The information in this article comes from CCTV International 2007-03-09 "The Truth of He Zhili's Turmoil - Victim? Or a rebel? 》； China News Network 2008-02-29 "He Zhili: I Don't Belong to the "Overseas Corps" Chinese Technology Can Export"; China Economic Net 2009-01-18 "1994: Right and Wrong" and other official media news, but in order to improve the readability of the article, the details may be polished, please read sensibly, for reference only!
Preface
"Yo Xi! Yo West! Yo West! At the women's table tennis duel in the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games, in the face of the strong Deng Yaping, Tomoli Koyama, who represented Japan, sent herself to the championship podium with her own "roaring west".
After winning the victory, she stood on the field and raised her hands, hoping to hear the long-awaited cheers, but the accusations of "Japanese traitors" pulled her back from her dream to reality, which reminded her of her former identity - He Zhili of China.
Why would a seeded female table tennis player who is enough to defeat Deng Yaping represent Japan, and even marry a Japanese to become a Japanese citizen, and what price did she pay for her choice that year?
A champion who doesn't fit in
Born in Shanghai in 1964, He Zhili has been in contact with table tennis since she was 5 years old, and because of her excellent talent and hard training, she was soon valued by teachers and coaches in school, so she was trained as a seed player since she was a child.
And He Zhili has never disappointed them, whether it is a school competition or a city competition, as long as she plays, she can always pass the test and get a lot of results.
At the age of 17, He Zhili represented the Shanghai team in the National Table Tennis Championships, and played at a young age at the national level, defeating three members of the national team to successfully qualify for the national team.
After entering the national team, her momentum has not diminished at all, and she has won the national championship of the 1982 National Table Tennis Outstanding Athlete Competition; Asian Champion of the 1984 Asian Table Tennis Championships; In 1985, she was the world champion of the women's team competition at the 38th World Table Tennis Championships.
But life will not be smooth sailing, even if the results are indomitable, but in the gains and losses of personal interests and collective interests, He Zhili is obviously more inclined to personal interests, so at the 39th World Table Tennis Championships in 1987, her sports career ushered in a big change.
It should be said that her performance in this competition was impeccable, and she even swept South Korean national treasure player Liang Yingzi with a score of 3:0 in the women's singles semifinals, but this championship did not make her as radiant as before, but became the fuse for her to leave the national team and even leave table tennis.
It turns out that when it comes to some games, the coaching staff will analyze the opponents encountered by the players, and in order to ensure that they can win the final championship, they will often selectively take the behavior of "handicaping" the players.
However, as He Zhili's coach, Sun Meiying hates the "handicap" behavior very much, and he believes that athletes should give full play to their strength when they stand on the field, and as for who will win the championship trophy, it all depends on themselves.
And He Zhili, who has absolute confidence in his own ability, coincides with the coach's ideas, so with his support, He Zhili decided not to follow the advice of "handicap" and give full play to his strongest strength.
Not only that, but he also listened to the coach's advice and pretended to agree to the coaching staff's "handicap" arrangement, but in fact did not implement it, and the result was to eliminate his teammates first and win the championship smoothly.
According to her thoughts, whether she "handicaps" or not, the final result is good, so she should not be affected, but the result is a big disappointment for her.
Wife Japan Takeo, Entered Japan Nationality, Substitute Japan Visitor
He Zhili, who won the championship, could not wait for flowers and applause this time, because she did not listen to the arrangements of the coaching staff, and the members of the coaching staff and the members of the national team were very prejudiced against her, and the team asked her to make a written review.
In the face of such a situation, He Zhili did not bow her head, firstly, she had coach Sun Haiying to support her, and secondly, she thought that there was nothing wrong with what she had done, and in fact she did not receive any punishment.
But not being punished does not mean that it will not be affected, He Zhili still feels the "differential treatment" in her team, she only needs to do a good job of training every day, but now she is not only "isolated", but also has to endure all kinds of gossip, and she feels physically and mentally exhausted after a long time.
