他强任他强 清风拂山岗

文/五花肉

五环漫谈 The Story of the Olympics

他强任他强 清风拂山岗

The Power of China’s Table Tennis Spirit

文/五花肉

乒乓球被誉为中国的“国球”。在历届的乒乓球国际大赛中，最终的决赛往往成为中国球员的胜利会师，垄断地位无人能撼。为了打破这一垄断，国际乒联不断修改竞技规则和器材标准，希望能以此抵消中国队的优势，增加比赛的悬念。

Table Tennis is called "national ball" in China. During the previous international table tennis events, Chinese table tennis players always sweep all medals in the final,which proves China's superpower status in table tennis. Meanwhile, ITTF has been constantly changing the rules and equipment to diminish China's advantages and offer the prospect of greater medal diversity.

“大球”逼退刘国梁Liu Guoliang was influenced by Bigger Ball

刘国梁，拥有11个世界冠军头衔。2002年，正值当打之年的刘国梁宣布退役，让许多人大跌眼镜。

Liu Guoliang was a Chinese table tennis player who has won 11 titles at major world tournaments. However, in 2002, he announced his retirement when his career was still glorious, which surprised many people in the world.

这是因为当年国际乒联修改球体标准，将原先直径为38 mm的球变为40 mm。这种俗称的“大球”，直径增加了2 mm，重量却只从2.5 g变为2.72 g。由于重量增幅小于体积增幅，从而导致球速变慢、旋转减弱，而刘国梁的技术特点正是以击球速度见长，影响巨大，只能无奈提前退役。

This was all because ITTF changed the ball rule. The previous 38 mm balls were replaced by 40 mm balls. The ball's diameter increases 2 mm, but the weight only increases from 2.5 g to 2.72 g, which effectively slows down the ball's speed and decreases the ball's spin. However, Liu Guoliang's playing style was fast. This rule change influenced Liu Guoliang a lot, which make him decide to take an early retirement.

这一标准的修改，对一直讲究快速的中国球员不利，却对力量更足的欧洲选手有利。球体标准修改后，我国乒乓球队革新训练标准，马琳、王励勤等新生代球员崛起。2008年北京奥运会，中国乒乓球队实现金牌大满贯，甚至包揽了男单和女单项目中的金银铜牌，令世界乒坛为之震撼。

This rule change was a bad news for the Chinese table tennis, but brought advantages to European players who have more physical strength than Chinese. After amending the ball rule, Chinese table tennis team innovated the training standard, a new generation of table tennis players, such as Ma lin and Wang Liqin were rising at that time. Chinese team completed the first clean sweep of table tennis gold medals, and even swept all the gold, silver and bronze medals of men's singles and women's singles in 2008 Beijing Olympics, which shocked the world.

用实力战胜规则Overcome the Challenge of New Rule

数年之后，国际乒联再次出招。2009年国际乒联执委会上，以14票赞成1票反对的绝对优势通过一项提案——2012年伦敦奥运会乒乓球单项比赛，每个国家的参赛名额标准由原来最多三人改为每项最多两人。

Several years later, ITTF planed another intervention. In 2009, the ITTF Executive Committee voted 14-1to pass a proposal, allowing only two players instead of three players per country to take part in each table tennis single event.

这次规则修改，相当于直接砍掉中国队整体实力的三分之一，“三保险”变为“双保险”。得知消息后，已经升任中国队主教练的刘国梁很气愤，“比赛是要靠成绩说话的，而不是用规则。”This rule change forced Chinese table tennis team to reduce one third of overall strength, which lowered the possibility of getting the gold medal. After hearing the news, Liu Guoliang, who was promoted to the head coach of the Chinese national table tennis team was very indignant. "Competition result is decided by the performance not the rule", he said.

2012年8月8日，中国队包揽伦敦奥运会乒乓球项目所有金牌；2016年8月18日，中国队再次囊括里约奥运会乒乓球四金。中国队用实力战胜了对手、战胜了自己，也战胜了不断修改的赛事规则。

August 8th，2012，Chinese table tennis team swept all the table tennis gold medals in London Olympics. Four years later, August 18th, 2016, this dream team completed another successive clean sweep of table tennis gold medals in Rio Olympics. They beat opponents, conquer themselves and overcome the challenge of rule change.

结 语Conclusion

不管外部条件如何变化，国球乒乓总是能够在最短的时间里适应新标准、继续保持领先，似高高耸立的山岗，岿然不动。

No matter how external conditions are changing, Chinese table tennis team can always adapt to the new standards in the shortest possible time and keep the leading position, which is as still as a hill .

（支持单位：上海市质量和标准化研究院）