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At the just concluded Paris Olympics, the Chinese table tennis team won all five gold medals in the Olympic table tennis events for the first time, and the men's and women's teams won five consecutive group championships. Among them, Sun Yingsha, the world's No. 1 women's singles player, played in mixed doubles, women's singles and women's team events from July 27 to August 10, winning 2 golds and 1 silver after 61 rounds in 14 games.

Perfect cooperation!

Recovering the "lost ground" of mixed doubles for the national table tennis team

The first task for Sun Yingsha in the Paris Olympics is to help the Chinese table tennis team regain the lost ground in the mixed doubles. Mixed doubles table tennis was included in the Tokyo Olympics for the first time. Each association only allowed one pair to participate, which increased the competitiveness and uncertainty of the competition. Three years ago in the Tokyo Olympics, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen were reversed by the Japanese combination of Mizutani Jun and Ito Mima 3:4 and missed the first Olympic gold medal in this event. The scene of Liu Shiwen apologizing with red eyes at that time made countless people feel distressed.

Mixed doubles is the first gold medal event in the five table tennis events. Whether the Chinese team can win this gold medal, and whether they can get off to a good start, all the attention is focused on Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin. On the way to the finals, Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin encountered huge challenges in the quarter-finals and semi-finals. They were behind 0-1 and 1-2, but they reversed their opponents with 4-2.

Sun Yingsha: Actually, I think that no matter whether it is mixed doubles or doubles, the first thing to do when two people cooperate is to trust each other. Secondly, you have to share the burden with him.

Reporter: I understand that cooperation is trust. But can you give me an example, for example, when two people face attacks together, what is trust?

Sun Yingsha: Because in one round of mixed doubles, I was at a disadvantage, and in one round, the ball came from a boy, and I might have received it. The quality of the ball coming from the boy, including the speed and power, is indeed different from that from the girl. So, I also had to concentrate with high intensity. On the premise that I could defend, he would attack the girl over there. First, I asked him to trust me and boldly say that it was okay, the boy over there would not pull me to death, and I would definitely be able to defend stably, and then you could attack the girl over there.

Reporter: You two have been training together for so long, you know very well whether the other can defend or not, why did you still tell him on the spot that you don't have to worry?

Sun Yingsha: This is a kind of communication in the game. When you are nervous, the way to relieve yourself is to talk more and communicate more. So, it is the same on the court. If he loses or I am nervous, the other person will speak quickly, just say "It's okay" or "It's okay, come back later", just keep talking, and you can feel your heart slowly calm down.

In the mixed doubles final, Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin faced the biggest "dark horse" of this event - the North Korean combination of Lee Jung-sik and Kim Geum-young. The latter rarely appeared in international competitions, but they defeated many masters and made it to the finals. In the first five games, Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin led the North Korean combination 3:2, and the sixth game became the key game for both sides to win.

At 10:8, the match came to the gold medal point. As Lee Jung-sik's return ball went out of bounds, Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin cheered, and the score finally settled at 11:8. This victory made up for the regret of the national table tennis team in the Tokyo Olympics, and also ushered in a "good start" for the "gold medal team" in Paris.

"Do morning exercises one hour earlier than others"

First time to become the world No.1 in women's singles

Sun Yingsha, born in November 2000, is known by many as a talented player with a superb sense of the ball. In 2021, at the Tokyo Olympics, after the Chinese table tennis team lost in the mixed doubles, both singles and team competitions faced tremendous pressure. But in the women's singles semi-finals, Sun Yingsha lived up to expectations and crushed Japan's No. 1 women's singles player Mima Ito 4-0, and joined hands with Chen Meng to advance to the women's singles final of table tennis. A week later, in the women's team competition of table tennis, Sun Yingsha defeated Mima Ito again and helped the Chinese team win the women's team gold medal.

In the world rankings released by the International Table Tennis Federation on January 30, 2022, Sun Yingsha topped the women's singles world rankings for the first time with 7,580 points, becoming the first "post-00" world number one in table tennis history.

