The Paper's reporter Qi Dong
Zheng Haixia was inducted into the 2021 FIBA Hall of Fame.
In the book of historical achievements of Chinese basketball, the women's basketball team wrote the most gorgeous chapter.
From the first time in 1974 to participate in the Asian Games and win the third place, to the 1982 Asian Games with the historical belief of "rushing out of Asia" to the top of Asia, and then to the continuous raising of the five-star red flag at the World Championships and the Olympic Games...
In just a decade, the golden generation of women's basketball at that time rushed out of Asia to the world, creating a proud record in the international arena.
And one of the most representative figures is Zheng Haixia, the elder of the four Olympic dynasties. "The Great Wall of China", "The World's Best Center of Women's Basketball", "Zheng Haixia Era", too many labels can not be enumerated one by one, nor can it fully summarize her contribution to Chinese basketball.
Recently, Zheng Haixia was inducted into the 2021 FIBA Hall of Fame, becoming the first Chinese athlete to receive this honor.
At the age of 16, he was born and laid the foundation for the glory of the Chinese women's basketball team
In 1983, the 16-year-old Zheng Haixia was first selected for the national team, which began the glorious history of a generation of Chinese women's basketball teams.
"Seems to understand non-understanding, hazy", is Zheng Haixia's memory of her first experience of the national team.
Zheng Haixia recalled that Yang Boyong, the coach of the Chinese women's basketball team at the time, may have held the purpose of cultivating new talents, "may have selected me as the 11th and 12th person into the team." ”
Since she was only 16 years old at the time, Zheng Haixia said in an interview with the surging news reporter earlier, "I thought I was still a little friend, and I was very surprised." Oh my God, I'm in the national team? Can I play with these idols? ”
But her performance is not like a "rookie", in that World Championship, Zheng Haixia averaged 17.2 minutes per game, contributed 7.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.8 blocks, shooting 59% of the shooting rate, super high efficiency, so that she won a bronze medal on the world court for the first time.
Mature performance that does not fit the age, along with Zheng Haixia's first national team experience, foreign media began to call her "the Great Wall of the Chinese women's basketball team", and even asserted that Zheng Haixia will definitely be the best center in the world in the future.
This made Zheng Haixia realize that since she had entered the national team, only by training hard could she go further.
Zheng Haixia joined the WNBA.
Every morning out of the morning exercise, 8:30 a.m. training, 3:30 p.m. and the team to practice, three times a day, as a big center, Zheng Haixia's training volume is not at all inferior to small players.
"Others score 450 shots, then I will score 700," Zheng Haixia said, "for a while, Yang Boyong coached in order to train my feel, touch and my reaction, I trained football players barefoot to pounce on the ball, fell to the ground to catch difficult balls, a group of 15, so every day practiced for nearly half a year." ”
This kind of training has exercised Zheng Haixia's agility, and she is tall and can not only "eat raw" opponents in the position attack, but also participate in the fast attack, giving her more advantages against European teams.
Fast forward to the next year, the Chinese women's basketball team qualified for the Los Angeles Olympic Games as the first qualifier, and then won an Olympic bronze medal, and the Chinese women's basketball team raised the five-star red flag on the world stage for the first time to participate in the Olympic Games.
Due to repeated good results in the world competition, Chinese basketball established the established policy of "women's basketball first" at that time, and the Chinese women's basketball team took the lead in rushing out of Asia and going to the world, and the men's basketball team closely followed the excellent situation. In this regard, the historical status of the Chinese women's basketball team in the world basketball world has gradually become prominent.
In the Haixia era, the Olympic runner-up is regarded as a classic
After the experience of the first Olympic Games, Zheng Haixia participated in three consecutive Olympic Games, and the Chinese women's basketball team officially entered the "Zheng Haixia Era".
At the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games and the 1994 Australian World Championships, the Chinese women's basketball team won the second place in both the Olympic Games and the World Championships, which pushed the performance of the Chinese women's basketball team to a record high for a time.
