The Chinese women's basketball team is far less well-known than the men's basketball team, but it is also one of the top eight teams in the world, and they have won the Asian Games and Asian Championships, as well as the silver medals in the World Championships and the Olympic Games, and are a highly recognized basketball team.
Similarly, the Chinese women's basketball team has also produced many outstanding athletes, among which former captain Chen Nan is one of the memorable players.
Chen Nan was selected for the national team at the age of 17 and became a main player, and then played for the WNBA with the Chicago Sky in the United States. So, how is she doing now?
Chen Nan, a famous Chinese women's basketball player, showed outstanding strength in the center position on the court. Once the captain of the Chinese women's basketball team, her success is mainly due to her "talent".
Chen Nan was born in Qingdao in December 1983, although she is a northerner, her parents are not outstanding. However, Chen Nan did not stop because of this, but took this as a driving force and used his own efforts and persistence to create his own brilliance.
Although Chen Nan's parents' height is not abnormal, she has shown a height advantage that surpasses her family genes since she was a child. At the age of 6, Chen Nan's height had surpassed that of her peers, which made her father a little worried about her integration into the group.
Therefore, he decided to let Chen Nan enroll in school early to avoid her height gap from causing trouble in her life.
When Chen Nan was 11 years old, her height had already exceeded 17 meters, which makes her stand out among her classmates. It was at this time that the staff of the sports school visited Chen Nan's school, and they discovered Chen Nan's potential at a glance among many primary school students.
What's even more surprising is that Chen Nan is not only tall, but also has excellent athletic ability, which makes it impossible for the staff of the sports school to give up such excellent seedlings.
After discussion with the school and Chen Nan's parents, Chen Nan was successfully transferred to Qingdao Sports School for sports training. Although the admission conditions of the sports school at that time required junior high school students, in order to retain talents like Chen Nan, the sports school admitted her exceptionally and let her continue to study cultural courses in a nearby primary school.
Chen Nan's basketball career can be traced back to before graduating from primary school, when she received comprehensive "triathlon" training at the sports school, laying a solid foundation, and her strength, explosiveness, speed and other conditions are very good.
When the teachers at the sports school were considering which sport to choose for her, Shan Rongrui, the coach of the Bayi Youth Team, noticed her. Shan Rongrui selects basketball talents all over the country, and Chen Nan's conditions make him very satisfied.
So, he directly proposed to Chen Nan that he hoped that she would choose basketball, and got her father's support. In this way, Chen Nan decided to follow Shan Rongrui to Beijing for professional basketball training.
At the time, she was only 12 years old and could be said to be one of the children.
In the Bayi team, Chen Nan faced an adaptation challenge. Although she missed her parents in Qingdao, she was fortunate to have a lot of love from her coaches and teammates who helped her integrate into her training life and improve her basketball skills.
In this process, Zheng Haixia took special care of her and taught her many practical basketball skills, which made Chen Nan have a deeper affection for basketball and the Bayi team, she regarded Zheng Haixia as her idol, and was determined to achieve something on the road of basketball through hard work.
In 1998, she was selected for the national youth team and started a new training career.
Chen Nan's height reached 197 meters, making her particularly eye-catching among the women's basketball team. However, this period is the trough period of the Chinese women's basketball team, whether it is the Asian Games or the Asian Championships, the results are not satisfactory, and they are not even qualified to enter the Olympic Games.
In order to revive the majesty of the Chinese women's basketball team, Gong Luming, the coach at the time, decided to boldly use a group of newcomers, and Chen Nan was one of them. At that time, Chen Nan was only 17 years old, a young rookie with potential but little competition experience.
That was at the end of 1999.
Although Chen Nan lacks enough competition experience, Gong believes that she is in excellent physical condition and has great potential. Therefore, he has extremely high expectations for Chen Nan.
Chen Nan did not disappoint the coach either, although the intensity of the national team's training was beyond imagination, and she was often knocked down in confrontation training, she never complained about suffering and tiredness, and always devoted herself to training.
After this rigorous training, Chen Nan's basketball skills have improved significantly.
In the women's national basketball team, Chen Nan quickly emerged and became a core player. She participated in many national competitions such as the Women's Basketball Asian Youth Championship and won the championship with her teammates.
Chen Nan's performance was very good, so he won the "Best Rebound" and other honors. She cherishes every opportunity to play and considers it an honor for her to be able to play, because in the competition, she can accumulate more experience and improve her basketball skills.
In 2000, Chen Nan only spent one year in the national team, but the Chinese Basketball Association cooperated with the Korean Basketball Association to carry out a project called "exchange training", that is, the exchange of players and referees, hoping to improve the overall level of Asian women's basketball in this way.
Chen Nan is the youngest player to play in South Korea and one of the most outstanding players. As an outside player for Kumho Korea, she shone in the Korea Women's Professional Basketball League, averaging 24 per gameWith 4 points and 16 rebounds, he became a dazzling star in the hearts of Korean fans.
Because of her outstanding performance, South Korea **even pre-emptly**, after a good player like Chen Nan returns to the Chinese team, he will definitely become a strong opponent of the Korean team.
Chen Nan has worked hard in the Korean basketball arena for two years and has won the popularity of countless Korean fans, and some people still talk about the "dominance" that Chen Nan showed back then. Chen Nan cherishes this experience, and she once revealed in an interview that the basketball years in South Korea really improved her self-confidence and made her confident in her skills and future performance in the world arena.
In fact, confidence is crucial for an athlete, and many athletes don't perform well in competitions, often because they lose confidence or start to doubt themselves.
And Chen Nan's confidence is like a bright light, illuminating her career.
