Liu Guoliang

Liu Guoliang (simplified Chinese: 刘国梁; traditional Chinese: 劉國梁; pinyin: Liú Guóliáng; born January 10, 1976) is a retired Chinese table tennis player who has won all titles at major world tournaments including World Championships, World Cup and Olympic Games. 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.

Liu Guoliang
Liu Guoliang at the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships – Men's Singles
Personal information
Full nameLiu Guoliang
Nickname(s)Legend Liu
NationalityChinese
Born (1976-01-10) 10 January 1976
Xinxiang, Henan, China
Medal record
Men's table tennis
Representing  China
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1996 Atlanta Singles
Gold medal – first place 1996 Atlanta Doubles
Silver medal – second place 2000 Sydney Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Sydney Singles
World Championships
Gold medal – first place1995 TianjinTeam
Gold medal – first place1997 ManchesterDoubles
Gold medal – first place1997 ManchesterMixed Doubles
Gold medal – first place1997 ManchesterTeam
Gold medal – first place1999 EindhovenSingles
Gold medal – first place1999 EindhovenDoubles
Gold medal – first place2001 OsakaTeam
Silver medal – second place1993 GothenburgTeam
Silver medal – second place1995 TianjinSingles
Silver medal – second place2000 Kuala LumpurTeam
Silver medal – second place2001 OsakaDoubles
Bronze medal – third place1993 GothenburgMixed Doubles
Bronze medal – third place2001 OsakaMixed Doubles
World Cup
Gold medal – first place1996 NimesSingles
Bronze medal – third place1995 NimesSingles
In this Chinese name, the family name is Liu.

Biography

Liu Guoliang was born in Xinxiang, Henan. He won two gold medals in the 1996 Summer Olympics, 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, 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 in addition to the medal sweep by Ma Lin, Wang Hao, and Wang Liqin. At the 2012 Summer Olympics the team won gold and Zhang Jike and Wang Hao won gold and silver medals respectively in the men's singles.[1] At the 2016 Summer Olympics the team again won gold and Ma Long and Zhang Jike won the gold and silver medals in the men's singles.[2]

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, replacing Cai Zhenhua.[3][4]

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.[5]

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 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, was the head coach of the Indonesia table tennis national team.[6]

References
  1. "China bag maximum medal haul - London 2012 - Table Tennis - Olympic News". International Olympic Committee. 2016-07-21. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  2. "Rio Olympics 2016: China win fourth Olympic table tennis gold in Rio". 2016-08-18. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  3. "Legend Liu elected new president of table tennis association". China Daily. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  4. 刘国梁接替蔡振华当选乒协主席，网友：实至名归，众望所归 [Liu Guoliang succeeds Cai Zhenhua as new president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association]. Sohu (in Chinese). 2018-12-01.
  5. "Liu Guoliang Downplays Expectations and Reiterates Need For Mental Strength Heading Into Tokyo". edgesandnets.com. 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
  6. "Table Tennis Day 3 Review: Singapore enters final to face unstoppable China". Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. August 15, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-08-16. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
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