Just sifting through the news when I came across this article:
http://news.sina.com.tw/sports/sinacn/cn/2007-12-25/013036248378.shtml
Thought somebody might like to read it, so here's a first- blush, quickie translation of it.
Now Merely a Glorious Memory, Ma’s Army is No More
Training Base Silently Changes Name, Its Spirit Will Live On
After winning 10,000m and marathon gold at last month’s Ninth National Games, Ma’s Army standout Gong Ke is calling it quits! Now that Gong Ke has retired, Ma Junren, the only remnant left from the group is also beginning to fade from the scene. The truth is that Ma’s Army ceases to exist!
Gong Ke has retired at the suggestion of the Liaoning Province Track and Field training Center, due to his inability to undergo normal training in the buildup to upcoming championships as a result of an achilles tendon injury he’s suffered. They recommend he retire out of concern for the athlete.
Gong Ke doesn’t feel that his injury is all that serious; he feels that he could make a full recovery. Competing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics is a dream of his. To retire now and take up another profession would not only mean that his dream went unrealized, it would also be a serious blow to his family’s finances. That family consists of a wife who earns but a meager income and a four-month-old child. Re-entering society under these terms is indeed a challenge and hardship. Ma’s Army and Gong Ke are beginning to fade into the pages of history.
Ma’s Army Training Base Changes Name
Located in the Dalian Economic and Technical Development Zone, occupying more than 60,000 square meters, the Ma’s Army Training Base is the cradle of gold medals, but this famous athletics training base has sadly changed names.
When reporters arrived at the training base yesterday, they discovered that the base signage had been changed to read “Liaoning Province Athletics Training Center.” Inscriptions to the side of the new sign reading, “Restoring the glory of Ma’s Army, renewing middle-distance brilliance” are all that remain to even vaguely remind people of this training base’s splendid past.
Ma Junren had three main goals in life: “break world records, win Olympic gold medals, and build an athletics training base.” Friends of Ma tell reporters that Coach Ma valued the last of these three goals the most. For without a training base, there could be no champions, no dreams at all.
Costing somewhere between 45 and 60 million RMB (6-8 million USD), the base was built thanks to the funds of both the city of Dalian as well as Liaoning Province. Included in the package was the building of Asia’s largest track and field indoor facility, which itself ran around 25 million RMB (3.4 million USD). Ma’s Army’s training base was built the same year that Wang Jianlin built Wanda soccer team’s training facility.
To get the base built, Ma Junren utilized every resource and contact he could possibly muster, personally overseeing the finances of the project—right down to negotiating the best deal he could get toilet paper.
Every brick and tile of the base stands as a testament to the passion of Ma Junren and his athletes. Ma’s Army standout male runner Gong Ke affectionately recalls, “I remember when Dong Yanmei, Jiang Bo and I would get up at 6:00 in the morning with Coach Ma to tend to the grounds of the base, water the plants and such. The walkways around base were all hand-paved by us. The landscaping around the outdoor 400 meter track was all done personally by us athletes. Coach Ma personally selected which trees , plants and flowers were to be planted, working from dawn to dusk at times.”
During those times, Ma Junren’s energy level was much higher. He, like many people over 50, knew not the meaning of the word “fatigue. “I very seldom saw Coach Ma drink water. Only during meals would he have some soup, generally without touching his drink. At most, he would sip a little kiwi fruit juice. He enjoyed eating beef hot pot and green vegetables he raised himself. He definitely had a healthy appetite; he always finished his plate. He would often go on about how people could not survive without salt…” Yin Lili reminisced.
Gong Ke's $200,000 Prize
Ma Junren’s athlete Li Aiguo recalls, “Coach Ma was very short-tempered. At the training base, there was not a day gone by that he didn’t rip into somebody. If he did not speak to you or criticize you in some way, it meant you were actually in worse trouble! In the end, everyone got used to it. If he wasn’t curing or criticizing someone, we all became even more nervous!”
