Last night's great emotions are now over, I now feel peace and calm. Victory has come and passed last night.
Last night, all of us were euphoric. One of our managers brought a bottle of Mao-Tai. To be able to drink this in a foreign country made me want to get drunk. But there was only one bottle, so we each just got a sip. I am not good in drinking wine; I'm better with beer, I can drink 4 or 5 bottles.
To take in the night scenery in Sidney, we went downtown with the friends from Dawei (Worlds sponsor, clothing manufacturer in China). Now that the competition is over we can relax a little. We visited the most famous casino, there were a lot of entertainment there. Our friends gambled a few hands there, and needless to say, lost them all. I did not bring much money, so I was just providing support.
I will stay in Sydney for a little while. Liu and the others will go home earlier. Our team is worried about too much media publicity if we went back too early, so we'll go back with the main Olympic entourage.
I have a lot of tournaments to play after I get home. After the Olympics, the ball size will change to 40 mm, and we have yo start all over.
My foot is still hurting. I twisted it during the 2nd game in yesterday's match. It will take about a week to heal. It hurt badly during the match, but I could not let Waldner see it: he would take advantage by moving the ball. When coach Cai called the timeout, I was sitting down on the floor. It probably look strange that I sat down, but I was hurting badly, and I needed to take a rest.
So the games are finally over. Maybe there will be ceremonies waiting for me, and prize money, too, when I go home.
The Chinese TT team swept the golds and also picked up 3 silvers and a bronze in the Olympics. The label "national ball" is well deserved.
The Chinese Olympic TT team consisted of 9 players and 6 coaches, but coach Cai said, "The 15 of us represent our whole TT community. Efforts from numerous people, and contributions from numerous nameless heroes, made our success possible".
Cai said, "The Chinese national team is a united enitiy. When we left Beijing, all those back home gave us a send-off, and wish us success. In every match, we as a team faced our individual opponent. Our players have the uncomparable mental support".
Cai said that the many nameless heroes (the practice partners) lift the team to its glory. They are only famous in the practice halls. They could be Waldner in the morning, and Kim Taek-Soo in the afternoon. Today it is Chen Jing, and tomorrow Chire Koyama. They imitate the styles of many different players. The success of the team is a success of the system (of the huge community).
The community system and the nameless heroes make the national team invincible. This well-known secret should provide an insight for the other countries.
CTTA president Xu (ex-ITTF chief) told reporters that in order to get the IOC to accept mixed doubles as an event, the ITTF has lowered the requirements, and proposed a one team per country plan.
"We have been fighting to have mixed doubles included in the Olympics, but it is not simple", Xu said. "There have been too many requests to add events. This proposal is an attempt to limit the domination by European countries or China. It reduces the advantage of the stronger countries let more countries compete. If we don't do this, then the finals may be played by teams from the same countries, and this lessens the interests of the viewers".
Xu said that this proposal has not been approved by IOC yet.