If anyone is the most tragic athlete in the history of Chinese women's table tennis, many fans may say that it is Liu Shiwen, who has ranked first in the world ranking and has won the world table tennis singles championship, but she has never been able to play in the Olympic singles.
But in fact, there is another athlete, more tragic than Liu Shiwen, she has gone through three Olympic cycles, and has won the World Cup singles championship twice, and the world ranking has also been high, but until she retired, she has not participated in an Olympic competition.
She is guo yan, a famous national table tennis player.
Guo Yan is two years younger than Zhang Yining, as early as 2005, the then 23-year-old Guo Yan broke into the women's singles final of the World Table Tennis Championships, and lost 2-4 to Zhang Yining in the final, and won the second place.
In the 2006 World Cup, Guo Yan defeated Zhang Yining 4-3 to win his first world singles title. Guo Yan also became one of the few athletes who could beat Zhang Yining in the three major competitions.
However, such results did not qualify for the Beijing Olympic Games, because the women's table tennis team at that time had a Grand Slam player such as Wang Nan Zhang Yining, in addition, another young player Guo Yue, who won the women's singles championship of the World Table Tennis Championships in 2007, also successfully qualified for the Beijing Olympic Games.
After the Beijing Olympics, with the retirement of Wang Nan and Zhang Yining, Guo Yan became the oldest player in the team.
In the 2010 World Cup, Guo Yan once again won the World Cup women's singles title.
Especially in the Moscow World Table Tennis Championships, in the women's team final, Guo Yan played the third singles, for the Chinese team to get the only point, after the women's team lost, Guo Yan cried into tears, this is Guo Yan's first appearance in the team World Table Tennis Championships final, although he won, but the team lost the championship, how can Guo Yan not be sad.
In the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships, Guo Yan lost to Liu Shiwen and missed the final four, but after the End of the World Table Tennis Championships, Guo Yan ranked second in the world with a four-point advantage, which also made Guo Yan famous in the London Olympic singles qualification for the first time.
However, Guo Yan knows that the Olympic qualification on the ranking newspaper is not stable, because At this time, Ding Ning, who is ranked third in the world, won the championship singles in the World Table Tennis Championships.
In order to be able to participate in the Olympic Games, Guo Yan, who was 28 years old at the time, worked harder than ever.
In the 2011 Asian Championships, Guo Yan single-handedly combined four events, and as a result, Guo Yan won all four championships, becoming the only athlete to win four championships in the same Asian Championships.
It is just a pity that this Asian Championship quadruple crown did not bring good luck to Guo Yan, at the last moment, Guo Yan was still qualified for the Olympic singles competition, replacing Guo Yan in the Olympic singles, it is Guo Yan's classmate Ding Ning, Ding Ning in 2011, has won the World Table Tennis Championships and the World Cup singles championship, becoming the best athlete in the women's table tennis team at that time.
When Guo Yan knew that he was completely missing the London Olympic Games, Guo Yan said that at that moment he really realized what it meant to tear his heart and lungs.
I have obviously worked very hard and put too much effort into it, but in the end I did not qualify for the Olympic Games, and this pain can only be understood by those who have experienced it firsthand.
After the London Olympics, in 2013, Guo Yan chose to retire, and Guo Yan was 31 years old at this time.
Although his career has never been able to participate in the Olympic Games, when it comes to everything in the past, Guo Yan said that he does not regret it, because he has worked hard!
Although Guo Yan did not become a Grand Slam athlete like Wang Nan Zhang Yining Ding Ning, although Guo Yan did not participate in the Olympic Games, Guo Yan still deserves the respect of fans, because Guo Yan has also won countless glories for the country in the international arena!