Why is He So Overbearing, Dismissing Chen Zhonghe, Blocking Lang Ping's Renewal, and Marginalizing Liu Guoliang with His Own Power
What is Wei Jizhong up to?
Pushing out Chen Zhonghe, pressuring Lang Ping, even Liu Guoliang couldn't escape his clutches!
Not content with wreaking havoc in the volleyball world, he even meddles in the table tennis arena?
"Checkered Record"
How could someone hailed as the "Father of China's Olympic Sports Industry" be so lacking?
Wei Jizhong, now 87 years old, remains active on the front lines of sports.
There's no denying that in his early years, his contributions to the sports world were evident for all to see.
However, after the successful bid for the Beijing Olympics, his actions became absurdly outrageous.
In 2001, the Chinese women's volleyball team entered an unprecedented low point.
Chen Zhonghe took on the task at a critical moment and became the head coach of the women's volleyball team.
Prior to this, Chen Zhonghe had a wealth of coaching experience.
He had made his way from the Fujian team all the way to the national team.
After only three years of coaching the women's volleyball team, he led them to a remarkable comeback.
Not only did they climb out of the trough, but they also stood on the championship podium at the Athens Olympics.
Afterwards, he rolled up his sleeves and got down to business.
Leading the women's volleyball team to rich harvests in international competitions.
He demonstrated his coaching abilities with one outstanding achievement after another.
In 2008, at the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese women's volleyball team suffered a "Waterloo."
The women's volleyball team, which countless fans had high hopes for, failed to continue their glory.
The Chinese women's volleyball team lost to the American team coached by Lang Ping.
They only managed to win a bronze medal on their home turf.
At this time, discordant voices began to emerge among the crowd.
The first to speak out was Wei Jizhong.
He believed that the root cause of the women's volleyball team's failure to win the championship was Chen Zhonghe.
He publicly stated:
"Chen Zhonghe's approach to leading the women's volleyball team is too conservative. If we continue to let him coach,
the Chinese women's volleyball team will never improve, and it will be difficult to win gold medals again."
A light remark directly negated all of Chen Zhonghe's previous efforts and achievements.
Lang Ping, who was far away in the United States at the time, spoke up for Chen Zhonghe,
believing that Chen Zhonghe was the best coach for the Chinese women's volleyball team.
But how could one person's support compete with "authoritative statements"?
In the end, the gold medal coach Chen Zhonghe still left the Chinese women's volleyball team with regret and reluctance.
Initially, fans thought Wei Jizhong was doing this for the development of the women's volleyball team.
But it wasn't long before his true colors showed.
As soon as Chen Zhonghe stepped down, his fellow townsman Cai Bin took the stage.
With Wei Jizhong's strong endorsement, everyone assumed Cai Bin was outstanding.
However, under his leadership, the Chinese women's volleyball team's performance took a sharp downturn.
The past glory truly became history.
Consecutive defeats once again dealt a blow to the Chinese women's volleyball team.
Despite the results being clear, Wei Jizhong continued to speak up for his fellow townsman.
He believed that the poor performance of the women's volleyball team had little to do with Cai Bin.
Fundamentally, it was a problem with the training system.
But the fans didn't buy it,
and the calls for "Cai Bin to step down" never ceased.
Perhaps unable to withstand the fans' scolding and accusations,
Cai Bin resigned early after a year.
With Cai Bin's resignation, the position of head coach for the women's volleyball team became vacant.
At this point, Wei Jizhong suggested that the Volleyball Association hire a foreign coach.
However, this time the Volleyball Association did not follow his advice.
Instead, they turned to the United States and brought back Lang Ping, who was then coaching there, to the women's volleyball team.
Why use the word "again"?
In fact, the Volleyball Association had wanted to invite Lang Ping to be the coach of the women's volleyball team earlier.
But this idea was strongly opposed by Wei Jizhong.
Helplessly, for the sake of living, Lang Ping went to the United States.
To return to the topic, Lang Ping lived up to everyone's expectations upon returning to the country.
She led the Chinese women's volleyball team to gradually come to the fore.
Winning medals at the World Championships, Asian Championships, and World Cup.
Lang Ping's achievements were clear for everyone to see.
But at that time, Wei Jizhong thought that the Chinese women's volleyball team could not defeat the world's top teams.
Lang Ping didn't rush to refute it, letting her actions speak for themselves.
In the 2016 Rio Olympics, she continued to lead the women's volleyball team to invincibility.
Breaking through obstacles and reaching the finals of the Olympic Games.
Even when Lang Ping was ridiculed by Wei Jizhong for her team's poor defense on the eve of the final.
When the girls clinched the championship.
The Chinese women's volleyball team stood at the highest place on the podium.
Wei Jizhong stopped talking.
After the Rio Olympics, Lang Ping's contract expired.
Industry insiders all hoped that Lang Ping could continue,
to lead the women's volleyball team to an even bigger world stage.
But only Wei Jizhong didn't play by the rules.
Perhaps because he was embarrassed, he was unhappy in his heart.
He directly stated that he didn't want Lang Ping to be the head coach and wanted others to take over.
With the precedent of Cai Bin, this time the General Administration of Sports directly came out to support Lang Ping.
In the end, Lang Ping successfully renewed her contract and continued as the head coach of the Chinese women's volleyball team.
I originally thought Wei Jizhong would give up, rest and recuperate, and no longer interfere in sports matters.
But who would have thought that after causing trouble in the volleyball world, he actually meddled in the table tennis world, targeting Liu Guoliang.
In 2017, the table tennis world suddenly announced that Liu Guoliang would no longer serve as the head coach of the table tennis team.
Promoted to Vice President of the Table Tennis Association,
This was clearly a case of "promotion in name, demotion in reality."
As soon as the news broke, table tennis players protested by boycotting matches.
What bad intentions could they have? They just wanted to keep their coach.
Only Wei Jizhong said that Liu Guoliang's thoughts should be respected,
the strength of the young table tennis players is enough to stand on their own, and he should be allowed to take a break.
He even spoke recklessly,
saying that these athletes who proposed to boycott the competition should be investigated thoroughly,
to see if they were instigated by others.
Seeing this, the fans said: It's still the familiar formula, still the familiar taste.
Without Liu Guoliang's coaching, the subsequent performance of the national table tennis team experienced significant fluctuations.
But later, with the efforts of the players and fans, Liu Guoliang was still called back by everyone.
All kinds of "evil deeds" made everyone's criticism of Wei Jizhong linger in their ears.
But he seemed not to care, you can scold me, I am still me.
How is this different from "a dead pig not afraid of boiling water"?
Who gave him such great confidence to act recklessly?
Early Years of Brilliance
In fact, Wei Jizhong's conduct in his early years was quite commendable.
Born in Shanghai in 1936,
since middle school, he has been fond of volleyball.
He would go to the volleyball court to practice during his spare time.
This also enabled him to possess a certain foundation in volleyball.
After graduating from high school, he was admitted to the French Department of Nanjing University with excellent grades.
During his university years, besides studying professional knowledge,
he actively participated in volleyball activities and was active on the playground.
He even became the main player of the Nanjing University volleyball team.
His outstanding performance allowed Wei Jizhong to enter the Nanjing City and Jiangsu Province volleyball teams successively.
Perhaps it was due to Heaven envying talent.
After serving in the Jiangsu volleyball team for only a few months, he retired due to injury.
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