Ren Yanli grew up in a military family, and her father was a veteran of the Anti-Japanese War. In such an environment, a change of nationality is unlikely to occur under normal circumstances, but it does happen.
She showed amazing talent as a child, and due to her excellent arm strength, she was noticed by the school's javelin team, and began to vigorously train her to develop in the direction of a sports athlete.
In the process that followed, due to the booming softball career in China, she was picked up by her coach during a routine training session and persuaded to join the softball team.
Ren Yanli lived up to the expectations of her coach, stood out among her peers with her outstanding arm strength, and was successfully selected for the national youth team. It was during this time that she met the person who changed the fate of her life and who made her infamous: Taeko Utsuki.
Taeko Utsuki was a key player on the Japanese softball team at the time, and was sent to China for exchange Xi in 1978. And Ren Yanli was the captain of the team at that time.
Although the two did not communicate much during training, the influence and strength of Taeko Utsuki deeply attracted Ren Yanli, making her regard Taeko Utsuki as her idol.
Taeko Utsuki, the deeper purpose of coming to China is that she hopes to find good enough players in the Chinese national team to dig into Japan.
After visiting the training of the Chinese national team, her eyes were locked on Ren Yanli. Taeko Utsuki admires Ren Yanli very much because she feels that Ren Yanli's physical fitness is very good.
In the days that followed, Taeko Utsuki frequently made appointments with Ren Yanli and gave her some expensive jewelry and valuable gifts for various reasons. Her purpose is to slowly let Ren Yanli develop the Xi of loving vanity, paving the way for her next plans.
She told Ren Yanli that in Japan not only the benefits are very generous, but also the annual salary is also very high, these words gradually eroded Ren Yanli's heart, and finally she was persuaded and decided to go to Japan and leave her homeland.
In 1988, Ren Yanli officially completed the retirement procedures of the national team and joined the Japanese Takasaki team.
With the addition of Ren Yanli, the Takasaki team became the dominant force of the Japanese softball league championship, and Ren Yanli became the core figure of the team and won the reputation of "Big Black Pillar".
Although Ren Yanli had not yet become a Japanese citizen at the time, she still returned to the Chinese national team at the 1991 and 1993 World Championships, and won the home run king at two consecutive World Championships.
However, despite winning the championship at home, Ren Yanli was not able to get more opportunities to participate in the country, and was even almost left out in the cold, in her opinion, she was treated with due respect in Japan, and finally she decided to become a Japanese citizen.
Ren Yanli believes that Taeko Utsuki has given her a real career opportunity and is a benefactor who helped her realize her dreams. Therefore, after she came to Japan, she directly changed her name to Utsuki Reika.
At the time, Ren was representing Japan at the Atlanta Olympics, but she was in a desperate situation because the Chinese Softball Association intercepted her qualification.
According to the Olympic Statutes, athletes who change nationality must be recognized by their original nationality if they want to participate in the Olympic Games within three years.
Naturally, the Chinese side did not agree to her becoming a Japanese citizen, so she lost the opportunity to participate in the Olympics and win gold.
But in Ren Yanli's view, this is the Chinese Softball Association deliberately making things difficult for her.
As a result, Ren Yanli held a grudge and formed a bond with the Chinese Softball Association, and she vowed to retaliate.
Until the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, she represented the Japanese team and met the Chinese team in the competition.
In the game, the Japanese team led by Ren Yanli won the victory. In the post-match interview, Ren Yanli said that it was her greatest wish to defeat the Chinese team, and she was very happy about it.
This news spread back to China and caused an uproar, especially for Ren Yanli's father. Her father was once a famous general in the Anti-Japanese War, and his name was Ren Weikai.
After hearing about his daughter's traitorous behavior, the old general publicly expressed a clear attitude that he would not recognize this daughter again: "I don't have you as a traitor daughter, even if you kneel and beg me, I will not forgive you." Even on his deathbed, the old general was adamant that he would never forgive.
He participated in the Anti-Japanese War in 1937 and fought against the Japanese army for eight years, and the scars on his body were all left by the battle with the Japanese army.
He deeply remembered the atrocities of the Japanese army, how they burned, killed and looted, and how they killed their compatriots in the motherland.
Although Ren Weikai will never be able to fully forgive his daughter, the feeling that blood is thicker than water makes him unable to completely give up.
In 2007, Ren Yanli completely changed her hostile attitude towards Chinese softball and came to Beijing to become a guest commentator on the countdown to the Beijing Olympics.
She congratulated the rapid development of Chinese softball, marking the beginning of Ren Yanli's initiative to show goodwill with the Chinese Softball Association and break the ice.
Subsequently, Ren Yanli was invited to the Sichuan Panzhihua Training Base to conduct intensive training for the Chinese women's softball team, and the team members affectionately called her "Coach Ren".
In 2020, softball returned to the Olympic Games. At this time, Ren Yanli was already approaching the age of six, and everything was gradually calming, and she began to enjoy her retirement.
(Source: Records & Transmission)