Reporter: Because you compete in three events and you also have women's singles, you have to make sure you practice women's singles and both of you. How do you find extra time to practice in a day?

Sun Yingsha: I do morning exercises and get up more than an hour earlier than most people do in the morning.

Reporter: What time do others get up?

Sun Yingsha: Normally we start at 7:30, and I go out for morning exercises at 6:30.

Reporter: What have you been doing for this hour?

Sun Yingsha: Practice receiving serve.

Starting from morning exercises, after a whole day of training, Sun Yingsha is used to giving herself some extra training.

Sun Yingsha: Normally, we finish at 7 to 9 pm. I will practice for another 30 to 40 minutes, then go back to the room to take a shower, eat, and treat. I want to sleep and rest early. The next day, I get up at 6:30 as usual. You can understand it by saying this. The day basically repeats according to this schedule.

Reporter: Everyone thinks you are a talented athlete. Your qualities and skills are no less than others. Why do you still spend more time than others?

Sun Yingsha: I don’t think I can be called a genius, I think I have talent. But I think if you really want to reach the top, the highest level, you must rely on hard work and talent, I think hard work must be the first.

Reporter: Because everyone is working very hard, including your daily schedule, every day schedule, it seems very tiring to us. Under such circumstances, why do you still want to get up earlier and stay up later, and push yourself?

Sun Yingsha: Because you want to be better than the average person, isn’t that the case? But I feel very happy when I am always chasing my dreams and goals.

"Followed by the old father"

Sun Yingsha and her coach have a father-daughter argument

In February 2022, Qiu Yike became Sun Yingsha's new head coach. In addition to being her coach, Qiu Yike is also the partner who waits for her to finish crying and argues with her.

Reporter: I watched a short video that I found very interesting. It was about you and your coach Qiu Yike. When he was talking to you, you said, "Go ahead if you can." When did this happen? In what context did you say this?

Sun Yingsha: Coach Qiu has been coaching me for two and a half years. First of all, in these two and a half years, he has coached me. Not only the two of us, but everyone will come to see us and affirm our efforts and achievements over the past two years. I think this is affirmative, including Coach Qiu, who has worked very hard. He also joked with me that after the Olympics, he had a few white hairs on this side, and a few white hairs on the right side too. It is indeed not easy and very hard. The coaches spend more time with us than with our family and children.

Reporter: Then why do you still talk back to others?

Sun Yingsha: He actually has a very good personality among coaches, and he can understand girls' thoughts and moods. He also understands that I am under pressure or anxiety, and the nervousness and anxiety before the game, so I often joke with him during training. When I am tired, when he always asks me to practice, when I really can't practice, I also joke with him and say, "Then you come to practice for a while." I think this is a kind of tacit understanding and occasional episodes between the master and the apprentice, but we never fall out because of such things. He understands that I am venting and telling him that I am very tired and it is not easy for me. You still ask me to practice here, and I am persisting. In fact, sometimes I hope to get his understanding and recognition, that is, I complain to him a few words, but he actually understands everything, and he will not say me, or scold me, or say if you don't want to practice, then don't practice, that has never happened.

Reporter: People on the Internet say that you have an old father following you.

Sun Yingsha: He helped me pull my suitcases every day in the Olympic Village. Sometimes, you don’t say, you are used to it, right? After the game, I asked him to help me pull it again. I am not used to carrying a backpack myself. Every time I joke, he would say, you have finished the game, and you still want me to pull it for you. I said that you can’t be a coach, you can only pull it for me during the game time, you have to pull it for me at other times, and we would occasionally quarrel with each other.

Reporter: He treats you as his own daughter.

Sun Yingsha: I think so. I feel like we are really like family members, not to mention the days when we fight together.

Lost to Chen Meng and won the silver medal in women's singles

“I hope the fans can be more rational”

During the Paris Olympic cycle, Sun Yingsha ushered in a period of explosive growth. Whether it was the 2023 Durban World Table Tennis Championships or the 2024 Macau ITTF Women's World Cup, she defeated her opponents to win the women's singles championship. In this Paris Olympics, many fans also expected her to win the Olympic women's singles gold medal and achieve a "Grand Slam" in her career. In the end, she met Chen Meng in the final, but lost to Chen Meng 2-4 and won the silver medal.

