姚
明宣布退役，中国首位主要国际篮球明星的开创性事业之旅随之结束。数周以来，有关伤痛频发是否终于让杰出中锋姚明不堪忍受的种种猜测如今有了答案。周三，姚明在上海一家酒店举行新闻发布会，现场座无虚席。他说，作为篮球运动员，我将结束自己的运动生涯，正式退役。他说，自从因为脚伤而不得不在去年12月结束其最后一个赛季以来，内心十分纠结。
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
图片：回首姚明的篮坛岁月
NBA总裁斯特恩(David Stern)周三通过视频发表声明说，姚明是让NBA产生变革的球员，也证明了NBA的全球化。他说，姚明在赛场上的主导地位、他的翩翩风度、他所做的广泛的人道主义努力以及他的超级幽默感都让他深受全世界球迷喜爱，为美国和中国的篮球迷架起了一座非凡的沟通桥梁。
由于NBA目前正处于停摆期，联盟官员不得出席姚明退役的新闻发布会，不过休斯顿火箭队总经理莫雷(Daryl Morey)获得特许，参加了发布会。
姚明离开赛场可能会给NBA及其中国的企业合作伙伴带来苦恼，但姚明个人的成功已经提升了整个NBA在中国的知名度。事实上，美国篮球运动员在中国已经非常受欢迎，过去两年姚明的球衣并不在NBA十大热卖球衣之列。
身高2.29米的姚明2002年以NBA选秀状元身份加入休斯顿火箭队，成为首位在首轮选秀中脱颍而出的中国运动员。在初登美国赛场之前，姚明曾在中国篮球协会(CBA)为上海大鲨鱼队效力五个赛季，并在2001年获得了联赛冠军。姚明周三说，他将以管理者的身份回到大鲨鱼队，可能会考虑成为该队的总经理。姚明目前拥有大鲨鱼队。
姚明在休斯顿火箭队共打了八个赛季，平均每场得分19分，9.2个篮板，每年都当选为NBA全明星，这些成绩让他成为一位国际巨星。他四次带领火箭队杀入季后赛，不过该队只有一次打进季后赛第二轮。
姚明还是联盟中的代言王之一，代言的品牌包括耐克(Nike Inc.)、可口可乐(Coca-Cola Co.)、麦当劳(McDonald's Corp.)和Visa Inc.。他的面孔和诙谐幽默的表现在美国和中国同样随处可见。在中国，姚明帮助NBA进入了一个篮球运动依然方兴未艾的市场。
姚明是家中的独子，他的父母都曾是篮球运动员。身体上的天赋使他登上了篮球运动的最大舞台，不过也给他带来了限制。身体健康的时候，他是场上的一股力量，但频繁的脚伤和腿伤使他在NBA的最后六个赛季中错过了250场比赛，包括2009-2010年的整个赛季，上个赛季也仅参加了五场比赛。
2008年，他匆匆从脚伤中恢复，参加了北京奥运会。姚明是2008年北京奥运会的火炬手，高举火炬跑过了天安门广场，并在开幕式上担任中国代表团的旗手，不过中国男篮没有赢得奖牌。
中央电视台篮球评论员、70年代曾效力于中国国家队的张卫平对中国网站腾讯体育(sports.qq.com)说，姚明的影响远远超出了篮球比赛，他说姚明是西方了解中国的一个平台，姚明的个性使他获得了中国球迷的喜爱。
张卫平说，中国篮球球迷喜爱姚明，因为尽管他个子很高，却平易近人。他感动人们的能力可以归结为一个词：真诚。正是真诚使他走了这么远。
姚明在上海的前教练李秋平说，我对姚明的退役并没有感到非常震惊，年龄对每个球员来说都很重要，他从球场上退役很自然。
中国球迷表达了对姚明退役的惋惜。
上海工程师朱应生（音）表达了在姚明职业篮球生涯中经常听到的不满──NBA严苛的赛事安排，加上他又随中国队参加世界锦标赛，这令姚明的身体消耗很大。
朱应生说，中国篮球球迷对此很遗憾，我们梦想看到他赢得NBA总冠军，不过我们理解他因伤退役。在NBA和中国国家队之间忙来忙去，这损害了他的健康。他担负着太多的希望和期望，这对一个人来说肯定不好。
博客作家Neo在微博上写道，今天，是中国体育界以及NBA历史上最灰暗的一天之一。中国有多少人是因为姚明才开始关注NBA？数字无法统计，他是中国体育的现象，中国的名片。
MIGUEL GONZALEZ JR.
