Wang Zhizhi was the first athlete from mainland China to enter the NBA, which not only opened the way for Yao Ming and others, but also made important contributions to promoting the international development of Chinese basketball.
As an important figure in the history of mainland basketball, although Wang Zhizhi's sports career is extremely bright, it is also accompanied by many controversies and ups and downs.
For example, the "No Return" incident in 2002, such as divorcing his wife who had been married for 16 years after retiring, and then marrying Zhou Lei, a beautiful host born in the 90s, etc.,
And all this has to start after he became famous.
01
Wang Zhizhi's fate with basketball was destined from the moment he was born.
His father Wang Weijun was the main force of the Beijing men's basketball team, with a height of 1.96 meters, and his mother Ren Huanzhen, who was 1.87 meters tall, was a member of the Chinese women's basketball team.
With the blessing of his parents' super height genes and athletic talent, Wang Zhizhi has also shown his grandeur since he was a child, growing to 1.52 meters at the age of 8, and growing to 2.14 meters when he becomes an adult.
On the court, along with Yao Ming and Battle, it is known as the "Moving Great Wall".
After discovering Wang Zhizhi's height advantage, his parents did not hesitate at all, and sent him to the workers' sports school to learn basketball, and his coach was his father, who had retired.
Although the combined salaries of the husband and wife at that time were only a few dozen yuan, they were not distressed at all in cultivating their son, whether it was buying sneakers or supplementing nutrition, they never cared about financial gains and losses.
As early as when Wang Zhizhi was born, the two discussed that if their son is not suitable for basketball, they will train their grandson or granddaughter in the future.
Anyway, the two of them have made up their minds that they must train a national player.
But it's a pity that Wang Zhizhi is not valued in the sports school, and the school is not even willing to provide a big bed.
Then I took the bus by myself, changed buses two or three times on the way, went around half of Beijing to the sports school for training, and then took my father's bicycle home in the evening.
In 1989, Wang Zhizhi, who was only 12 years old, was already almost two meters tall, and it began to become inconvenient to take the bus.
Because the sports school also found out at this time that Wang Zhizhi is indeed a genius who plays basketball.
After a long time of see-sawing, Wang Zhizhi still entered the Bayi team as he wished, but the price was that his father Wang Weijun lost his job as a coach in a sports school.
But the husband and wife have no regrets at all.
The training ground of the Bayi team is more than 30 kilometers away from home, in order not to delay the training, Wang Zhizhi lived directly in the team, and even sometimes he did not go home during the team's holidays, and stayed on the basketball court to practice shooting.
Parents are anxious, as soon as they have time, they will rush to the Bayi team to see him, if they have enough time, they will accompany him to play basketball for two hours, every time Wang Zhizhi is injured in training, his mother Ren Huanzhen will wipe her tears,
But after wiping away her tears, she would say to Wang Zhizhi: "The road is your own choice, and this is the only way for every great athlete." ”
Wang Zhizhi, who also loves basketball, kept his parents' words in mind and was determined to become a great player.
02
In 1994, 17-year-old Wang Zhizhi was selected for the national team with his height advantage and excellent skills, and the following year, at the World Youth Men's Basketball Championship held in Greece, Wang Zhizhi led the youth team to a good result of ninth place.
And Wang Zhizhi also won the honor of second overall score and first number of blocks, and was named the best center.
At this moment, the world has attracted attention, and everyone has witnessed a new basketball star slowly rising from the east.
In 1996, Wang Zhizhi followed the national team to the Atlanta Olympics, and when he played against the United States Dream Team, Wang Zhizhi directly gave David · Robinson a big hot pot,
Because of his outstanding performance, not only did the national team win the 8th place, but even Wang Zhizhi himself was valued by United States 6 university teams.
They threw olive branches one after another, offered generous conditions for full scholarships, and tried to poach Wang Zhizhi.
But after discussing with his parents, Wang Zhizhi finally decided to stay in China and continue to play for the national team.
In 2000, Wang Zhizhi and Yao Ming went to the Sydney Olympics together, although the results of the men's basketball team were not very ideal, but Wang Zhizhi got the highest score of 19 points.
At only 23 years old, he has clearly become a top superstar in the basketball world.
