our house will be demolished immediately! ”
With this case, Deng Yaping knows the members of the various Olympic committees:
"To promote the Olympics, we need to work hard in places with a large number of people, China has a population of 1.3 billion, and to promote the Olympics, of course, we must come to China, which has a large population! The Olympics is not only a competitive sport in itself, but more importantly, it can educate people, give people a direction in life (faster, higher, stronger), give people a guide to life, and be able to meet the needs of all walks of life. Doing our best to improve the living conditions of the local people is the spirit of the Olympic Games! ”
After Beijing's successful bid for the Olympic Games, Deng Yaping actually planned to study for a doctorate in Cambridge.
However, Lao Sa thinks that she should return to China to serve the people.
Now it seems that Deng Yaping's choice is "wise".
She not only let domestic enterprises understand what real "sponsorship" is, but also benefited her hometown with the concept of "national fitness".
In 2022, Luoyang was awarded the first batch of national fitness demonstration cities.
At present, there are more than 30 community fitness centers and 152 community sports parks.
It's hard for you to imagine that these places, with their professional equipment and venues, only need a dollar a day.
Occasionally, events and events are organized to motivate everyone.
In a recent interview, Deng Yaping, who "won for the sake of winning", has changed.
In the face of various business "challenges", she said that she often lost sleep.
She still wants to "win", but this time she wants to benefit more people and "win" with everyone.
epilogue
From world champion to doctor to investor, Deng Yaping has achieved a gorgeous turnaround.
Of course, the pressure is not enough for outsiders.
But I believe that sportsmanship will make her persevere in the torrent of the times.
Some of the information:
Deng Yaping recalled her friendship with Savon: Make friends to that job You know-Sohu Sports
Deng Yaping: Two lives_News_Sina.com
Deng Yaping: From Competing for the Championship to Studying for a Ph.D., Ten Years of Successful Role Transformation_Comprehensive Sports _NIKE Sina Athletic Storm_Sina.com
Deng Yaping's anecdote: From an ugly duckling to a world champion to create an era of a sister-Sohu Sports
Deng Yaping talks about the pressure of entrepreneurship, "I often can't sleep at night, starting a business, what can be left is victory"|Exclusive dialogue_Celebrities face to face