But among them, the Chinese women's basketball team has also experienced growing pains, especially in the tenth World Championships held in the Soviet Union, the Chinese women's basketball team lost to the former Czechoslovakia team in the group stage, regrettably failing to enter the final four.
Looking back on this defeat, Zheng Haixia still feels sorry, "At that time, we led the opponent by 17 points in the first half, but lost in the second half, which led us to not reach the final four. In the schedule after that tournament, we won nearly 20 points in every game, and we had the strength, so it was a pity that we lost that game. ”
Soon, the Chinese women's basketball team was reorganized, but due to the great changes in the team from the head coach to the team members, followed by the Seoul Olympic Games, the Chinese women's basketball team once again failed to enter the final four.
Until the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, the Chinese women's basketball team ushered in a turnaround. Zheng Haixia told that the Chinese women's basketball team was led by the young marshal Li Yaguang, "In the past, it was me-based and tall center-forward-based tactical cooperation, Li Yaguang guided us, adhered to the small and fast and accurate way of playing, insisted on multi-person rotation, each game was 9 or 10 people on the field, and the characteristics of each team member were played to the extreme." ”
In Li Yaguang's system, Zheng Haixia not only has to score on the inside line, grab rebounds, but also complete passes, assists, and high-level strategies, assuming more responsibilities at the same time, but also revitalizing the attack of the Chinese women's basketball team.
Finally, the Chinese women's basketball team entered the semifinals as the second in the group, and then defeated Cuba by 39 points in the semifinals, making history with an Olympic silver medal.
In the 1994 World Championships in Australia, the Chinese women's basketball team won a silver medal at the World Championships again, refreshing the history of the best result of the Chinese women's basketball world championship, twice the world's second, becoming the most classic moment in the history of Chinese basketball.
Brave the WNBA and become a role model for Chinese players
With the brilliant results of the World Series, in 1996, Zheng Haixia went to the WNBA alone.
Zheng Haixia was nearly 30 years old at the time, and in her own words, "I was already in my twilight years when I came to play in the United States. ”
But at the end of her career, when she made the decision to play in the WNBA, Zheng Haixia had two considerations: "First, I want to know, at this age, I can't do it, I want to prove myself in the WNBA; second, I was the first Chinese and even Asian player to land in the WNBA at that time, with a sense of responsibility, to tell the world that Chinese players can occupy a place in the American League." ”
Zheng Haixia played in the WNBA.
But playing overseas is different from the past, although Zheng Haixia has never emphasized her discomfort, but through her narration, she can also imagine how difficult that period was.
"I went it alone, I didn't even have an interpreter, I didn't have anyone to accompany, I provided you with an apartment, and the rest had to be solved by myself, what if I finished the game and ate?" I don't know. It's time to leave at eight o'clock, and no one cares if you want to have breakfast unless you pay another $60..."
Zheng Haixia rarely mentions her experience in the WNBA, although she won the highest shooting percentage award in the WNBA and was also awarded the most popular player award, but that difficult day, "in addition to making others give heartache and sympathy, it will only make people feel that I am really not easy, it is really difficult for a second Chinese player to adapt." 」 ”
"But I never feel afraid, nor do I feel bitter, what is bitter?" The top is over. ”
Zheng Haixia on the field.
The sweetest memory in the WNBA is still related to Chinese basketball.
"At the Los Angeles Sparks, once the Chinese men's basketball team visited the United States, they came to the game to watch me play, and I scored 28 points in that game, which was the best game I played..."
The sweet and bitter spicy in this has now become a thing of the past, but for the development of Chinese basketball, Zheng Haixia's overseas career has made later Chinese players pay more attention to the WNBA game, especially in April 2019, Han Xu was selected by the WNBA team again, and in the young players, he saw the inheritance of the Chinese women's basketball team.
"Basketball is all I have, it is the color that cannot be erased in my heart, Chinese basketball has made Haixia, and also let me, as a witness to the development of Chinese basketball, I feel very proud and grateful for this era."
Editor-in-Charge: Ascendas
Proofreader: Luan Meng