In 1962, on a freezing winter, Li Yongbo was born in an ordinary family in Dalian. At that time, China had just finished three years of natural disasters and entered the most difficult period since the founding of the People's Republic of China. 
The problem of food and clothing is becoming more and more prominent, and his parents are busy with work and cannot accompany Li Yongbo. Li Yongbo has been thin since he was a child, but he has extraordinary athletic talent. When he was 6 years old, his father handed him a worn-out feather racket, and Li Yongbo began to have an indissoluble bond with badminton. 
At first, Li Yongbo just silently waved his feather racket in the corridor, and gradually, a precise high-distance pinball amazed the neighbors passing by. No one believes that such a skinny child can go from being unfamiliar to being proficient just by groping on his own. At the age of 16, Li Yongbo got his wish and entered the Liaoning Provincial Sports Team. However, this new environment was too demanding for him, and his physical and technical skills were far from meeting the requirements of the team. 
Criticized by the coach again and again, Li Yongbo felt unprecedented depression and hesitation. Just when he was about to give up, a chance chance changed his fate. It was a practice match between the youth team and the provincial team, and Li Yongbo played against a senior player. Despite his coach's advice, he continued to go his own way, using his own unique slow-paced technique. 
To everyone's surprise, Li Yongbo defeated his opponent completely. Only then did the coach realize that this small and delicate young man had a talent like no other. At the age of 19, Li Yongbo was selected for the national team as he wished and went to Beijing, the capital of the city. However, life in the national team was not as good as Li Yongbo imagined. Once again, he was marginalized because insisting on his style of play was incompatible with the team. The years of returning to the Liaoning team twice were Li Yongbo's most depressed time, and it was also the most critical turning point. 
There, he met Xie Ying, who became his lifelong partner. This relationship has become the light of hope for Li Yongbo to move forward in confusion. At the 1984 World Championships, 22-year-old Li Yongbo ushered in the most important opportunity in his life. This is his first time representing his country in a top-level international competition. Despite his young qualifications, Li Yongbo relied on his unique technical style to form a doubles "iron arm combination" with veteran Tian Bingyi, won the runner-up in one fell swoop, and officially promoted to the main force. 
Li Yongbo, who made great contributions in this campaign, no longer worries about being given up by the national team. The cooperation with Tian Bingyi has become more and more tacit, and the two have cooperated seamlessly, and they are known as the "King of Doubles". In 1987 and 1989, they won the World Championships twice, and they were also the absolute core of the Chinese team winning the 1986, 1988 and 1990 Thomas Cups. 
It was simply the heyday of the doubles combination. At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Li Yongbo ushered in another important event in his career. In this Olympic Games, although badminton is only an exhibition event, the two still go all out. In the Seoul Olympic Stadium, Li Yongbo shuttled and ran, bounced his serve, and repeatedly defeated strong opponents. At the final whistle, he and Tian Bingyi celebrated the significant victory of a Chinese badminton player who stood on the Olympic podium for the first time. 
At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Li Yongbo ushered in the last highlight moment of his career. This is the first time that badminton has officially become an official Olympic sport. Li Yongbo, who was about to become disabled, still played with an injury, fighting side by side with his old partner Tian Bingyi, and in the end, they turned their grief into strength and won the bronze medal for China again. Li Yongbo, who was 31 years old at the time, had tears in his eyes, drawing a perfect end to the glorious era of athletes. 
After the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, 31-year-old Li Yongbo officially announced the auction. For a while, after retiring, he fell into confusion. The passion and glory of an athlete's career have become history, and in the face of a new life, Li Yongbo needs to find a new direction. By chance, in 1993, Li Yongbo was invited by Li Furong, then director of the National Sports Commission, to serve as the deputy head coach of the Chinese national badminton team. At first, Li Yongbo was quite surprised by this arrangement. 
After all, becoming the coach of the national team at the age of 31 was unprecedented at that time. Li Yongbo pondered again and again, and finally agreed to Li Furong's suggestion. The first training camp full of hope was quickly slapped in the face by reality. Li Yongbo tasted the hardships of coaching. Guoyu is in a downturn at this time, and he has gained nothing in 94, and Li Yongbo has also lost his confidence under the attack of ***.