But in November 2000, the news of Wang Zhizhi's flash marriage suddenly came, and the fans were in an uproar, and they did not expect that Wang Zhizhi would choose to get married at the peak of his career.
Who is the other party that can make Wang Zhizhi distracted and get married at this critical moment?
Speaking of which, Wang Zhizhi's wife Song Yang is not an ordinary person, she is three years older than Wang Zhizhi, she is a high-ranking cadre's son, when she met Wang Zhizhi, she was running a real estate business in Haicheng and was worth a lot of money.
According to media reports, the acquaintance of the two was also dramatic.
In May 2000, when Wang Zhizhi went to the airport to pick up friends, it happened that his mobile phone was out of battery, and he wanted to make a coin-operated phone but had no change on him.
So Wang Zhizhi moved to Song Yang's side like a mountain, and patiently waited for her to put down the phone before cautiously asking if she could help herself change some change.
Who knew that Song Yang looked up and saw that it was Wang Zhizhi, who was more than two meters tall, and laughed with a snort, and directly handed over the mobile phone.
Wang Zhizhi expressed his gratitude to Song Yang after making the call, but Song Yang said that she was also a fan of Wang Zhizhi, and she was very happy to be able to help her idol a little.
When they met for the first time, both of them made a good impression on each other.
may be due to fate, at a party not long after, Wang Zhizhi met Song Yang again, and it was only then that he knew that the girl in front of him who was not good-looking turned out to be an elite in the shopping mall, which couldn't help but impress him.
After coming and going, the two took the opportunity to fall in love, Wang Zhizhi has been training all year round, this is the first time to fall in love, so he is also extra attentive, he doesn't even care about Song Yang's divorce once.
In just a few months, the relationship between the two heated up rapidly, and when it came to the point of talking about marriage, Wang Zhizhi asked his parents for their opinions, but was opposed by his parents.
Parents think that Wang Zhizhi is only 23 years old and should focus on his career, it is too early to get married now, and Song Yang is still married for the second time, they are worried that Wang Zhizhi is just a hot head at this time,
After getting along for a long time in the future, his enthusiasm will decline, and he will regret his current choice.
Wang Zhizhi understood his parents' worries, and he assured his parents that he was sincere to Song Yang, that is, he was rushing to get married, which was a matter of time or time.
When his parents saw that he had made up his mind, they stopped admonishing him.
03
Soon after getting married, Wang Zhizhi was involved in a turmoil.
In 2001, the Dallas Mavericks of United States sent an invitation to Wang Zhizhi, but Wang Zhizhi was very hesitant, because before him, there had never been a Chinese to develop in the NBA.
He was worried that he wouldn't be able to adapt there.
At this time, his wife Song Yang played a key role by his side, and with the encouragement of his wife, Wang Zhizhi decided to join the NBA, Yao Ming said:
"Dazhi's trip to the NBA is a milestone for the Chinese, many things we don't understand at all, it was he who opened this door, and the people behind us followed the stones he groped out to cross the river, and took many detours."
In 2002, Wang Zhizhi's contract with the Mavericks expired, but Wang Zhizhi still wanted to stay in the United States to participate in the summer league and further improve his skills.
But in terms of time, it has a conflict with the domestic men's basketball training camp and participation in the Asian Games.
So Wang Zhizhi negotiated with the basketball management center, and finally the basketball management agreed that he would return to the team later, but in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, he was specially told to keep it confidential and not let the media know.
But there is no impermeable wall in the world, and soon after, a female reporter in United States wrote a fake report against professional ethics in order to create eye-catching news.
In the report, she pointed out that Wang Zhizhi had defected, stayed in the United States and did not return, and confronted the Chinese Basketball Association.
Because of poor communication, Wang Zhizhi and the Basketball Association were pushed to the forefront, and the Basketball Association was forced by the pressure of public opinion to finally make the decision to expel Wang Zhizhi, and in the following years, this matter has been a knot in Wang Zhizhi's heart.
After the "no return" incident, the Mavericks also decided not to renew Wang Zhizhi's contract, and Wang Zhizhi then transferred to the Los Angeles Clippers and Miami Heat.
Although Wang Zhizhi is the first person to join the NBA, his development in the NBA is not very smooth and full of ups and downs.
