Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, the 32nd Olympic Games finally opened after a year’s delay. Zhao Ruirui, a former Olympic champion and former national player of the women’s volleyball team, saw Zhu Ting, the captain of the women’s volleyball team, leading the China delegation into the stadium at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games. "I’m really excited. That’s the pride and pride of being a sportsman and a volleyball player."
A few days ago, Zhao Ruirui’s new book "Volleyball Soul" was officially launched by Yilin Publishing House. This is her first novel after publishing her autobiography three years ago, and it is also the first time that a volleyball player in China has written about the past events of volleyball. Zhao Ruirui once won the women’s volleyball World Cup in 2003 and the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 with his teammates, and is one of the representatives of the "golden generation" of women’s volleyball in China.
After retiring, although Zhao Ruirui left the field, he did not leave volleyball. In her opinion, volleyball players have so many wonderful stories, and everyone’s experience is worth writing a book. She should do something to record these stories. To this end, she determined the interview objectives in advance and planned the interview itinerary. Because there are many people to interview and the location is not concentrated, in addition to visiting her home, she also took advantage of the opportunity of women’s volleyball party or being invited to watch the game to have an in-depth conversation with the interviewees.
After traveling around Beijing, Hongkong and Hangzhou, Zhao Ruirui completed in-depth interviews with several generations of volleyball players, including Yuan Weimin, Lang Ping, Chen Zhonghe, Feng Kun and Wang Yimei, recorded their emotions and stories, and interpreted the volleyball spirit from the perspective of witnesses. 2021 is the 40th anniversary of China women’s volleyball team winning the world championship for the first time. The publication of the book "Volleyball Soul" is not only a retrospect of the past glory, but also an inheritance and promotion of the volleyball spirit.
Zhao Ruirui and Chen Zhonghe, photographed at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan.
The first athlete to publish a novel.
Won the global Chinese nebula award.
Zhao Ruirui was born in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province in 1981. At the age of 18, he was selected for the national women’s volleyball team. After more than ten years’ national team career, he won numerous honors. Head coach Chen Zhonghe once rated Zhao Ruirui as "one of the best vice attacks of China women’s volleyball team". Zhao Ruirui’s height of 1.97 meters also won her the reputation of "the tallest women’s volleyball team in China" at that time. Head coach Lang Ping said that Zhao Ruirui’s height is a big advantage of China women’s volleyball team. With her, our blocking is very efficient, which is very important for the China team.
As an athlete, Zhao Ruirui was very interested in literature, especially science fiction and fantasy literature. After retiring, she chose to devote herself to literary creation. In 2011, Zhao Ruirui published a long fantasy novel "Awakening in the End", becoming the first athlete in China to publish a long original novel. In 2012, he published the novel Colorful Feather, and won the Best Long Silver Award in the 4th Global Chinese nebula Award. In 2016, Zhao Ruirui published a long fantasy novel, Dream in a Dream.
After publishing several novels, Zhao Ruirui published his autobiography "The Darker the Night, the More Stars Shine" in 2018, and looked back on his volleyball career. Zhao Ruirui is not satisfied with just recording her own story. She also wants to record the feelings and stories of more volleyball players and let more people know. Therefore, she started her own interview trip and finally wrote "Volleyball Soul".
China women’s volleyball team celebrates winning the 2003 World Cup.
In-depth interviews with several generations of volleyball players,
Inheriting the Spirit of Women Volleyball Team with Precious Historical Materials
The interviewees of the book Volleyball Soul cover the representative figures in China volleyball field, from Yuan Weimin and Lang Ping in the period of five consecutive championships to Chen Zhonghe and Feng Kun in the period of reaching the peak of women’s volleyball in this century, with more than ten famous volleyball players, which can be described as the stars shining. Different from ordinary journalists, as a member of China Women’s Volleyball Team, Zhao Ruirui’s interview topics are more professional and in-depth, and the interviewees are more able to open their hearts in front of her.
Starting from the interview materials, Zhao Ruirui wrote about the past events of volleyball as a witness, not only looking back on the glory of China women’s volleyball team’s five consecutive championships, but also struggling to climb to the top of the world with coaches and teammates: Yuan Weimin devoted all his enthusiasm and life’s heat to the life of volleyball, Chen Zhonghe’s experience from accompanying coach to "champion coach", Lang Ping’s precious and wonderful coaching, and Sun Yue’s insistence on his responsibilities and duties. Hao yang’s persistent heart because of his deep love, Feng Kun’s transnational love caused by volleyball, Zhou Suhong’s unwilling personality as a "cannon", Wang Yimei’s unadorned purity and truth as a "little tail", Tang Miao’s mental journey of suffering but optimistic recovery …
Zhao Ruirui recorded many details in the training competition in the book, most of which are unknown. For example, Chen Zhonghe "criticizes more than praises" in daily training. With a kind face, he always "uses various’ methods’ to attack the players" to sharpen their minds. It was not until the team was dissolved that he personally praised this group of players and the players knew his good intentions. For example, after Lang Ping coached the American women’s volleyball team, he deeply understood the differences in training and competition attitudes between Chinese and American players. When he took over the China women’s volleyball team again, he understood the mission and pressure of the players … Zhao Ruirui wrote about all aspects of volleyball players from the perspective of "players in the game" and told many unknown details to show readers a more real and three-dimensional image of volleyball players.
"Volleyball Soul" restored the feelings and stories of several generations of China volleyball players, and made readers further understand the fighting spirit of women’s volleyball team and the sense of mission of China volleyball players, and also left a precious historical material for China volleyball. Zhao Ruirui said that from the very beginning, writing simply for the record, slowly, I feel that this is not a simple record task, but an inexplicable strong mission. "It’s my love for volleyball and my deepest empathy for volleyball players that gives me the purest motivation, so that I can keep the real history and extract some of its essence."
China women’s volleyball team won the World Cup for the first time.
60 precious photos reproduce brilliant moments,
Looking back on the 40-year struggle of volleyball players in China
"Volleyball Soul" contains a total of 60 precious photos, most of which were provided by respondents and have never been made public before. These photos not only include the photos of the five-time champion women’s volleyball team when they won the World Cup for the first time, but also the photos of the women’s volleyball team in China after winning the World Cup in 2003. They also record the hard work and heroic spirit of several generations of volleyball players in the training ground and on the field. It is the tears and sweat of generations of volleyball players that make China women’s volleyball team a beautiful memory of Chinese people.
China Women’s Volleyball Team is one of the most recognized sports groups in China, and it has attracted much attention in the Tokyo Olympic Games. China women’s volleyball team won the title of "the most beautiful struggler" at the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China, and the influence of "women’s volleyball spirit" has already surpassed sports itself. The Soul of Volleyball, which is about the spirit of women’s volleyball, was also recommended by the press conference of key publications of Jiangsu Province.
China women’s volleyball team and all volleyball players have shown the spirit of motherland first, unity and cooperation, tenacious struggle and never give up in the course of 40 years’ struggle, which has become a spiritual symbol to inspire Chinese people to continue their struggle and strive for self-improvement. As Zhao Ruirui wrote in the preface of Volleyball Soul: "The spirit of women’s volleyball is actually the first step without hesitation, but also the countless steps of perseverance; It is the fighting spirit that never gives up in adversity, and it is also the will that never gives up in difficulties. "
Red Star journalist Chen Mou
Editor Li Jie
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