（更新完成）
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
Yao Ming announced his retirement, closing the book on the path-breaking career of China's first major international basketball star.
Capping weeks of speculation that a history of injuries had finally caught up with the towering center, Mr. Yao on Wednesday told a packed ballroom at a Shanghai hotel, 'I will end my career as a professional basketball player.' Since the broken foot that ended his latest season in December, he said, 'there has been tangle and twist in my heart.'
The 30-year-old center, who played for the National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets, spent more than a decade in professional leagues in China and the U.S., as well as in international amateur competition. His achievements on the court were impressive, including eight trips to the NBA All-Star game, but he is in some ways best known for his accomplishments as a marketing giant and his role as an informal ambassador─for China to U.S. sports fans, and for basketball to his native country.
'Yao Ming has been a transformational player for the NBA and a testament to the globalization of our game,' NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a video statement Wednesday. 'His dominant play, his endearing demeanor, his extensive humanitarian efforts and really his great sense of humor have made him an international fan favorite and provided, by itself, an extraordinary bridge between basketball fans in the United States and basketball fans in China.'
Because of the NBA's current labor lockout, league officials weren't allowed to attend the announcement, though Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey was given special permission by the league to be there.
The absence of Yao on the court will likely sting the NBA and its corporate partners in China, but his success has lifted the profile of the entire league there. Indeed, American basketball players have grown so popular in China that in the past two years Yao's jersey hasn't been among the league's top 10 sellers.
Yao, 7-feet-6-inches (2.29 meters) tall, was the Houston Rockets' first pick in the 2002 NBA draft, making him the first Chinese player picked in the draft's first round. Prior to his U.S. debut, he had played five seasons for his hometown Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association and won a league title there in 2001. He said Wednesday that he would return to the Sharks in a management role, with an eye toward possibly becoming general manager. He now owns the team.
Yao's eight seasons playing in Houston─during which he averaged 19 points and 9.2 rebounds per game and was an All-Star each year─made him a global star. He led the Rockets to the playoffs four times, though the team advanced past the first round only once.
He was also among the league leaders in endorsements, pitching for Nike Inc., Coca-Cola Co., McDonald's Corp. and Visa Inc. His face and wry sense of humor were as ubiquitous in the U.S. as in China, where he helped the NBA make inroads in a burgeoning market for the sport.
Yao's physical gifts─he is the only child of two former basketball players─enabled him to reach his sport's biggest stage, but they weren't without limits. He was a force on the court when healthy, but his frequent foot and leg injuries caused him to miss 250 games over his final six seasons. That included one entire season, 2009-10, and all but five games last season.
He had hurriedly recovered from an earlier foot injury to headline the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he carried the Olympic torch through Tiananmen Square and led the team, though China didn't win a medal.
Zhang Weiping, a basketball commentator for state broadcaster CCTV and a member of the Chinese national team in the 1970s, told Chinese website sports.qq.com that Yao's influence went far beyond the game he played, saying that he served as a platform for the West to get to know China, and that his personality made him a fan favorite in his homeland.
'Chinese basketball fans loved Yao Ming because, despite his height, he was accessible,' Mr. Zhang said. 'His ability to touch people can be summed up in a single word: sincerity. That was what allowed him to go so far.'
Li Qiuping, Yao's former coach in Shanghai, said, 'I'm not too shocked about [Yao's retirement]. Age matters to every player. It's natural for him to retire from the field.'
Chinese fans were vocal in lamenting Yao's departure.
Zhu Yingsheng, an engineer in Shanghai, voiced a complaint often heard during Yao's career─that the rigor of the NBA schedule combined with his commitment to China's international tournament play wore down Yao's body.
'It's a pity for Chinese basketball fans; we dreamed of seeing him win the NBA championship, but we understand the injury that has led to his retirement,' Mr. Zhu said. 'The back-and-forth between the NBA and China's national team destroyed his health. He bore too much hope and expectation, which is definitely not good for an individual. '
'Today is one of the darkest days for China's sports circle as well as NBA history,' wrote blogger Neo on Weibo, the most popular of China's Twitter-like microblogging sites. 'How many Chinese started watching NBA just because of Yao? It's impossible to calculate this number, he is a Chinese sporting phenomenon, he is China's name card.'
