Tian Liang, who was once the "Prince of Diving", retired at his peak, but he is still active in front of the public, participating in various entertainment programs and reality shows.
In fact, in the Chinese diving industry, there is another "diving prince", the technology, the achievements are also famous, handsome is not inferior to Tian Liang, but life is very low-key, it seems to have been away from the public eye for a long time, that is, Xiong Ni.
As a world diving champion, Xiong Ni actually almost became a gymnast.
In 1981, Xiong Ni was in the second grade of Changsha Triangle Pond Primary School, and one day the provincial amateur sports school was going to select diving and gymnastics team members in the city's primary schools, so he was encouraged by the school to participate in the selection test.
At that time, Xiong Ni did not know what diving and gymnastics were, but was told that he had passed both tests and could choose freely.
Xiong Ni was very confused and did not know which one to choose, so naturally he still had to ask his parents; so Xiong Ni's father gave him an idea, "Which test you take first, choose which one." Just as casual but strange as destined, Xiong Ni stepped onto the diving platform.
After entering the diving team, Xiong Ni showed great talent, entering the national team at the age of 12 and soon representing the country in the Olympic Games.
In 1988, at the age of 14, Xiong Ni was selected for the Seoul Olympics.
Young age, coupled with the first time to go abroad, Xiong Ni did not have much pressure, but felt that everything was very fresh.
"Many times after I finish training, when the coach is not paying attention, I come back to cook a pot of bubble noodles to eat, with some Korean kimchi taken from the canteen, which is a bit spicy and delicious." Cute teenager with a greedy mouth.
Perhaps because there was no nervousness, Xiong Ni performed very well, entering the final with a good result of the second place in the preliminaries, and the first place was the American Player Loganis, who was known as the "Emperor of Diving".
In the final final, Xiong Ni performed flawlessly, far better than Loganis, and before the last jump, he had surpassed Loganis by 3 points, ranking first in total.
In the last jump, Xiong Ni still played at a super high level, although Loganis chose a difficult action, but the effect was not good, the splash was not low enough, and a major accident occurred, the head smashed on the springboard, and the blood splashed the pool.
Perhaps out of sympathy, the referee therefore favored Loganis and gave him a higher score, and as a result, Xiong Ni lost the gold medal with a narrow gap of 1.14 points.
After the game, many people said to Xiong Ni: "You are the real champion." Loganis also admitted that if it were not for his bruise, the championship would have belonged to Xiong Ni.
Since then, Xiong Ni has been known as the "uncrowned king". Years later, Xiong Ni still feels a little regretful when he thinks back, but at that time, Loganis was the king of diving, and it was normal to lose to him for twenty or thirty, and Xiong Ni almost surpassed him in the first Olympic Games, which was really rare.
In 1996, Xiong Ni won the championship on the 3-meter springboard and successfully won the first Olympic gold medal, which was also China's first Olympic men's springboard gold medal, with a high gold content.
Since then, he has won the Olympic Games in Sydney, creating his own "Xiong Ni era" and becoming a leader in the diving industry.
Few people know that Xiong Ni actually wanted to be an actor.
When Xiong Ni was 9 years old, it happened that the classic version of "Journey to the West" was looking for extras, and he had the honor of making a cameo appearance as a little monkey.
But in the interval between shooting, because he jumped too high, he also had the misfortune of an accident, accidentally injured by the stalactites in the cave, a blood flow, but Xiong Ni actually did not feel pain.
Fortunately, lin zhiqian, who played the god erlang, found it and sent him to the hospital for bandaging in time to avoid the deterioration of the injury.
Xiong Ni came out of the hospital, insisted on returning to the crew to shoot the scene, and agreed with Lin Zhiqian not to let his parents know, afraid not to let him participate in the filming.
After the shooting, Xiong Ni once wrote to the crew, saying that he wanted to be an actor and did not want to continue diving.
Fortunately, director Yang Jie did not agree, otherwise our country would have lost a diving myth.
Xiong Ni's emotional life has also attracted much attention because of his handsome appearance and Olympic champion.
In the 2004 Athens Olympics, Xiong Ni was a broadcast guest on CCTV, partnering with Ye Xuan, but unexpectedly there was a scandal.
In fact, Xiong Ni already had a girlfriend, called Li Jingman, but Xiong Ni did not want to be loud so he did not disclose it, but he did not expect to cause unnecessary misunderstandings and embarrassment.
Xiong Ni and a few journalist friends were watching at the Helong Stadium, and a reporter did not know the details, and stupidly asked Xiong Ni: "What is going on with you and Ye Xuan, is it true or false?" It happened that Li Jingman was sitting next to Xiong Ni, and it was said that she was very angry, and the scene immediately lowered its pressure.
Xiong Ni quickly clarified and explained to this reporter: "Don't ask about this matter in the future, I will go home and kneel on the washboard!" I'll let you know when I'm married." Xiong Ni's wedding is very simple, not as big as the wedding of ordinary people, which has become the most unique in the luxurious weddings of celebrities showing off like various competitions.
In 2008, Xiong Ni and his girlfriend Li Jingman, who had been in love for nearly ten years, held a wedding ceremony at the Sheraton in Changsha.
Although as an Olympic champion, his wife is also the general manager of Xiangtao Football Club, but the whole wedding is very low-key, a total of more than twenty tables for the banquet, the invitation is only relatives and friends of both sides, and the wedding of Tian Liang, who has not been separated for a long time, is very different.
Xiong Ni is not ostentatious, and many of Xiong Ni's acquaintances also learned the news of his wedding afterwards, joking that he was too stingy and reluctant to invite everyone to have a cup of happy wine.
Xiong Ni is a great filial piety, but his father drowned in an accident, but it became a lingering pain in his heart.
On September 21, 2015, Xiong Ni's father mysteriously disappeared in the Wangyue Lake Community in Changsha's Yuelu District.
Because he suffers from Parkinson's disease, his family is afraid of accidents, so the whole family goes out to look for it.
Unexpectedly, on the morning of the 22nd, the fishing citizens found a male body in the Xianjia Lake section of the Xiangjiang River, which was confirmed to be Xiong Ni's lost father. After the accident, Xiong Ni was devastated.
Xiong Ni often found time to go home to visit, because he was too busy, and also hired a babysitter for his parents. When the nanny went out to buy vegetables, Father Bear put the key and wallet on the table and followed him out the door. Everyone thought that he went out to play mahjong, but he did not come home at night, so he became more and more aware of the seriousness and quickly called Xiong Ni, who was on a business trip in Chenzhou.
This parting has become a pain for Xiong Ni for a lifetime.
But with such a filial and well-behaved son, Xiong Ni's father also has a spirit in heaven, which can be comforted.
After retiring from the army, Xiong Ni was appointed as the dean of the Sports Vocational College, with very strong working ability, and at the age of 33, he was appointed as the deputy director of the Hunan Provincial Sports Bureau, becoming the youngest deputy department cadre in the history of Hunan.
Today, Xiong Ni is already the chairman of the fifth committee of the Hunan Football Association, and although he is not an athlete, he is still contributing to the cause of sports in china. And the legend he left in the diving industry, the sassy posture of standing under the red flag holding high gold medals, has also become a sports monument, encouraging the younger generations to work hard, hoping that the Chinese diving team will continue to fight more and more courageously, and the success of the Tokyo Olympic Games will be reported frequently!