The Best Center of China Women's Basketball Team -- Zheng Haixia
中国女篮第一中锋——郑海霞
Zheng Haixia is a name remembered by all the sports lovers. Her 205-centimeters height and kinglike temperament made her one of the most influential basketball players in 1980s and 1990s, both in China and in the world.
提起郑海霞，每一位体育爱好者都很熟悉，凭着2.05米的身高和球场上的霸气，郑海霞成为了20世纪80、90年代中国女篮乃至世界女篮叱咤风云的人物。
Zheng Haixia was born in a farmers' family in the city of Shangqiu, Henan province in 1967, the 12-year-old girl went to the Shangqiu Amateurish Sport School. One year later, she was selected to the Wuhan Military Team. Due to her stature and agility, she was soon selected to the National Women's Basketball Youth Team, and to the National Women's Basketball Team in 1983. She and the National Women Basketball Youth Team had won two champions in Asian Youth Championships in 1982 and 1984. In 1983, she won gold medal in the 5th National Games as a player of the PLA Team, and the 3rd place in the World Women's Basketball Championships as a player of National Team. Then she and the China Women's Basketball Team had won bronze medal in the 23rd Olympic Games in 1984, the 5th place in the 10th World Women's Basketball Championships and gold medal in the 10th Asian Games in 1986, and silver medal in Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992. She had been a main force of China Women's Basketball Team for more than ten years. She has taken part in hundreds of matches, including four Olympic Games, four World Championships and eight Asian Championships. For her team, she was the key to win the matches. Because of the necessity of the nation, Zheng Haixia didn't retire until she was 31 years old. Then she became a coach of PLA Eight-One Women's Basketball Team and led this team successfully back to the China Women Basketball League-A in 1999. She is good at run, jump and bunk, and used to be the main force in National Team. She used to be selected to the National Best Lineup in national matches, and was awarded The Best Youth Player in Olympic Warm-up in 1984, " The Best Scorekeeper" and " The Best Rebound" in the 6th international Women's Basketball Warm-up in 1985, " The Best Center" and " The Best Scorekeeper" in the 10th World Women's Basketball Championships in 1986, the "Woman Pace-setter" and " the New Long March Sockdolager", and one of the China Basketball Top50 in 1999.
郑海霞于1967年出生于河南省商丘一个普通的农村家庭，1979年12岁时进入河南省商丘地区业余体校学习，1980年被选入武汉部队篮球队，因其身体高大而灵活，很快被国家女篮青年队选中，1983年又选入国家女篮队。1982年和1984年代表中国青年女篮，两次获得亚洲青年女篮锦标赛冠军。1983年代表解放军队获得5届全运会冠军，代表国家女篮获世界女篮锦标赛第3名。1984年又获得第23届奥运会铜牌。1986年在第10届世界女篮锦标赛中获第5名，第10届亚洲运动会获冠军。1992年，她和队友赢得巴塞罗那奥运会的银牌。十几年来，郑海霞作为中国女篮的支柱力量，经历了数百场大赛，包括4届奥运会、4届世锦赛和8届亚锦赛，成为了中国女篮决定胜负的关键。由于国家队的需要，郑海霞直到31岁才退役。退役后的她走上了八一女篮教练的岗位，1999年她成功地带领八一女篮返回到甲A行列。她善跑善跳，篮下强攻威力大，是国家女篮主要得分手。在国内比赛中曾被评为全国最佳阵容，1984年在奥运会预选赛中被评为最佳青年选手，1985年第6届国际女篮选拔赛中获“最佳得分手奖”和“最佳篮板球奖”，1986年在第10届世界女篮锦标赛预赛中获“最佳中锋奖”，在决赛中获“最佳得分手”称号。她还被评为“三八”红旗手和新长征突击手。1999年当选中国篮球运动50杰出之一。
After winning so many honors, Zheng Haixia joined in the Los Angeles Sparks of WNBA. Her outstanding stature, smiling face and never-fail shot attracted the audience's eyes. Her American fans called her "Sparks' Shark" and "the Chinese Great Wall". Her free throw skill was praised the most. Once the "Mailman" Malone, a forward of Utah Jazz winning the NBA final just then, asked Haixia for her keys of free throw.
在长期代表中国国家队南征北战、两获世界亚军取得了世界性的广泛赞誉之后，1997年，郑海霞应邀加盟洛杉矶火花队，参加WNBA开创赛季的比赛。鹤立鸡群的身材、笑容可掬的翩翩风度、百发百中的罚球，使海霞一出现在WNBA赛场就吸引了球迷的目光，洛杉矶的美国球迷把她称为火花队的“大鲨鱼”、“中国长城”，她精准的罚球技术更是备受称赞，连当年刚刚打完NBA总决赛的犹他爵士队前锋“邮差”马龙，也当面向海霞讨教罚球诀窍。
After viewing her matches in the court, the famous "Magic" Johnson said, "I like Haixia. She is tall and knows how to use it. She knows how to box out under the backboard. As you know, she is tall and heavy, so she can't run as fast as others. She needs to make efforts. But the coach should make some specific strategies to give her more chances." As the matches goes, her teammates realize her power. They tried to pass the ball to Haixia, and she could always score in shotting directly or having the rival making a foul. When she was in coveraging attack, Haixia would pass the ball to other teammates without being defended. Though she was not very speedy, Haixia was not shiftless. She always tried to run fast and take part in fast break and rebound scoring. So she had won more teammates' respect and the coach's trust in the mid-season, and more fans, in both USA and the world, for her wonderful skill. As for her experience in WNBA, Haixia thought that it was an unforgettable period. She said, WNBA, whose start point wasn't different from WCBA, but it had been influenced by NBA deeply and developed faster than WCBA. What's more, the different cultural background is another factor. Foreign player are always showing and aggressive in court, while Chinese players are reserved and self-contained. "China basketball should try to walk out and invite in. It's good for the Asian basketball development."
