Some people say that the history of Chinese table tennis is a glorious history book, and now, the era that many people have experienced is the era of Liu Guoliang. In the history of Chinese table tennis, he has written many gorgeous chapters.
However, what many people may not know is that in addition to Liu Guoliang's own love for table tennis, there is another person in his family who has been silently paying for table tennis for many years, and that is his brother - Liu Guodong.
If Liu Guoliang is a gorgeous rainbow in the table tennis world, then Liu Guodong may be a stone.
Because he is hard and tenacious, although he is not as talented as his younger brother and dazzling in the table tennis world, he also relies on his own efforts to pave the stone road to success little by little.
Although he is unknown and has been adrift coaching, he can now lead the Hong Kong, China team in the Paris Olympics and advance to the semi-finals with the Chinese team, which can be regarded as equal to his younger brother's strength.
The brothers entered the Bayi team together, but their results were very different
The two brothers have liked to play table tennis since they were children, and they played very well, at that time, after Liu Guoliang was admitted to the Bayi team, Liu Guodong also entered the provincial team, and both of them had good results.
Moreover, in order to catch up with his younger brother, Liu Guodong has been working hard, and later, he also entered the Bayi team, and the two brothers finally met, and the two could also be together and take care of each other.
However, after a long time, in the face of heavy training tasks, Liu Guodong gradually realized that the gap between himself and his younger brother, from the very beginning, Liu Guoliang was able to directly enter the Bayi team, which is not unreasonable.
Not only does he have a talent that surpasses others, but even his usual training shows strong willpower, and his style of play is very distinctive.
Many people say that the formulation of this rule is really targeted, isn't this just to limit the victory of some people? But so what, people who are really strong will not be afraid.
When overcoming difficulties again and again, Liu Guoliang also achieved a breakthrough in his own skills. Therefore, I was able to obtain proud results, and little by little stood in a position recognized by everyone.
Liu Guoliang is China's first men's table tennis Grand Slam winner, that is, a player who has won the singles championship in the Olympic Games, the World Table Tennis Championships and the World Cup.
And his brother Liu Guodong does not have that kind of opportunity, or talent, like his younger brother. However, on the road to the championship, there will always be people who have to sacrifice and someone who has to become a whetstone.
Liu Guodong is like this, when he was in the Bayi team, he was the sparring partner of his younger brother Liu Guoliang, although in the process of accompaniment, there will be happiness, dissatisfaction and even contradictions, but this cannot affect the relationship between the two brothers, even if they quit later, the relationship between the two is still very good.
Wandering around as a coach
Although becoming a champion, it is every athlete's dream to contribute to the development of the national table tennis cause. But in fact, every year, thousands of athletes, like Liu Guoliang's brother Liu Guodong, have to give up this dream because of their own conditions.
However, Liu Guodong's love for table tennis has not diminished because of failure, but has changed to another way to wait for his dream.
It is to become a coach and train the next generation of athletes who can stand on the world stage. Use your own experience to become a guide for those children.
In the beginning, Liu Guodong coached in the coaching team in Beijing and Shaanxi, and later on, because of his outstanding performance, he also served as an international coach.
In 2006, Liu Guoliang received an invitation from the Singapore Table Tennis Association and signed a three-year coaching contract. During the time when Liu Guodong was the coach, it really provided a good learning opportunity for the players, and through selection and guidance, their results have also made great progress.
At that time, Singapore's women's table tennis team improved their performance greatly, and they also won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It can be said that Singapore has made very bright achievements in the history of table tennis that can be recorded in history.
Later, Liu Guodong also went to many places, and it is said that he also went to the Indonesian national team and the Hong Kong men's soldiers. He really spread what he has learned, and he has also made table tennis culture loved by more people, which can be regarded as expressing himself in another way.
Moreover, with the different directions of career development, the brothers get along with each other very principledly.
Especially after the two became coaches, every time they met on the field, even if the two brothers hadn't seen each other for a long time, they finally gathered in the Olympic Village, but they would reduce contact because they wanted to avoid suspicion.
No matter how dazzling Liu Guoliang is and how famous he is in the table tennis world, Liu Guodong will not cause trouble to his younger brother.
Maybe this is the tacit understanding between them, and it is also the awe of the two of them for table tennis, even if they communicate, they will not say any news on the table tennis field.
Now Liu Guoliang, known by many people as "Dinghai Shen Needle", is not only in the national table tennis, but also in the national table tennis career, he is very far-sighted for development.
At that time, the "Three Musketeers of National Table Tennis" were cultivated, which can be said to have created a glorious era in the history of table tennis, and the strength of Xu Xin, Ma Long, and Zhang Jike discouraged many foreigners.
Ma Long is not only the captain of the team, but also the first super Grand Slam male player to win the Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, Asian Games, Asian Championships, Asian Cup, Tour Finals, and National Games singles championships.
Zhang Jike is the 7th Grand Slam player in the history of table tennis and the 3rd Grand Slam player in the history of Chinese men's table tennis after Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui. There is also Xu Xin, who has won the championship and runner-up in many important events such as the Olympic Games, World Championships, and World Cup.
Not only Liu Guoliang, but also Liu Guodong, during his tenure as a table tennis coach in Hong Kong, improved the level of table tennis for Hong Kong athletes. These two brothers can be said to have truly become the "pillars" of the country.
In the past, many people ridiculed Liu Guoliang, saying that he was a "fat man who didn't know how to play", but this table tennis champion who was instructed outside the court and was not recognized, was misunderstood by the public post, and he also laughed it off.
On the other hand, his elder brother Liu Guodong is the same, although his reputation is not as good as that of his younger brother, and even many people have not heard of him, his achievements are also obvious to all. And the development of national table tennis is also a relay of one generation and one generation.
epilogue
Today, Liu Guodong is still the head coach of the Hong Kong table tennis men's team, and in the last Tokyo Olympics, the Hong Kong, China team also won 1 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals.
At this year's Paris Olympics, not only did the Chinese team led by Liu Guoliang successfully enter the semifinals of mixed doubles, but the Hong Kong team led by Liu Guodong also successfully entered the semifinals, and the results were all 4:2 defeats.
Therefore, the strength of the brothers is now comparable, and in the next finals, the team led by the brothers will go head-to-head, and the game will definitely be more exciting at that time. We'll have to wait and see which team wins.
But what to say, which team wins is happy, after all, they all belong to China, and now the two brothers have contributed their own strength to the national table tennis cause, and they are also worthy of respect, so let's look forward to the next game.
Information source: Douyin Encyclopedia