Have you ever heard of the "champion effect"? In other words, if you win the championship, everyone should be happy! But this time Chen Meng won the championship, how did he act like "all beings are indifferent"? The audience applauded sparsely, Liu Guoliang was like a wooden man, and even Ma Lin, a big man, was crying a lot. What kind of play is this? Let's take a look at the story behind this today.
Chen Meng, this name is like thunder. On November 19, 2023, she successfully defended her title by defeating teammate Wang Yidi 4-1 in the women's singles final of the WTT Xinxiang Championships. It stands to reason that this should be a moment of jubilation, but the atmosphere of the scene is called "magical". The cheers were so sparse that it was sad, Liu Guoliang had an expression of "there is nothing to love", but Ma Lin cried like a 200-pound baby. This face, tsk, is even harder to guess than a riddle.
Let's talk about this "cold field" problem first. Chen Meng won the game, but the audience seemed to be watching other people's children get full marks, and politely applauded and it was over. What's going on? Could it be that Chen Meng offended the audience? Or did everyone suddenly lose interest in table tennis?
Actually, there's a lot of doorway here. First of all, we have to admit that the dominance of national table tennis in the international arena is too strong, so strong that it makes people feel that "it is not uncommon to win, and it is fresh to lose". It's like if you eat delicacies from the mountains and seas every day, and suddenly one day you are given a bowl of white rice, what other surprises can you eat? The audience has watched too many Chinese players win the championship and runner-up, and it will inevitably produce a kind of "aesthetic fatigue".
Besides, it's a civil war! Although Wang Yidi lost, he is also our own people. The audience was as if they were watching their two children fight, both happy and distressed, and they didn't know how to express it for a while. This kind of complex mood, expressed in a cold field, can be regarded as a kind of online performance of emotional intelligence.
There is another point that we cannot ignore. In today's competition, the audience is becoming more and more rational. They are no longer simply cheering for victory, but thinking about the process of the game and the performance of the players. It is true that Chen Meng won beautifully, but Wang Yidi's performance was also excellent. In this case, the audience chose a more restrained way to express their emotions. It's not indifference, it's a higher level of appreciation.
After talking about the audience, let's take a look at the two protagonists on the field: Liu Guoliang and Ma Lin. Liu Guoliang's poker face is simply a textbook for expression management! But don't be deceived by his paralyzed face, this old Liu, I don't know how big a wave it has been in my heart.
As the head coach of national table tennis, Liu Guoliang has a lot of burden on his shoulders. In every fight, he has to think about the development of the whole team, not just the victory of one player. Chen Meng won, which is of course a good thing. But he may be more concerned about: How much will this victory help the team as a whole? Wang Yidi loses, will it deal a blow to her confidence? How should the future games be arranged so that every player can get full exercise?
You see, when you have so many things in your head, do you still have the heart to put on a smiling face? Lao Liu's paralyzed face, to put it bluntly, is another manifestation of "heavy hearts". It's not that he's unhappy, it's that he's interpreting "responsibility" in his own way.
Let's talk about Ma Lin, the "tearful man". Don't look at Ma Lin's usual appearance as a big man, but at critical moments, she is more emotional than anyone else. His crying brought the atmosphere of the scene to life. You said he was crying for Chen Meng? That's an exaggeration. More likely, when he saw that the disciples he had worked so hard to cultivate finally emerged in the competition, he was so excited in his heart that it was like his own child being admitted to Tsinghua University and Peking University.
Ma Lin's cry was not only happy for Chen Meng, but also moved by the efforts of the whole team. You think, how many days and nights of hard training, how many times to get back up after failure, these sweat and tears, all condensed at this moment. Ma Lin's tears are gratification, pride, and expectations for the future.
In the final analysis, the "appearance of all beings" in this game precisely reflects the strength and complexity of our national table tennis. The calmness of the audience is because victory has become a habit; Liu Guoliang's facial paralysis is because of the heavy responsibility in his heart; Marlene's tears are because the effort will be rewarded. What kind of "magical" scene is this, it is clearly the epitome of the development of national table tennis!
Let's go back to Chen Meng, they are champions, so let's not patronize and watch the reactions of the people around us. Chen Meng's victory this time was not due to luck. From technique to mentality, from physical to tactical, she has shown the qualities of a top athlete. In particular, the grasp of the key ball is simply a textbook performance.
However, behind the victory, there is often more pressure and challenges. As one of the pillars of national table tennis, Chen Meng shoulders not only personal honors, but also the expectations of the entire team. Every time she plays, she has to face pressure from all sides: competition from teammates, challenges from opponents, and doubts from the outside world. Being able to maintain such a stable performance under such circumstances, Chen Meng's psychological quality can be seen.
Moreover, we must also see that Chen Meng's victory not only won honor for himself, but also set a benchmark for the entire team. She told everyone with practical actions: even in the civil war, even in the face of familiar opponents, you must go all out, play at a high level, and show your style. This kind of professionalism is what is really worth learning from.
So in the end, the editor would like to ask: Behind this seemingly "deserted" championship scene, do you also feel the heavy sense of responsibility and mission of the national table tennis team? What do you think about this?