Liu Guoliang

Liu Guoliang ( Chinese  劉 國樑  /  刘 国梁 , Pinyin Liú Guóliáng ; born January 10, 1976 in Xinxiang ) is a former Chinese table tennis player and two-time Olympic champion . He was able to win Olympic Games, World Championships and the World Cup in his career .

Liu Guoliang
Liu as a coach at the 2013 World Cup
Nation:	People's Republic of China
Place of birth:	Xinxiang
Size:	168 cm
Weight:	70 kg
Playing hand:	right
How to play:	Penholder (attack)
Best world ranking :	1 (March 1999, January – September 2000, February – April 2001)

Career

Liu comes from a family of four. He started table tennis when he was six years old. At the age of 20 he was able to win the gold medal with Kong Linghui at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta in both singles and doubles . Four years later at the Summer Olympics in Sydney he was third in the individual. This time, the gold medal went to his double partner Kong Linghui. With this he again competed in doubles and won the silver medal with him.

Liu was able to win a total of nine medals (six gold and three silver) at table tennis world championships. He won the singles title in Eindhoven in 1999 , as well as the doubles title with Kong Linghui . He was the first top athlete to show a backhand topspin with a penholder stick position.

In the 1996/97 season Liu played in the German Bundesliga at TTC Jülich , but disappointed on board 1 with a 0: 4 record.

Liu retired from active sports in 2002. He was appointed coach of the Chinese national table tennis team in 2003. He led them to team gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and to a triple success of Ma Lin , Wang Hao and Wang Liqin in singles. Since the beginning of 2013 he has been the general head coach responsible for adults and youth.

Private

Since mid-2006, Liu Guoliang has been married to the former Chinese national player Wang Jin, the owner of the table tennis company Guoqiu . He has twin daughters (* 2010). His brother Liu Guodong coached the Singapore women's team at the 2008 Olympics; from 2009 he works as national coach for Indonesia.

Results from the ITTF database

Association	event	year	place	country	singles	Double	Mixed	team
CHN	Asian Championship ATTU	1998	Osaka	JPN	Semifinals	gold	Quarter finals	gold
CHN	Asian Championship ATTU	1996	Kallang	SIN	silver	gold	silver	silver
CHN	Asian Championship ATTU	1994	Tianjin	CHN	silver	gold	Semifinals	gold
CHN	Asian Championship ATTU	1992	New Delhi	IND		Semifinals	gold	gold
CHN	Asian Cup	1994	Shanghai	CHN	Semifinals
CHN	Asian Cup	1993	Shunde	CHN	bronze
CHN	Asian Games	1998	Bangkok	THA	silver	gold	Quarter finals	gold
CHN	Asian Championship ATTU (Juniors)	1989	New Delhi	IND		silver
CHN	ASIA TOP12	1999	Kish Island	IRI	Quarter finals
CHN	Olympic games	2000	Sydney	OUT	bronze	silver
CHN	Olympic games	1996	Atlanta	United States	gold	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2002	Fort Lauderdale	United States	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2002	Qingdao City	CHN	Quarter finals	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2002	Doha	QAT	last 32	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2001	Farum	THE	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2001	Skovde	SWE	Quarter finals	last 16
CHN	Pro tour	2001	Yokohama	JPN	Quarter finals	last 16
CHN	Pro tour	2001	Seoul	COR	Semifinals	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2000	Farum	THE	last 32	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2000	Rio de Janeiro	BRA	gold	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2000	Fort Lauderdale	United States	last 32	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2000	Kobe City	JPN	Quarter finals	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2000	Chang Chun City	CHN	silver	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	1999	Linz / Wels	AUT	silver	gold
CHN	Pro tour	1999	Bremen	GER	gold	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	1999	Guilin	CHN	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	1998	Courmayeur	ITA	gold	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	1998	Ji 'Nan City	CHN	gold	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	1998	Melbourne	OUT	Semifinals	gold
CHN	Pro tour	1998	Wakayama	JPN	silver	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	1998	Kota Kinabalu	MAS	Semifinals	gold
CHN	Pro tour	1998	Doha	QAT	last 16	silver
CHN	Pro tour	1997	Linz	AUT	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	1997	Belgrade	YUG	gold
CHN	Pro tour	1997	Zhuhai	CHN	last 32	gold
CHN	Pro tour	1997	Fort Lauderdale	United States	Semifinals	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	1997	Rio de Janeiro	BRA	gold	gold
CHN	Pro tour	1996	Kitaku-Shu	JPN		Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	1996	Xi'an	CHN	Semifinals	gold
CHN	Pro Tour Grand Finals	2000	Kobe City	JPN	Quarter finals	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro Tour Grand Finals	1998	Paris	FRA	silver	Semifinals
CHN	Pro Tour Grand Finals	1997	Hong Kong	HKG	Quarter finals	gold
CHN	Pro Tour Grand Finals	1996	Tian Jin	CHN		Quarter finals
CHN	World Championship	2001	Osaka	JPN	Quarter finals	silver	Semifinals	gold
CHN	World Championship	2000	Kuala Lumpur	MAS				silver
CHN	World Championship	1999	Eindhoven	NED	gold	gold	Round of 16
CHN	World Championship	1997	Manchester	CLOSELY	last 64	gold	gold	gold
CHN	World Championship	1995	Tianjin	CHN	silver	Semifinals	last 64	gold
CHN	World Championship	1993	Gothenburg	SWE	last 128	Semifinals	no participants	silver
CHN	World cup	1999	Xiaolan	0	5th-8th space
CHN	World cup	1998	Shantou	CHN	4th
CHN	World cup	1997	Nimes	FRA	5th-8th space
CHN	World cup	1996	Nimes	FRA	gold
CHN	World cup	1995	Nimes	FRA	bronze
CHN	WTC World Team Cup	1995	Atlanta	United States				5
CHN	WTC World Team Cup	1994	Nimes	FRA				gold

Web links

• Sportsman portrait from the IOC
• Liu Guoliang in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Profile at the Chinese Olympic Committee

Individual evidence

1. ↑ According to DTS magazine , Liu Guoliang was born on May 31, 1975: DTS magazine , 1996/8, p. 26.
2. ↑ DTS magazine , 1996/8, p. 13
3. ↑ Journal DTS , 1999/9, pp. 12-13. - However, this technique was already shown in Germany by Mathias Wähner at the German championship in 1992. DTS , 1999/10, p. 8
4. ↑ Journal DTS , 1996/8, p. 26 + 1997/8, p. 11
5. ↑ DTS magazine , 1997/6, p. 25
6. ↑ tischtennis magazine , 2013/3, p. 6
7. ↑ tischtennis magazine , 2006/7 p. 7
8. ↑ tischtennis magazine , 2010/10 p. 7
9. ↑ tischtennis magazine , 2008/9 p. 23 + p. 27; 2009/1 p. 4
10. ↑ Liu Guoliang Results from the ITTF database on ittf.com (accessed September 7, 2011)

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Liu is the family name here, Guoliang is the first name.