Xiong Ni (; born January 11, 1974, in

Changsha Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a popul ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

) is a Chinese diver who won his first Olympic medal at the age of 14 at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

, Korea. He also competed at the Olympics in 1992, 1996 and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

Biography

He attended an international competition for the first time in 1987, and won the title. He has since competed at the Olympic Games, winning 3 gold, 1 silver and one bronze medals; In addition, he has won 10 gold medals in the World Cup competition. In 1993, Xiong graduated from the

Hunan University Hunan University (HNU; ; pinyin: Húnán Dàxué''),'' colloquially abbreviated as HúDà (湖大), is a national key public research university located in Changsha, Hunan, and a Double First Class University as well as a member of Project 211 ...

international business school, specialising in industry and foreign trade In 1997 and once again in 2001 after national games he announced his intention to retire. His biggest competitor

Dmitri Sautin Dmitri Ivanovich Sautin (russian: Дмитрий Иванович Саутин; born 15 March 1974) is a Russian diver who has won more medals than any other Olympic diver. He was born in Voronezh. Sautin started diving at age seven; however, h ...

once paid him the tribute that, "I cannot claim to be the world's most outstanding diving athlete. In my opinion, the title of "King of Divers" belongs to Xiong Ni"

Career highlights

* In 1982 selected for the Hunan Province team. * In January, 1986 was selected for the national training center. * In 1986 quadruple champion of the 1 meter board, 3 meters board, 5 meter platform and overall champion in the Chinese national diving championship (div 2) * in 1987 in

DDR DDR or ddr may refer to: *ddr, ISO 639-3 code for the Dhudhuroa language *DDr., title for a double doctorate in Germany *DDR, station code for Dadar railway station, Mumbai, India *' (German Democratic Republic), official name of the former East ...

, Canada, Mexico etc. in the international diving invitational meet, wins the men's platform diving event * in 1987 silver medals for men's springboard and the diving platform event at the Sixth National Sports Championships * in 1988 won the platform diving event at the 3rd Asia swimming championships in Guangzhou * in 1988 silver medal in the men's platform diving at the Seoul Olympic Games * in 1988 dual champion of men's springboard, and diving platform in the Swedish cup international championships * in 1989 triple winner in the 6th session of World Cup diving championships for platform diving, the men's group event and the men and women mixed event * in 1989 two gold medals in the 2nd National Youth Games diving competition in the diving platform and the springboard events * in 1991 dual champion at the 7th World Cup diving championships in Canada for the men's group event and the men and women (mixed) events * in 1992 Bronze medal at the Barcelona Olympic Games for platform diving * in 1993 1 meter board champion at the seventh National athletic meet * in 1993 triple winner in the 8th World Cup diving tournament held in Beijing, in 10 meters diving platforms, men's (group) event and the men and women (mixed) event * in 1995 double winner in the 9th session of World Cup diving Championships in Atlanta, in the men's (group) event and the men and women (mixed) event * in 1996 champion, 3 meters board at the Atlanta Olympic Games, * in 1997 springboard champion at the eighth national Championships, announces retirement. * In May, 1998 announced he was coming out of retirement. * In 1999 Wenzhou international invitational tournament springboard champion, the Sweden grand prize contest springboard champion, the national championship competition springboard and the two person champion * in 2000 wins the springboard two person event in the World Cup, partnered by Xiao Hailiang * in 2000 gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games in the men's 3 meters boards synchronised event, with Xiao Hailiang, and gold medal in the men's 3 meters boards individual * in 2001 after winning the men's 3 meters springboards singles event at the ninth national athletic meet, Xiong once more announces his retirement.

Other honors

* In 1989 voted by ''

Swimming World ''Swimming World'' is a US-based monthly swimming magazine that was first published in a magazine format as ''Junior Swimmer'' in January 1960. It concurrently runs online websites ''Swimming World Magazine'' and ''Swimming World News'', (known ...

'' magazine world's best diving athlete * in 1996 August award of honorary the sports medal by the national physical culture commission

External links

Beijing 2008

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xiong, Ni 1974 births Living people Chinese male divers Divers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Divers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Divers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Divers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for China Olympic divers of China Olympic gold medalists for China Olympic silver medalists for China Olympic medalists in diving Asian Games medalists in diving Sportspeople from Changsha Divers at the 1990 Asian Games Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in diving Asian Games gold medalists for China Asian Games silver medalists for China Medalists at the 1990 Asian Games Universiade medalists in diving Universiade gold medalists for China