Fortunately, his wife Song Yang gave up her career and stayed by his side all the time, encouraging him, supporting him, and gave birth to his son Wang Xilin in 2004.
At this time, Wang Zhizhi had bought a mansion in Los Angeles, United States, and became neighbors with film and television star Jet Li United States.
But since having a son, Wang Zhizhi has matured a lot, he began to be annoyed by his mishandling of many things, and he began to miss the days of playing in China.
And there is the idea of returning to China for development.
04
In May 2005, Wang Zhizhi got in touch with his mentor Kuang Lubin and expressed his desire to continue to return to China to serve.
And he showed his attitude towards him, and the door of the national team was always open to him.
This made Wang Zhizhi have mixed feelings and was very moved.
Two months later, Wang Zhizhi's contract with the Miami Heat expired, and many NBA teams threw olive branches to him, but at this time, Wang Zhizhi was bent on returning to China and all of them refused.
But because of some unpleasantness before, Wang Zhizhi still had various concerns, and Li Yuanwei, director of the basketball management center, specially rushed to the United States and communicated with Wang Zhizhi three times, which completely dispelled Wang Zhizhi's concerns.
With the efforts of many parties, Wang Zhizhi finally returned to China with his wife and children in April 2006, and the players and coaches of the national team held a very warm welcome ceremony for him.
This made Wang Zhizhi's heart completely relaxed.
In the 2006-2007 season of the CBA League, Wang Zhizhi made 39 appearances for the Bayi team and helped the Bayi team win the championship after a three-year absence.
Bayi has won 8 CBA championships, and Wang Zhizhi has experienced 7 of them.
In addition, Wang Zhizhi has performed well in international competitions such as the 2006 Doha Asian Games, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, and the 2011 Wuhan Asian Championships.
has made a very important contribution to the Chinese men's basketball team.
In 2016, the 39-year-old Wang Zhizhi changed from a "boy chasing the wind" to an uncle of vicissitudes, and the Basketball Association specially held a retirement ceremony for him and awarded him the trophy of "Chinese Basketball Outstanding Contribution Award".
At the bottom of the trophy, the word "Zhijing" is clearly engraved.
When Wang Zhizhi lifted the trophy, the fans in the audience cheered, Wang Zhizhi's playing career came to a complete end, and he had no regrets.
But what makes many people feel sorry for Wang Zhizhi is that in the year he retired, he and his wife Song Yang divorced, ending their 16-year marriage.
As an athlete, it is very normal to spend less time with your family and leave more, although Song Yang sacrificed a lot for Wang Zhizhi, Wang Zhizhi is also very grateful to her.
But the love between the two was still exhausted in stumbling, and finally ended in divorce, and for their son, the two decided to raise them together.
In 2018, Wang Zhizhi was invited by the Bayi Nanchang team to take on the position of head coach.
At a party, Wang Zhizhi met Zhou Lei, the beautiful host of Guangxi Satellite TV and Guangxi Variety Channel, she is 13 years younger than Wang Zhizhi, and has hosted programs such as "Collecting Ma Weidu", "The Forefront of the Rule of Law", "Happy New Challenge", "What I Love Is You", "Who Knows Best in Guangxi" and other programs.
Under Wang Zhizhi's active pursuit, the two soon became boyfriend and girlfriend, and a wedding was held in 2019, when Wang Zhizhi and his ex-wife Song Yang's son Wang Xilin was 15 years old.
He also expressed support for his father's remarriage.
In 2020, the Bayi Nanchang team was disbanded, and Wang Zhizhi also completely moved behind the scenes, and now works as a coach at the PLA Military Sports Training Center, and his military rank has also risen to colonel.
In 2022, Zhou Lei gave birth to a son for Wang Zhizhi, making Wang Zhizhi a father again at the age of 45, but his love for his eldest son Wang Xilin has not diminished.
With his full support, Wang Xilin, who is 2.1 meters tall, has also become a basketball player, because he was born in United States, Wang Xilin has now changed his nationality to Chinese.
He recognized his ancestors and became an upright Chinese.
As a basketball player, Wang Zhizhi has a very bumpy career and marriage, but fortunately, after going through ups and downs, he finally has a good home.
This is also an acceptable ending for fans who like him.