Finally, when such emotions reached the peak, she decided not to bear it anymore, not only quit the national team, but also directly chose to retire, you must know that she was only 24 years old at the time, which is the golden age of athletes.
It was also at the lowest point in her life that a Japanese man broke into her world, his name is Hideyuki Koyama, and the two met in the 1985 Sino-Japanese table tennis friendly tournament held by Osaka and Ikeda, but they did not expect to enter the palace of marriage four years later.
Because they are engaged in work related to table tennis, the two often have contacts after getting acquainted, but I didn't expect Hideyuki Koyama to take advantage of the situation and give her the greatest care when He Zhili was most helpless.
At this time, He Zhili had been tugged at by the previous blow and Hideyuki Koyama's flattery, so the two held two grand weddings in Osaka and Shanghai respectively.
After marriage, He Zhili did not become a housewife like ordinary Japanese women, on the contrary, her husband was very supportive of her owning her own business, so she has been preparing her comeback plan.
Finally in 1992, 3 years after He Zhili married Hideyuki Koyama, he was allowed to become a Japanese citizen, and since then there is no Chinese He Zhili, replaced by Japan's Koyama Zhili.
It is understandable to change her nationality and surname, after all, this is the right of personal choice, but when she was on the field against her former motherland, her series of behaviors completely made her brand a "Japanese traitor".
The controversial act of "yelling at the West".
At the table tennis game, the scorer will generally shout to cheer for himself, which is the most common behavior, but as a former member of the Chinese national team, He Zhili's behavior surprised everyone.
Even after experiencing retirement and comeback, He Zhili in 1994 was only 30 years old, so even if she had missed the best age for competition, under the guidance of her mentor Sun Haiying, she still regained her early competitive state.
At the Hiroshima Asian Games, He Zhili represented the Japanese team in the final, and her opponent was the rising table tennis star Deng Yaping.
After He Zhili lost the first game, she quickly adjusted her state and won three games in a row, defeated Deng Yaping, and won the championship of this Asian Games.
Originally, as a Chinese athlete, changing her nationality to join the Japanese team was enough to be criticized by the Chinese people, and now she is representing the Japanese team, and she has a "Yo West", which has confirmed her reputation as a "Japanese traitor".
Therefore, after this competition, her reputation in China once fell to the bottom, and many table tennis enthusiasts hated her when they mentioned her.
It's a pity that she can bear these things, after all, she is already a Japanese, as long as her reputation in Japan is not stinky, but her husband gave her a big surprise.
After being "green", he divorced angrily
As she continued to grow older, He Zhili's competitive state also continued to decline, and she was soon surpassed by the juniors in the team, and her husband at this time could no longer be her strong backing.
The reason why He Zhili married Hideyuki Koyama was because when she was at a low point in her life, the other party gave her meticulous care, but she didn't expect that 8 years later, her husband would use this kind of care on other women.
In fact, after marrying He Zhili, Hideyuki Koyama was always exposed to scandals, but because He Zhili never had any evidence, she also listened to her husband's rhetoric.
As a result, in 1997, He Zhili finally found out that Hideyuki Koyama was really having an affair, so the relationship between the two began to crack, and three years later they divorced, and she only got 6.5 million yen in compensation.
But at this time, He Zhili also knew that her reputation in China was too bad, so she had no intention of coming back, but took her family to settle in Osaka, while continuing to engage in table tennis-related work.
Now He Zhili is almost 60 years old, and the failure of her marriage makes her not have the courage to start a new relationship, and she also hopes that she can find a loyal and reliable marriage partner, but I don't know if this wish can be realized after she crosses the ancient world.
epilogue
Some people say that if He Zhili did not choose to join the Japanese nationality at the beginning, then her life would not have failed like now, but the road of life is walked out step by step, but I don't know if He Zhili will regret her original decision, and at the same time hope that the rest of her life can be spent in peace, but in the future, on her epitaph, whether He Zhili or Koyama Zhili will be engraved, we can only wait for time to tell us the answer.