The Chinese women's volleyball team has created many glories that have amazed the world in the last century, among which the "five consecutive championships" achieved by women's volleyball players such as Lang Ping and Zhou Xiaolan are the most well-known. At the same time, Zhou Xiaolan because of her excellent competition results, coupled with her own good face, naturally attracted the love of many women's volleyball fans. In the match with the Japanese team, the Japanese media not only praised the "iron hammer" Lang Ping's smash, but also surprised by Zhou Xiaolan's airtight defense, so the Japanese media also gave Zhou Xiaolan a well-known nickname "Tiananmen City Wall".
Zhou Xiaolan
Later, although Zhou Xiaolan could not continue to work hard on the women's volleyball field due to her age, she still won the honor of the national "March 8" red flag bearer, and also served as the deputy director of the ball department of the Sports Committee. However, at the peak of her life, she was willing to give up the achievements she had made with sweat in China for many years, went to live in the United States, and never bothered about Chinese sports again.
Behind this excellent women's volleyball player's choice to leave, what is the untold story?
Zhou Xiaolan was born in Shanghai in 1957 to an engineer father and a doctor to a mother. When Zhou Xiaolan was young, because her parents worked in Taiyuan, they put her at her grandmother's house in Shanghai. As a child, Zhou Xiaolan lived a peaceful and comfortable life because of her grandmother's pampering, and she never thought that she would be associated with sports in her life.
Unfortunately, due to the influence of the special period, Zhou Xiaolan was sent to Gujiao County in Taiyuan with her parents at the age of 13, where it was very remote and the production and living conditions were very backward. Young Zhou Xiaolan had to take up the burden of life, she was like a rural child, learning to do all kinds of heavy work, just carrying water almost crushed her young shoulders.
However, the most frightening thing is that because of the mountainous area, there will be wild beasts on the mountain roads from time to time, so that these exiled foreigners may face danger at any time. Zhou Xiaolan will never forget that once when she was out of school at night, she saw a pair of eyes glowing blue in the dark, and she guessed in her heart that she might have encountered a wild wolf.
That's right, this is a hungry wolf, stretching out its blood-colored tongue, little by little, towards Zhou Xiaolan, zhou Xiaolan is extremely scared. But she understood that a weak girl of hers, no matter how she could not run a strong wolf, simply hid in a cave and did not move, secretly praying in her heart not to be discovered by the wolf.
When the wolf approached, he didn't see anyone, sniffed around for a while, heard the voices of other villagers in the distance, and walked toward the mountain. Zhou Xiaolan hid in the cave until she heard villagers passing by, and then she had the courage to run out, and when she returned home, she cried in front of her mother. Such a miserable life has sharpened Zhou Xiaolan's will beyond the average girl, giving her the courage to face the difficulties in the next life.
Zhou Xiaolan did not come from primary school sports, and her ability to become a women's volleyball player came from a special opportunity.
At the age of 16, Zhou Xiaolan participated in the Taiyuan City Games, when she was already one meter 76 because of her high height, and she performed well in the competition, she was selected to study at the Junior Sports School. After entering the sports school, Zhou Xiaolan was selected to join the volleyball class, the training of the volleyball class is hard and boring, and some of her companions will even cry because they can't stand the pain of training. However, Zhou Xiaolan relied on her strong will to overcome many difficulties again and again, and finally stood out in one game after another.
Chinese women's volleyball team
In 1977, Zhou Xiaolan was selected as the main deputy attacker of the Chinese youth women's volleyball team with outstanding results, participating in the world's first youth volleyball championship in São Paulo, Brazil. In the São Paulo arena, Zhou Xiaolan played extraordinary, and finally the Chinese youth women's volleyball team won the runner-up result, and Zhou Xiaolan also attracted the attention of the sports world and was selected into the national team.
In the year of entering the national team, Zhou Xiaolan was only 20 years old, and she had only been in the sports world for only four years, it can be said that her sports career was very smooth, and she also proved her strength in later times. Later, when Zhou Xiaolan participated in the third Women's Volleyball World Cup held in Japan in 1981, Japan thought that it was competing in its own territory, and naturally did not take The Chinese women's volleyball in its eyes. However, the Chinese women's volleyball team members, including Zhou Xiaolan, how willing to fail, for the honor of the motherland, they did not hesitate to do their best to compete with the Japanese women's volleyball team.
Lang Ping
Lang Ping suppressed the attack of the Japanese women's volleyball team to death, and Zhou Xiaolan also used his unique interception skills to never let the Japanese women's volleyball team surpass in the score, and finally won the championship with a result of 17-15. On the day of winning the championship, Zhou Xiaolan thought of the hardships and hardships along the way, and couldn't help but shed tears. When the Japanese media reported on Zhou Xiaolan's wonderful performance on the field, they called her "the walls of Tiananmen Square." ”
Unfortunately, after participating in the competition, Zhou Xiaolan was admitted to the hospital because of appendicitis, although her body was affected by this disease, but Zhou Xiaolan's enthusiasm for the women's volleyball team did not diminish. After recovering, she competed in the 9th World Championships in 1982 and won the title again.
Zhou Xiaolan's excellent results on the field, coupled with her extremely good looks, soon became the women's volleyball star that the Chinese people worship. Zhou Xiaolan always maintained her own ordinary heart in the face of honor, and she thought that she had just done everything that a women's volleyball player should do, which did not mean that she had achieved perfection.
