“Neither one of us got happiness ,” she recalled. One article sniffed that the Hubei provincial team had arranged the split to increase its chances of winning both gold and silver, “but Li Na has her own agenda, which is to stand on the champion’s platform with her boyfriend so they can memorialize their love.” Instead, Jiang and his partner won gold, while Li got a bronze and a slap. The state-controlled press criticized Li for complaining about the mixed-doubles shake-up. “We are human beings,” she wrote in her autobiography, “not pieces on a chess board.” But when that tournament roster was published, the pair was still separated. Upset, Li negotiated with provincial sports officials, who promised that the two would be reunited at the upcoming 2001 national games. According to Li’s memoir, they did not know about the break-up until a match draw was published. Yet as their romance bloomed, team officials made the abrupt decision to split the pair up. For four years, Li and Jiang played mixed doubles for the Hubei provincial team, and they were a highly successful pair. The backstory as to how Jiang Shan ended up on the 2001 championship podium also hints at the stress Li endured when still yoked to the state sports machine. (Jiang’s then partner was later quoted by the state-run China News Service saying that the official was actually trying to soothe a distraught Li by patting her face, but the motion does appear more aggressive than a gesture of consolation.) Yet the TV host appears not to see the blow that is broadcast on the giant screen onstage and he keeps on joking about Jiang’s earlier tennis prowess. His then girlfriend, Li, gets the bronze. Jiang, a laidback fellow who goes by the English name of Dennis, is shown receiving the gold medal with his mixed-double partner.
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