During the base’s “Ma Junren Era”, the freedom of his team members was severely limited. For example, Coach Ma would go off on you if he found out you were reading the newspaper, asking, “And what tabloid are you reading?!” If you snuck out to make a phone call, you could bet he would be asking you who you were trying to contact. If athletes became sick or injured, he would not allow them to receive medical treatment. “Don’t be such a wuss. If you can’t handle a setback without the aid of medicine, how will you ever be able to do the training required for middle-distance? ” he would retort. To say that his team members do not resent him would be disingenuous. Some have even read the book (Ma Jiajun Diaocha) that took the nation by storm.
Before Gong Ke won double-gold at the Ninth National Games, Coach Ma promised, “If you win two golds, I’ll personally award you $200,000 RMB (about $27,000 USD)!” Gong Ke won the two golds, but received the silent treatment from Coach Ma after the competition. Gong Ke even tried to feel him out by initiating conversation, but still got the silent treatment from Ma. So Gong Ke just left it alone. However, after a short while, Ma Junren all of the sudden asked Gong Ke, “How about I give you a house—instead of the money?” As it turned out, Gong Ke ended up getting a 170 square meter (about 1,800 square feet), two-story, beachfront villa out of the deal. Now, the real estate in that area is going for 13,000 RMB (1,700 USD) per square meter. So instead of getting the $200,000 RMB ($27,000 USD), Gong Ke received real estate now worth $2 million RMB ($275,000)!
Coach Ma was not only this generous with Gong Ke; he was so towards everyone that he coached, especially those who achieved great things. He always compensated them for their efforts. Ma Junren personally put up the capital to buy a plot of land on Lijiao Bay located in Dalian’s Economic Development Zone. On this plot he built several villas, keeping one for himself, and giving the others to his team members. The house that he gave to Dong Yanmei has appraised at over $6.5 million RMB ($890,000 USD)!
Ma Junren Retires
Not long after Ma Junren retired at the end of 2004, the “Ma’s Army” training base sign was replaced with that of the “Liaoning Province Athletics Training Center.” All traces of Ma’s Army began to slowly disappear.
By no means does Ma Junren give up so easily, however. He’s contemplated returning to coach runners to glory in the 2008 Olympics. During the winter of 2005, he took Gong Ke, Zhu Xiaolin, Song Weiei and others to a village in the southern suburbs of Beijing under the guise of raising Tibetan Mastiffs on the compound, when in reality they were vigorously pursuing a comeback. During that time, the retired Ma Junren was swift and lively again, just as he was years before. His Tibetan mastiffs were treated like members of the team. They did everything together, during both training and leisure time. One time, one of the dogs, called “Invincible” suddenly stood up and lightly struck Gong Ke with his front paws, scaring the mess out of him. “When that happened, I just lied there on the ground, expecting it to just tear into me. I thought I was a goner! Coach Ma’s Tibetan mastiffs surely wouldn’t bite their master (Coach Ma). One of the dogs that Coach Ma cursingly calls ‘Lunatic’ it seems did tear into one of his leather coats, though…”
Ma Junren would often drive the runners into town to experience the finer things in life. “Coach Ma would stuff us with beef with collagen, pig feet and beef hot pot. Asking us if we knew how Wu Song was able to kill the tiger on Jingyang Ridge, Ma said it was because he ate plenty of cooked beef. People are weak without it he would say.” Yet, Ma Junren’s plans have been weakened. Nowadays he just takes the occasional trip to Shenyang, hangs out with friends doing menial stuff and gets his yearly checkup. He doesn’t even return to Dalian that much, let alone the old training base.
Coach Ma’s dreams of gold have slowly dwindled. He has turned in his car to the Liaoning Province Sport Bureau and cancelled the mobile phone number he’s used for years. He has moved his kennel of Tibetan mastiffs from the outskirts of Beijing to an even more remote locale. It’s as if he’s lost all contact with the outside world. During this lonely time in his life, his former star runner Wang Junxia called to extend Mid-Autumn Festival well wishes. His long-time associate Cui Dalin, the current deputy chief of the National Administration of Sport, made a special trip just to see him.
In August of 2007, Coach Ma finally made an appearance at the old training base. At that time, Sun Ripeng, Yin Lili and others from the old group helped him collect his things from the base. There wasn’t much talking done. It was a silent, calm farewell….