Zhou Xiaolan from a weak girl in Shanghai who was not favored by others to a confident champion on the field, the sour, sweet and bitter experienced by others is not something that others can taste, and the honor brings her more growth and spiritual joy. Zhou Xiaolan did not take these two championships to heart, she wanted to chase a higher championship.
In the 1984 Olympic Games, Zhou Xiaolan once again appeared, this time although she was no longer the main team member because of her age, but her enthusiasm did not diminish, but actively cooperated with the main team members, and won the championship again. This time, Zhou Xiaolan's good achievements in the "triple crown" made the Chinese people remember her achievements, and also remembered the youth and blood that the Chinese women's volleyball team paid for the glory of the motherland. After that, she represented the Chinese women's volleyball team and won the 1985 Women's Volleyball World Cup and the 1986 Women's Volleyball World Championship, achieving "five consecutive championships".
After this event, Zhou Xiaolan entered the Chinese Sports Commission, and later at the age of 38, he had the position of deputy director, equivalent to the level of the main hall, Zhou Xiaolan's career, at this time can be described as the sun in the sky. As a woman, she should feel satisfied that she has received such a high honor and organizational value. In addition to her career success, Zhou Xiaolan, a female player who is invincible on the field, has also gained her love in reality. Her lover is also from the sports world, and Zhou Xiaolan has a common language, and also understands the hardships and difficulties of Zhou Xiaolan along the way After they got married, Zhou Xiaolan and her husband ushered in the crystallization of their love, a lovely daughter.
Zhou Xiaolan (left)
Zhou Xiaolan is supposed to say that at this time, both career and love have given her a rich gift, but for what reason did she resolutely resign and go to the United States?
When the reporter asked her why she left, she always chose to keep silent. When Zhou Xiaolan resigned, the superior really did not understand why such an excellent sports talent as Zhou Xiaolan insisted on leaving his post, out of love for talent, the superior had retained Zhou Xiaolan many times. But Zhou Xiaolan still had an iron heart to resign, and finally left the sports career she had struggled for many years. There has been a lot of speculation about the reason for Zhou Xiaolan's resignation, and some people even believe that Zhou Xiaolan chose to leave his job in order to immigrate to the United States.
However, such an explanation lacks evidence to prove it, and it is also inconsistent with the image of Zhou Xiaolan's half-life dedication to the motherland, and it is obviously impossible to convince the vast number of people who worship Zhou Xiaolan. Fortunately, with the passage of time, the truth of Zhou Xiaolan's departure has gradually surfaced, allowing everyone to recognize a real Zhou Xiaolan.
Originally, when Zhou Xiaolan served as the deputy director of the Ball Department of the Chinese Sports Committee, the Chinese women's volleyball team has lost its glory in the 80s. In the subsequent competition, the ranking fell again and again, and even in the 1992 competition, there was a doping incident, which damaged the reputation of the Chinese women's volleyball team. In the face of doubts and challenges, Zhou Xiaolan wanted to revitalize the Chinese women's volleyball team, and was ready to invite lang Ping, a friend who was far away from home at that time, to return to the embrace of the motherland and reproduce the glory of the Chinese women's volleyball team.
Originally, Zhou Xiaolan had persuaded Lang Ping to return to the motherland with her many years of friendship with Lang Ping, and just as she was preparing to go to the airport to meet Lang Ping, she received a notice from her superiors that she should not take care of this matter anymore, and there would be someone responsible for docking. Zhou Xiaolan felt very uncomfortable in her heart, originally invited Lang Ping to return to the motherland, is her own idea, and now she has been treated like this, which inevitably makes her unable to understand, coupled with the pressure that the Chinese women's volleyball team has faced for a long time, she finally chose to resign, leaving the sports career that she had sweated and worked hard.
Zhou Xiaolan's choice to immigrate to the United States was not a decision before resigning, but after resigning, she gave her daughter complete maternal love in order to reunite with her husband who was working in the United States at the time. On the other hand, it is also in order to adjust his mentality and return to a peaceful life, so he chose to go to the United States.
Zhou Xiaolan is heroic on the field, but in life, she is also like every woman, eager to get the company of her lover and take care of her children. In particular, Zhou Xiaolan's own childhood was full of the pain of separation from her parents and the hardships of going to the countryside to work, and she hoped to have enough time to accompany her children to grow up, so that the children could grow up happily. Today' Zhou Xiaolan is no longer young, shed her armor on the field, and takes care of her family with the softest posture.
Zhou Xiaolan's two daughters, now adult, have been deeply influenced by American culture since childhood, and lack a certain degree of understanding of Chinese culture, but Zhou Xiaolan has always had her own motherland in her heart, or try to let them contact more of the culture of the motherland. Zhou Xiaolan, as a former female ranking general, her choice to resign at the beginning, although it seems shocking to outsiders.
But Zhou Xiaolan, in addition to being the "Tiananmen City Wall" that brings honor to the motherland in the eyes of the public, is also an independent woman with the right to choose her life, we should respect her choice, do not speculate on her personal life, is the greatest understanding and respect for the women's volleyball career, as well as for her brilliant female player on the field.