In 2001, Gong Luming led the new Chinese women's basketball team to the competition, and Chen Nan helped the Chinese women's basketball team win the championship with her outstanding performance. For Chen Nan, it was a dangerous game, and for the Chinese women's basketball team, it was a hard-won victory.
The Chinese women's basketball team has been at a low point for a long time, and this victory marks their return to glory. Then, at the Asian Championships in Bangkok, Chen Nan and the Chinese women's basketball team "swept thousands of troops" with their outstanding performance, and after a lapse of 6 years, they successfully won the Asian Championship trophy again.
Since then, Chen Nan and his teammates have won the Asian Games championship one after another, and Chen Nan is one of the star players in the team.
In the face of difficulties, Chen Nan never flinched, even if she was questioned and substituted, she always insisted on herself, broke the doubts with her strength, and proved that she was still the king of the Asian arena.
Her status in the Chinese women's basketball team is unshakable and she is known as a "great player". In 2009, Chen Nan was selected by the WNBA for his outstanding performance in the Beijing Olympics and became a member of the Chicago Sky team to play in the United States.
At that time, Chen Nan was known as a "world-class center", and people were full of expectations for her performance in the WNBA.
Chen Nan performed well in the early days of the WNBA, but injuries and adaptation issues forced her to leave the Chicago Sky and return to China to recuperate. However, Chen Nan always puts the country first, and as long as the country is in need, she always does not hesitate to charge ahead.
From 2009 to 2011, Chen Nan helped the Chinese team win the Asian Championships and Asian Games as the main player, and her performance is irreplaceable and the pride of the Chinese women's basketball team.
These honors are the glorious moments of Chen Nan's career, and next, she is about to usher in the sweet moment of her life.
In May 2012, Chen Nan and Gong Bin got married in Beijing, and this wedding has long been expected. Gong Bin is also from Shandong and is 204 meters and is also a basketball player.
The two have many things in common, such as height and occupation. They met at a sports school and could barely be regarded as "childhood sweethearts", but at that time, the relationship between the two was just plain friends.
Chen Nan spent a short time in the sports school, and then devoted himself to the basketball world of the Bayi team, and then the contact with Gong Bin came to an abrupt end. Chen Nan has made brilliant achievements in his basketball career, and Gong Bin is also continuing his basketball career.
At first, Gong Bin played for the Shandong Youth Team, and with his height, he had great basketball talent. However, a training accident left him seriously injured, which greatly affected the progress of his career and forced him to retire from the professional scene.
After quitting professional basketball, Gong Bin chose an ordinary person's path: he was admitted to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, majoring in international ** major, and may be engaged in a less dazzling job after graduation.
During college, Gong's passion for basketball continued to wane, and although he failed to pursue a career path, he joined the varsity team and made his mark in the Collegiate Super League.
In 2006, they reunited at a party, and their youthful feelings and shared hobbies quickly warmed them up, and this time their relationship was no longer limited to friends.
In 2009, Chen Nan went to the United States to play, and soon after his back injury seriously affected his performance, and even his daily life became difficult. After learning the news, Gong Bin immediately put down everything and went to Chicago to accompany Chen Nan and take care of her life meticulously, which deeply moved Chen Nan.
Perhaps at that time, Chen Nan had already set up on this tall, handsome and down-to-earth person to be her partner in life. In fact, Chen Nan and Gong Bin have already gone through the marriage procedures, but due to Chen Nan's busy training and competitions, their wedding date has been delayed again and again, and it was not until 2012 that they finally held a wedding and officially announced their relationship to the world.
For this, Chen Nan often felt guilty about Gong Bin, but Gong Bin understood everything generously, perhaps because he also dreamed of taking a career path, but he was no longer able to realize such an ideal.
After the wedding, Chen Nan didn't even have time to spend a honeymoon or take a break, so he threw himself into intense training for the London Olympics.
Chen Nan, who has grown from a newcomer to the main force, has always insisted on the women's basketball court. After 2013, she gradually faded from the court, and the women's basketball team leader revealed that she was going to welcome her upcoming motherhood.
Sure enough, in 2014, there was good news that she and Gong Bin were upgraded to novice parents and had a lively and lovely son.
After having children, Chen Nan shifted his focus to his family and children, and was basically in a state of retirement. But that doesn't mean she's given up on basketball entirely, and she'll still be back on the court as soon as the country needs it.
In the 2015 Asian Championships, the Chinese women's basketball team failed to directly obtain a ticket to the Olympic Games, and head coach Ma He recalled Chen Nan to lead the women's basketball team to the Olympics, and Chen Nan agreed without hesitation.
At that time, Chen Nan was 33 years old, but she did not hesitate to put on the battle again and devote herself to high-intensity training to prepare for the Olympic women's basketball qualifying match.
Although Chen Nan did not achieve ideal results in the Olympic Games, she completed the mission of her national team career. In 2017, she represented the Bayi team in the National Games, and Gong Bin also brought her three-year-old son to the scene to cheer for her, which was the last game of her sports career.
After retiring, Chen Nan lived a low-key life, but he was still committed to his basketball career, serving as an assistant coach of the Bayi team, and teaching basketball experience to newcomers. Although she is 39 years old, her focus is still on her family, and when she is not training, she chats with her family through ***.
Chen Nan and Gong Bin have two lovely sons, one is 7 years old and the other is only 3 years old. You might see the family playing happily in the park. Gong Bin now works on the basketball team of the National Center for Reform and Development of Cities and Small Towns, and his basketball career does not seem to be over.
When people see the children of Chen Nan and Gong Bin, they can't help but imagine that their athletic ability and height inherited from their parents must not be too bad, and some people even ridicule that the Chinese men's basketball team is expected to recover.
Although Chen Nan rarely shares her life publicly, it can be seen in a few words that she is very happy now, and this may be enough.