From table tennis champion to academic, Liu Wei sees her journey as an opportunity to inspire youth all over China, Li Yingxue reports.

Peking University's Champion Lectures series concluded its fall semester in December with a visit from Paris Olympics' table tennis women's singles champion Chen Meng. Speaking to an audience of around 100, Chen shared candid reflections from her personal journey in an engaging and lively Q&A session.

Afterward, she signed her name on a giant table tennis paddle which is also adorned with the signatures of other icons who have participated in the lecture series, including Winter Olympic champion Ren Ziwei, Olympic taekwondo gold medalist Chen Zhong, and World Chess Champion Hou Yifan. Each shared their own stories of overcoming obstacles through passion and perseverance.

At the heart of this initiative is the course's founder, Professor Liu Wei, a Peking University faculty member who holds a distinction of her own as seven-time world table tennis champion.

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After 16 years as a professional player, Liu spent another 16 years earning her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees at Peking University, successfully transitioning from the sports arena to the professional world. Now 56, she is merging the two distinct experiences as she forges ahead in exploring the integration of sports and education.

Besides leading the university's table tennis team and the Champion Lectures, Liu's efforts extend to regular speaking engagements at schools across China, and she also encourages her students to participate in public welfare projects in the hopes of inspiring others with the same resilience that helped propel her own career.

Through her work, Liu seeks to demonstrate that the lessons of sports can shape individuals and communities far beyond the competition table.

"I've always believed that sports education is essential to the development of young people. It strengthens the body, cultivates a positive outlook on life, and instills perseverance," Liu says.

Poker-faced player

Liu's table tennis journey began when she was 5 or 6 and she started playing on her family's dining table with a paddle made by her father. When she was 11, she joined the Shandong provincial team, and by 14, she had been selected for the national team.

Despite being the youngest on the team, Liu endured intense training sessions, hitting countless balls, even after exhaustion set in.

Practice alone wasn't enough. Liu approached her development with precision, focusing on her strengths and weaknesses. To boost her forehand attack, she intensified strength training. For her naturally explosive backhand, she honed her consistency and stability. Not being particularly tall, she focused on agility and quick footwork, expanding her reach across the court.

Her relentless training paid off and in 1986, she won the national women's singles title. She represented China in Europe in 1987, but after a tough loss, she faced a four-year period on the bench. Undeterred, she continued training and finally won her first World Championship in 1991.

Liu and teammate Wang Tao made history by securing China's mixed doubles title at the World Table Tennis Championships in Japan that year and defending it on two consecutive occasions, becoming the country's first pair to do so.

"The media called me the 'cold-faced assassin', saying that I never smiled," Liu says. "Looking back, it was because of the pressure. I wanted to win for my country, to claim the championship.

"Representing China on the global stage was the greatest honor of my life. Every time I think about the millions of people cheering for me, I feel empowered."

In 1996, she won silver in the women's doubles at the Atlanta Olympics and placed fourth in the singles, and then after amassing seven World Championship titles, she retired from the national team, leaving behind a legacy of perseverance and achievement.

Back to campus

In 1999, Liu became a law student at Peking University. For the then 30-year-old, the transition from world champion athlete to university freshman was challenging, and she had to redefine herself to fit into the new world of academia.

"On the competition stage, I knew exactly how many points I could score, but studying for exams felt out of my control," Liu says.

The pressure of finals was always intense, and she could lose up to 5 kilograms as a result of stress. When the national anthem played at her 2003 graduation, she broke down in tears — something she had never done during her seven World Championship victories.

"Competing for the national team gave me confidence, but studying at Peking University taught me how much I still had to learn. I learned to stay humble and composed, whether in the face of praise or criticism," she says.

After completing her undergraduate courses, Liu began teaching and coaching at Peking University while continuing her studies. She earned a master's in psychology and a doctorate in education, driven by a desire to understand the psychological barriers she faced as an athlete.

Her focus on sports-education integration wasn't just academic. In 2020, the General Administration of Sport of China and the Ministry of Education issued a plan to deepen the integration of sports and education, laying out strategies to strengthen school sports and improve youth sports systems. Liu saw this as a turning point and hoped to continue her work in this field.

Two years ago, after several years of planning, she started the Champion Lectures in response to the rising tide of reports about depression among younger students. Seeing that other departments regularly invited industry experts to speak, she decided to share the stories of champions as a way to inspire students. Through the lectures, she offers lessons on resilience, perseverance, and how to face life's challenges.

"This course is a subtle form of sports education," Liu says. "It adds more work to my already full schedule, but I believe in its importance, and that motivates me."

Raising the future

Liu looks back on being a student at Peking University as a time when she gained a deeper understanding of table tennis. While age prevents her from returning to a competitive level, she is focused on passing on her insights to athletes.

Pan Yifan, a 21-year-old student at the School of Government, joined the university's table tennis team in 2023 through a special recruitment program for top athletes, and became part of Liu's squad.

Even before his training began, Pan had an admiration for Liu's dual role as a world champion and professor. As they worked together, he found the former athlete to be strict yet approachable, and she helped him tackle technical and mental challenges. "Her coaching has improved my technique and my understanding of the sport," Pan says.

When matches get tough, Liu calls a timeout to guide Pan through the difficult situation, teaching him to think independently and solve problems. "Her insights have shaped my mindset, especially after hearing other athletes' stories at the Champion Lectures," Pan adds.

Balancing training and academics is demanding, but Liu's guidance has helped him manage. "She encourages us to apply our determination on the court to our studies, and the calm of our studies to the game," Pan says.

Since 2009, Liu has been speaking to children around the country, sharing her experience and her message about the sport and its spirit. This year is her 16th year of outreach and her athletics career, doctoral studies and teaching enrich her talks.

"Winning seven world championships wasn't the most important thing for me," Liu says. "It's the sportsmanship I internalized that truly matters. That's my greatest wealth."

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In December, she delivered a lecture on table tennis and sportsmanship at the China Table Tennis Museum in Shanghai to students from the School of Marxism at Peking University.

"With more than 8,000 objects at the International Table Tennis Federation Museum and over 3,000 at the China Table Tennis Museum, these places are the spiritual heart of the sport," Liu said. "To speak about the national sport and its spirit here as a world champion is incredibly meaningful to me."

Contact the writer at liyingxue@chinadaily.com.cn