Fortunately, Li Furong supported him and let him get through the most difficult hurdlesCoupled with Li Yongbo's reform and innovation, finally in the 96 Atlanta Olympics, the Chinese team achieved the first gold breakthrough. Since then, the Chinese national badminton team has officially entered a glorious era. In the 1997 World Championships, Li Yongbo led the team to win 3 goldsSince then, it has been an unprecedented achievement.
As the head coach, Li Yongbo has also gradually grown into a resourceful leader in the test after test. Although the process was full of twists and turns, in the end, Li Yongbo and Guoyu entered a new era of victory. When Li Yongbo led the Chinese badminton team to gradually get on the right track, he also began to face doubts from all sides. In 1998, Li Yongbo encountered the dilemma of being attacked by a group of coaches.
The person who initiated the joint letter was the once most trusted subordinate - Li Mao. The two have changed from former friends to today's rivals, which makes Li Yongbo have mixed feelings in his heart. What followed was the "gloomy exit" of Zhou Mi at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Before the match, Li Yongbo mercilessly asked Zhou Mi to release the water, allowing another Chinese player, Zhang Ning, to advance easily.
After the game, Zhou Mi, who was physically and mentally damaged, had no place to stand and could only leave the national team. Li Yongbo's cold decision caused an uproar at home and abroad. However, despite his notoriety, Li Yongbo still led the team to the top. From 2008 to 2012, Chinese badminton truly dominated the world badminton world under his leadership.
As the helmsman, Li Yongbo's power and prestige have reached their peak. However, this trend was ruined by the rout of the Rio Olympics. Murphy's Law was fulfilled once again, and Li Yongbo had to accept the end of his coaching career and the hidden price behind all the glory. "Handicap?That's because I'm familiar with the business, and foreigners are too small-minded. This well-known sentence has become a major footnote for people to interpret Li Yongbo. As the head of badminton in China, Li Yongbo has been running the sport in his own way.
Outside the camera, Li Yongbo is a taciturn person. He is not a good talker, but he is full of an almost paranoid desire for victory. This desire drives him to do whatever it takes, even at the cost of moral distortions. Whether it is the black-box operation of the Athens Olympics, or the blatant handicap scandal, or the endless "injury retirement" incidents, the outside world's trust in Li Yongbo has plummeted.
However, Li Yongbo himself does not seem to care about these criticisms. In the ** interview, he justifiably justified his actions. Li Yongbo believes that all decisions are based on the ardent expectation of victory, which is no different from "patriotism." In his heart, Chinese badminton must stand on the commanding heights, even if the process is not so decent.
Despite the huge controversy, Li Yongbo's "go your own way" did work. Under his leadership, Chinese badminton has been invincible in the international arena. As Li Yongbo put it, he is only "familiar with the business" and has not violated the boundaries of the rules. Throughout his coaching career, the core of Li Yongbo has never changed, that is, the insistence on one's own views and the infinite thirst for victory. After the curtain call after the peak, Li Yongbo experienced ups and downs. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, as the highlight of the preparation for a long time, the Chinese badminton team only won a pitiful 2 golds.
This failure was undoubtedly the last straw that crushed Li Yongbo. After the game, he had to officially leave the coaching whip, ending his 28-year coaching career at the national team. At the time of his departure, Li Yongbo's mood was complicated. He is proud of the glory of an era, and behind all the trophies and accolades, his contribution to the sport is evident.
But he also suffered from the final rout. How many times he couldn't sleep at night, Li Yongbo repeatedly thought about his mistakes. He failed to keep up with the times and adapt to the general trend of sports reform. A moment of pride and stubbornness finally led to irreparable regrets.
The Chinese badminton team is at a crossroads after Li Yongbo left office. In the midst of different opinions, Li Yongbo's feelings for his family and country and his coaching philosophy have once again become the focus. As a mainstay, he represents a microcosm of an era in Chinese sports. The various drawbacks contained in it are also worthy of deep consideration by future generations. As the movement moves toward a new direction of professionalism and marketization, we must examine the various lessons left by Li Yongbo so that we can not make the same mistakes on the new journey.
In this way, Li Yongbo's life was full of ups and downs, and the final ending was vigorous. The story of him and Chinese badminton is engraved in the development of the sport. Some people may criticize Li Yongbo, but it is undeniable that without his efforts, there would be no century-old foundation of Chinese badminton.