他強任他強 清風拂山崗

文/五花肉

五環漫談 The Story of the Olympics

他強任他強 清風拂山崗

The Power of China’s Table Tennis Spirit

文/五花肉

乒乓球被譽為中國的“國球”。在歷屆的乒乓球國際大賽中，最終的決賽往往成為中國球員的勝利會師，壟斷地位無人能撼。為了打破這一壟斷，國際乒聯不斷修改競技規則和器材標準，希望能以此抵消中國隊的優勢，增加比賽的懸念。

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”逼退劉國梁Liu Guoliang was influenced by Bigger Ball

劉國梁，擁有11個世界冠軍頭銜。2002年，正值當打之年的劉國梁宣布退役，讓許多人大跌眼鏡。

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.

這是因為當年國際乒聯修改球體標準，將原先直徑為38 mm的球變為40 mm。這種俗稱的“大球”，直徑增加了2 mm，重量卻只從2.5 g變為2.72 g。由于重量增幅小于體積增幅，從而導致球速變慢、旋轉減弱，而劉國梁的技術特點正是以擊球速度見長，影響巨大，只能無奈提前退役。

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.

這一標準的修改，對一直講究快速的中國球員不利，卻對力量更足的歐洲選手有利。球體標準修改后，我國乒乓球隊革新訓練標準，馬琳、王勵勤等新生代球員崛起。2008年北京奧運會，中國乒乓球隊實現金牌大滿貫，甚至包攬了男單和女單項目中的金銀銅牌，令世界乒壇為之震撼。

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.

用實力戰勝規則Overcome the Challenge of New Rule

數年之后，國際乒聯再次出招。2009年國際乒聯執委會上，以14票贊成1票反對的絕對優勢通過一項提案——2012年倫敦奧運會乒乓球單項比賽，每個國家的參賽名額標準由原來最多三人改為每項最多兩人。

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.

這次規則修改，相當于直接砍掉中國隊整體實力的三分之一，“三保險”變為“雙保險”。得知消息后，已經升任中國隊主教練的劉國梁很氣憤，“比賽是要靠成績說話的，而不是用規則?！盩his 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，中國隊包攬倫敦奧運會乒乓球項目所有金牌；2016年8月18日，中國隊再次囊括里約奧運會乒乓球四金。中國隊用實力戰勝了對手、戰勝了自己，也戰勝了不斷修改的賽事規則。

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.

結 語Conclusion

不管外部條件如何變化，國球乒乓總是能夠在最短的時間里適應新標準、繼續保持領先，似高高聳立的山崗，巋然不動。

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 .

（支持單位：上海市質量和標準化研究院）