Liu Guoliang (; born January 10, 1976) is a retired
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
player who has won all titles at major world tournaments including World Championships, World Cup and
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
. He is the second man to achieve a career grand slam of three majors (Olympic Gold, World Cup, World Championships). He is considered by many to be one of the greatest players and coaches of all time. He has also played with Kong Linghui in doubles.
Biography
Liu Guoliang was born in
Xinxiang
Xinxiang ( ; postal: Sinsiang) is a prefecture-level city in northern Henan province, China.
It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to its southwest, Kaifeng to its southeast, Hebi and Anyang to its north, Jiaozuo to its west, and the pr ...
,
Henan
Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...
. He won two gold medals in the
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
, the men's singles and the men's doubles (with Kong Linghui), he won the men's singles in the 1996 World Cup, the World Doubles Championships in 1997 and 1999 with doubles partner
Kong Linghui
Kong Linghui (; born October 18, 1975) is a male Chinese table tennis player. He competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics, as well as in the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics.
In 1996, Kong won the gold medal in the men's doubles co ...
, and the
1999 World Singles Championships in Eindhoven. He was a member of the winning Chinese team in both the 1995 and 1997 World Table Tennis Championships.
Liu retired after the 2001 season and was appointed as the head coach of the China's National Men's Team at the age of 27. As the head coach of the Chinese Men's National Table Tennis Team he is the most successful coach in history with a team gold medal at the
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
in addition to the medal sweep by
Ma Lin,
Wang Hao, and
Wang Liqin
Wang Liqin (; born June 18, 1978, Shanghai) is a retired Mainland Chinese table tennis player. As of January 2014, he is ranked 12th in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). He began playing at the age of 6 and was picked for the Ch ...
. At the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
the team won gold and
Zhang Jike
Zhang Jike (; born 16 February 1988) is a retired Chinese table tennis player.
Zhang became the fourth male player in the history of table tennis to achieve a career Grand Slam when he won gold in men's singles at the Olympic games in London 20 ...
and Wang Hao won gold and silver medals respectively in the men's singles. At the 2016 Summer Olympics the team again won gold and
Ma Long
Ma Long (; born 20 October 1988) is a Chinese table tennis player and the reigning Olympic singles champion. Widely regarded as the greatest table tennis player of all time, he is the first and only male player to complete a career Double Grand ...
and Zhang Jike won the gold and silver medals in the men's singles.
The Chinese team has also won every men's singles teams championships in the World Table Tennis Championships since Liu became head coach; a period spanning from 2001 to 2018.
On December 1, 2018, Liu was elected as president of the
Chinese Table Tennis Association Chinese Table Tennis Association () is a national non-governmental, nonprofit sports organization in the People's Republic of China. It represents China in the International Table Tennis Federation and the Asian Table Tennis Union, as well as the ta ...
, replacing
Cai Zhenhua
Cai Zhenhua (; ; born 3 September 1961 in Wuxi, Jiangsu) is a male former table tennis player from China. He is the vice Chairman and the Secretary of the Secretariat of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the former deputy Director of ...
.
2021
In June, Liu stated that unlike in previous Olympic games, he did not want to place pressure on the Chinese players and coaches to sweep all the gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics.
Equipment
His playing style is based on the use of short pimple-out rubber and he uses a penholder grip. He is the forerunner of the backhand reverse topspin. His blade is
Stiga
Stiga Group (formerly GGP Spa) is a European Manufacturing, manufacturer and wholesaling, distributor of Lawn mower, lawnmowers and a wide range of motorized garden tools. It is headquartered in Castelfranco Veneto (Italy). Stiga has 13 Subsid ...
Clipper, his forehand rubber is Stiga Clippa and his reverse backhand rubber is Stiga Mendo Energy.
During his prime (1996–1999) Liu played with TSP Spinpips on his forehand and Mark V on his backhand, yet still on the Stiga Clipper blade. The Spinpip rubbers was banned in the late 2000 and their counterpart Spinpip Md the year after. Both times because of the aspect ratio (ratio of pips height to width) and its structure of the pip and the arrangement of the pips that made the rubber extremely spinny and unpredictable; and therefore judged to be too advantageous. It is therefore uncertain if Liu actually ever played with Stiga rubbers in competition.
Family
Liu Guoliang's older brother,
Liu Guodong
Liu Guodong (born April 29, 1974) is a Chinese table tennis coach, currently working for the Hong Kong Table Tennis Association. Under his coaching, the Singapore women's table tennis team gained a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Care ...
, was the head coach of the Indonesia table tennis national team.
References
External links
ITTF statsLiu Guoliang at Table Tennis Media
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Guoliang
1976 births
Asian Games gold medalists for China
Asian Games medalists in table tennis
Asian Games silver medalists for China
Chinese male table tennis players
Chinese sports executives and administrators
Living people
Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games
Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Olympic bronze medalists for China
Olympic gold medalists for China
Olympic medalists in table tennis
Olympic silver medalists for China
Olympic table tennis players of China
World Table Tennis Championships medalists
People from Xinxiang
Shanghai Jiao Tong University alumni
Table tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Table tennis players at the 1998 Asian Games
Table tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Table tennis players from Henan