MIGUEL GONZALEZ JR.
Capping weeks of speculation that a history of injuries had finally caught up with the towering center, Mr. Yao on Wednesday told a packed ballroom at a Shanghai hotel, 'I will end my career as a professional basketball player.' Since the broken foot that ended his latest season in December, he said, 'there has been tangle and twist in my heart.'
The 30-year-old center, who played for the National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets, spent more than a decade in professional leagues in China and the U.S., as well as in international amateur competition. His achievements on the court were impressive, including eight trips to the NBA All-Star game, but he is in some ways best known for his accomplishments as a marketing giant and his role as an informal ambassador─for China to U.S. sports fans, and for basketball to his native country.
'Yao Ming has been a transformational player for the NBA and a testament to the globalization of our game,' NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a video statement Wednesday. 'His dominant play, his endearing demeanor, his extensive humanitarian efforts and really his great sense of humor have made him an international fan favorite and provided, by itself, an extraordinary bridge between basketball fans in the United States and basketball fans in China.'
Because of the NBA's current labor lockout, league officials weren't allowed to attend the announcement, though Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey was given special permission by the league to be there.
The absence of Yao on the court will likely sting the NBA and its corporate partners in China, but his success has lifted the profile of the entire league there. Indeed, American basketball players have grown so popular in China that in the past two years Yao's jersey hasn't been among the league's top 10 sellers.
Yao, 7-feet-6-inches (2.29 meters) tall, was the Houston Rockets' first pick in the 2002 NBA draft, making him the first Chinese player picked in the draft's first round. Prior to his U.S. debut, he had played five seasons for his hometown Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association and won a league title there in 2001. He said Wednesday that he would return to the Sharks in a management role, with an eye toward possibly becoming general manager. He now owns the team.
Yao's eight seasons playing in Houston─during which he averaged 19 points and 9.2 rebounds per game and was an All-Star each year─made him a global star. He led the Rockets to the playoffs four times, though the team advanced past the first round only once.
He was also among the league leaders in endorsements, pitching for Nike Inc., Coca-Cola Co., McDonald's Corp. and Visa Inc. His face and wry sense of humor were as ubiquitous in the U.S. as in China, where he helped the NBA make inroads in a burgeoning market for the sport.
Yao's physical gifts─he is the only child of two former basketball players─enabled him to reach his sport's biggest stage, but they weren't without limits. He was a force on the court when healthy, but his frequent foot and leg injuries caused him to miss 250 games over his final six seasons. That included one entire season, 2009-10, and all but five games last season.
He had hurriedly recovered from an earlier foot injury to headline the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he carried the Olympic torch through Tiananmen Square and led the team, though China didn't win a medal.
Zhang Weiping, a basketball commentator for state broadcaster CCTV and a member of the Chinese national team in the 1970s, told Chinese website sports.qq.com that Yao's influence went far beyond the game he played, saying that he served as a platform for the West to get to know China, and that his personality made him a fan favorite in his homeland.
'Chinese basketball fans loved Yao Ming because, despite his height, he was accessible,' Mr. Zhang said. 'His ability to touch people can be summed up in a single word: sincerity. That was what allowed him to go so far.'
Li Qiuping, Yao's former coach in Shanghai, said, 'I'm not too shocked about [Yao's retirement]. Age matters to every player. It's natural for him to retire from the field.'
Chinese fans were vocal in lamenting Yao's departure.
Zhu Yingsheng, an engineer in Shanghai, voiced a complaint often heard during Yao's career─that the rigor of the NBA schedule combined with his commitment to China's international tournament play wore down Yao's body.
'It's a pity for Chinese basketball fans; we dreamed of seeing him win the NBA championship, but we understand the injury that has led to his retirement,' Mr. Zhu said. 'The back-and-forth between the NBA and China's national team destroyed his health. He bore too much hope and expectation, which is definitely not good for an individual. '
'Today is one of the darkest days for China's sports circle as well as NBA history,' wrote blogger Neo on Weibo, the most popular of China's Twitter-like microblogging sites. 'How many Chinese started watching NBA just because of Yao? It's impossible to calculate this number, he is a Chinese sporting phenomenon, he is China's name card.'
MIGUEL GONZALEZ JR.
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