Zhai Chao (; born December 14, 1971 in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

) is a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

player who competed in the

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

and

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, as well as in the 1999, 2001 and 2003 World championships. She was voted

IHF World Player of the Year The IHF World Player of the Year is a handball award given annually to the player who is considered to have performed the best in the previous season, both at club and international competitions. It is awarded based on votes from experts, media a ...

2002.

Career

Chao Zhai started playing handball in

in 1985. In the

1996 Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

she finished fifth with the Chinese team. She played all four matches and scored 29 goals. She played for the Chinese national team at the 1999 World championship in Denmark/Norway. She started playing for the German club '' SV Berliner VG 49'' in January 1998,Karl-Heinz Bergmann: "BVB bangt um Chao Zhai – Nur bei Erstklassigkeit darf die chinesische Handballerin bleiben"
– ''Berliner Zeitung (02.11.1999)'' (Retrieved on February 6, 2008) and switched to the Danish club ''Randers HK'' in 2001. She played for the Chinese national team in the

2001 World Women's Handball Championship The 2001 World Women's Handball Championship, the 15th of its kind, was held from 4 to 16 December 2001, and was hosted by Italy, with the final being played in Merano Merano (, , ) or Meran () is a city and ''comune'' in South Tyrol, northern ...

in Italy where she scored 49 goals and the 6th best scorer in the championship. She was a member of the Chinese team which finished eighth in the

2004 summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, where she played all seven matches and scored 32 goals. In 2004, she started playing for the Danish club

Viborg HK Viborg HK (Viborg Håndbold Klub) is the name of a Danish handball club from Viborg. The club has many teams for both women and men, but especially the professional women's team is one of the most successful in Danish and European handball sin ...

, and with this club she won the

EHF Champions League The Men's EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the me ...

in 2006 and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Awards

Chao Zhai was voted World Handball Player of the Year 2002Previous World Handball Players
'' (Retrieved on December 14, 2007) by the

International Handball Federation The International Handball Federation (IHF) is the administrative and controlling body for handball and beach handball. IHF is responsible for the organisation of handball's major international tournaments, notably the IHF World Men's Handball C ...

References

External links

Profile at Yahoo! Sports (archive)
1971 births Living people Chinese female handball players Handball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players of China Sportspeople from Beijing Asian Games medalists in handball Handball players at the 1990 Asian Games Handball players at the 1994 Asian Games Handball players at the 1998 Asian Games Handball players at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for China Asian Games bronze medalists for China Medalists at the 1990 Asian Games Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games {{PRChina-handball-bio-stub