Reporter: For an athlete, especially a world-ranked athlete, the Olympic gold medal in singles is very important. You must have attached great importance to it, but it's a pity that you lost the game.

Sun Yingsha: Many people are talking about regrets or something, such as not being able to realize their dreams, not being able to complete the Grand Slam or break records, which will give you some invisible pressure. Because you can't control what people say on the Internet, I must be sad after losing, but at least I think I still have a chance to pursue the next four years.

Reporter: At the final women's singles final, many fans who love you followed you all the way to Paris to watch the game. Did it have any impact on you?

Sun Yingsha: Of course, first of all, I want to thank them for supporting the Chinese table tennis team and their favorite players in the Chinese table tennis team. But sometimes, I also hope that they can look at winning and losing rationally, instead of praising me when I win, praising my coach, my friends, my teammates, or even my family, and everything is fine. However, even when I lose, I also hope that they can show more care and tolerance, and hope that they can be more rational in this regard. I think that would be better.

Fighting for the country

“The gold and silver medals belong to China first”

The day after her singles loss, Sun Yingsha re-entered the team competition. In the final against Japan's top women's singles player Hirano Miu, Sun Yingsha staged a comeback after falling behind 1-7 in the first game, successfully "extinguishing" her opponent's counterattack momentum and winning another victory for the Chinese team.

In the end, in the women's table tennis team final of the Paris Olympics, the Chinese women's table tennis team composed of Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu defeated the Japanese team 3:0 to win the championship, achieving five consecutive Olympic women's team championships. This gold medal also happens to be the 300th gold medal won by the Chinese sports delegation in the Summer Olympics.

Reporter: I saw a comment that said that after watching your competitions over the ten days during the Olympics, netizens said that you completed the mixed doubles competition and won the gold medal, which was a mission, and you completed the women's team competition and won the championship, which was a responsibility, but you lost the individual event, the women's singles competition, which was your dream. You won in terms of responsibility and mission, but you won a silver medal in the pursuit of your dream. What do you think of this summary of you?

Sun Yingsha: I think the summary is quite accurate. Indeed, everyone wants to fulfill the dream they are pursuing, but I think the Olympics, first of all, is held every four years, and basically people from all over the world come to participate, and they are all top-level athletes. So, I think the original intention of participating in the Olympics is to fight for the country. No matter what, I must first defeat foreign athletes and win.

Even though we lost in the women's singles, I think we both made it to the women's singles final. We actually held our own in our respective half of the draw, and the gold and silver medals belonged to China. It's just that whoever wins has fulfilled their dreams, or achieved their higher goals, but first of all, I have actually achieved the big goal.

What were you pursuing at that moment?

'Olympic spirit'

On the evening of August 11, local time, the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics was held at the Stade de France in France. Sun Yingsha appeared on the stage as a representative of Asian athletes. IOC President Bach announced the closing of the 33rd Olympic Games in 2024. Sun Yingsha and other athletes on the stage blew out the Paris Olympic flame together, looking forward to meeting again at the next Olympics.

Dong Qian: When the Olympics ended, you were invited to extinguish the Olympic flame with President Bach, representing not only Chinese athletes but also Asian athletes. What was going through your mind when you were walking on the field?

Sun Yingsha: It is definitely a great honor, because I represent, as you said, not just China, but the whole of Asia. So when I walked up to the stage that day, I was walking in the middle of the stage, and then when I looked at the audience, I felt that even if I lost a game, there wouldn't be so many people watching, so I felt relieved at that moment.

Reporter: At that moment, did you think about what sports are, what the Olympics are, and what you are pursuing in this line of work?

Sun Yingsha: It is the Olympic spirit, faster, higher and stronger. You keep surpassing yourself and become a role model. Then you can pass it on to future young athletes. They may say they want to be like Sun Yingsha. Regardless of the results, I think it is good to have a clear conscience.