NBA著名的“魔术师”约翰逊到现场观看了海霞的比赛后说：“我非常喜欢海霞，她身材高大，而且非常善于利用自己的身高，在篮下她很会抢位置。你知道，她很高，体重也很大，所以速度不像其他姑娘们那样快，她需要在这方面努力一下，但是教练也应该根据她的特点制定相应的打法，要给她制造更多的得分机会。“随着比赛的深入，火花队的队友们越来越认识到了海霞的巨大作用，她们开始想方设法把球传到海霞手中，结果海霞不负众望，不是直接得分，就是造成对手犯规。而当海霞遭到对手夹击时，她还能及时将球传给无人防守的队友。速度不快但特点突出的海霞在比赛中从不偷懒，在场上她总是拼命奔跑、甚至参加快攻跟进，多次利用篮板球二次进攻为本队得分，因此，到了赛季中段，海霞赢得了越来越多的队友的尊重，也赢得了教练的信任。郑海霞以灵活协调、能攻善守的特点赢得了美国乃至世界球迷的喜爱。谈起自己在WNBA的经历，郑海霞认为这是一段难忘的岁月。与国内相比较，郑海霞认为，WNBA和WCBA的起点其实差别不大；但美国女篮受男篮的长期熏陶，发展要远比国内女篮迅速。另外，中西文化的差异也是很重要的因素。国外球员有很强的自我表现欲，勇于拼搏，而中国球员在这方面表现得较为含蓄和被动。中国篮球应该善于走出去，请进来，这对整个亚洲篮球的发展也是有好处的。
Like many other successful athletes, Haixia also experienced hardships and tribulations in training. In September 1999, Haixia was hurt seriously in kneels and wrest in training after five matches in the second regular season. Even the American doctors could do nothing to her hurts. These hurts terminate her sports life. The gravely hurted Haixia had to come back to China. But she didn't feel despair of her illness, " The illness will be cured. I will go on playing basketball as long as I can stand up. I'm just 31 years old now. It's not an old age in WNBA. I'll have my illness cured and back to the court as soon as I can."
然而，和很多成功的人一样，海霞也免不了要经受磨难和历练。1998年9月，刚刚打了五场（第二个WNBA赛季）比赛的海霞在训练中受了严重的膝伤和腰伤，连美国的医生也对她的伤也束手无策，给海霞的运动寿命宣判了死刑。伤痕累累的海霞只好拖着疲惫的身心回到了国内。被医生判了”死刑“的海霞不死心：“伤病是可以战胜的，只要我不倒下去，我就要继续打球。我现在才31岁，这个年龄在WNBA里并不算老，我一定要积极治疗，尽快返回球场。”
With this belief, she stood at a new start line in her life soon. In December 1998, Haixia became the head coach of August First Women's Basketball Team. One year later, she was appointed to be the lochus captain of this team. After playing in WNBA, Haixia was more confident in her sports gift. All the honors she won before were past. "I always feel that I'm facing a great mountain and I do want to know things behind it. It's pain to climb. I climb over it smilingly." Though she has been a coach, Haixia is still strict to herself as before. She likes to do everything perfectly.
本着这样一个信念，海霞又站在了人生的一条新的起跑线上。1998年12月1日，海霞出任了八一女篮主教练。一年之后，她又走上了八一女篮中队长的领导岗位。通过在WNBA的磨练，海霞对自己的运动天赋更自信了。走上教练和领导岗位前所有的荣誉对海霞来说都已成为过去。“如同仰面一座大山，我总想知道山那边的一切，攀登并不苦，我笑着，走向山那边。”对教练这个新角色，海霞依然像当运动员时一样，要求自己做得尽善尽美。
For Chinese people, Zheng Haixia brings an unforgettable historical period. The former " Best Center of China Women's Basketball Team" is now the team leader of the August First Women's Basketball Team. After Haixia's retirement, China Women's Basketball Team was not as brilliant as before. It's Zheng Haixia who make us know the sweet of winning world champion and silver medal in Olympic Games. Haixia said that "the key of success is having the team managed effectively, the strategy used scientifically and the players' themselves exerted". If there were no Zheng Haixi, China Women's Basketball Team couldn't be so successful in 1990s. Zheng Haixia knows how special she is, " I don't know when another ‘Zheng Haixia’will appear in Chinese Women's Basketball Team."
郑海霞曾伴随国人度过了许多难忘的日子。昔日的“中国女篮第一中锋”如今已成为八一女篮的领队，对比海霞退役后中国女篮走过的10年，我们再难看到昔日的辉煌。可以说，当年是靠了郑海霞一己之力，才让我们品尝到了世界冠军，奥运会银牌的甘甜。有效的队伍管理，科学合理的技战术运用，还有就是个人特点的突出，这三点是海霞总结的成功秘诀。的确，上世纪90年代初那个叱咤风云的中国女篮，如果没有了郑海霞，将是一支非常平庸的队伍。几十年才出一个郑海霞，海霞自己也知道概率有多小，“很难讲什么时候中国女篮再出一个郑海霞这样的队员。”
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