Liu relishing her golden comeback

Her playing style was characterized by clever variations, rapid directional changes, precise ball placement, fast rhythm and strong offensive awareness coupled with frequent close-to-table attacks.

Despite navigating multiple significant rule changes throughout her career — including the shift from 21-point to 11-point games, transition from organic to inorganic glue on the paddles, and the introduction of larger balls — Liu ultimately became one of the few core national team players who successfully adapted to each and every one of those transformations.

Her career boasts an impressive 20 world championship titles, including an unprecedented five consecutive World Cup women's singles victories, and she maintained the world No 1 ranking for 33 months.

However, her glittering career was also marked by setbacks.

Between 2009 and 2017, Liu kept missing out on titles in the women's singles at the biennial World Table Tennis Championships, before finally lifting the Geist Prize in 2019.

Her Olympic journey was similarly fraught, failing to qualify for the women's singles at three consecutive Olympic Games in London, Rio and Tokyo. In the mixed doubles, her Olympic swan song in Tokyo ended in heartbreak when she and Xu lost the final to the Japanese duo Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito.

For Liu, table tennis was once a pursuit defined by rigid timelines and external benchmarks.

She admits her perspective was once narrow, viewing success as something to be achieved "in my twenties or by a single competition", with the Olympic singles gold or a "Grand Slam" being the ultimate validation.

She now sees that as "a beautiful dream, but it shouldn't become a shackle".

"Not achieving the Grand Slam was painful, but I've had to accept it. Since childhood, I've heard about Olympics, world championships, Grand Slams — external expectations for athletes. But were these truly what I wanted from the bottom of my heart?" she said to Southern People Weekly.

After leaving the national team in 2022, she began rediscovering the pure joy of table tennis.

She now views her past struggles not as failures, but as "the most valuable lessons" in her life, and hopes her journey can serve as "positive guidance to others who may be facing difficulties".

This newfound contentment has been visibly on display throughout the current Games. In every mixed zone interview, she has met questions with her characteristic sweet smile.

"Just being able to enter the competition venue, play matches and then interact with everyone afterward — this feels truly precious to me," she said, her eyes sparkling. "I cherish these moments, and that's why I'm so happy."

It's a demeanor that easily brings to mind her widely-known nickname "Little Date" — soft and sweet on the outside, but with an unyielding core.