Fan Yilin (; born 11 November 1999) is a Chinese artistic gymnast and

uneven bars The uneven bars or asymmetric bars is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. It is made of a steel frame. The bars are made of fiberglass with wood coating, or less commonly wood. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is UB or ...

specialist. She is a two-time world champion on the uneven bars (

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) and the 2015 Asian champion on balance beam. At the 2015 World Championships, she was part of the first ever four-way tie along with

Viktoria Komova Viktoria Aleksandrovna Komova (russian: Виктория Александровна Комова; born 30 January 1995) is a former Russian artistic gymnast. She is a two-time Olympic medalist, having won silver medals in the all-around and te ...

Daria Spiridonova Daria Sergeyevna Nagornaya (née Spiridonova russian: Дарья Сергеевна Нагорная ; born 8 July 1998) is a Russian former artistic gymnast. Primarily an uneven bars specialist, she is the 2015 World Champion, the 2015 Europe ...

, and

Madison Kocian Madison Taylor Kocian (born June 15, 1997) is a retired American artistic gymnast. On the uneven bars, she is one of four 2015 world champions and the 2016 Olympic silver medalist. She was part of the gold medal-winning team dubbed the " Final ...

. Domestically, she is a four-time Chinese national uneven bars champion (

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

). She was a member of the Chinese team at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, where she won a bronze medal in the team competition, and competed at the

2020 Olympic Games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

Early life

Fan Yilin was born on 11 November 1999 in

Taizhou, Zhejiang Tāizhōu (pronunciation in PRC Standard Mandarin: , Taizhou dialect: Thecieu), alternately known as Taichow, is a city located at the middle of the East China Sea coast of Zhejiang province. It is located south of Shanghai and southeast of Ha ...

. Her father, Fan Bingzhu, is a former professional wrestler. Fan began gymnastics at the age of six in order to improve her health since she had been ill as a child.

Junior career

In 2013, Fan represented Zhejiang in the 1999-2000 Junior National Championships. The team won gold overall, and Fan placed fifth in the uneven bars final. At the

2013 Chinese National Games The 12th National Games of China were held in the northeastern province of Liaoning from 31 August to 12 September 2013. Liaoning was the sixth provincial level host of the games, following Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shandong. A tot ...

, Fan won team gold again and placed fourth on uneven bars. She did not compete in 2014 due to injuries.

Senior career

2015

Fan's senior career started in 2015. At the Chinese National Championships in May, Fan won gold in uneven bars final, ahead of world champion

Huang Huidan Huang Huidan () is a Chinese artistic gymnast. She is the 2013 world uneven bars champion and 2014 world uneven bars silver medalist. She represents Zhejiang in domestic competitions. Junior career Huang joined the Chinese national team in 2009 ...

In addition, she won silver with the Shanghai team and placed third on balance beam. She later made her senior international debut as a member of the Chinese team at the 2015 Asian Championships in Hiroshima, Japan, where she won gold on balance beam, silver with the team, and bronze on uneven bars. She was selected to compete at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Glasgow, Scotland alongside

Shang Chunsong Shang Chunsong (; born 18 March 1996) is a senior elite Chinese artistic gymnast. She represented China at the 2013, 2014, and 2015 World Championships and was a member of the Chinese silver-medal-winning teams at the latter two events. Shang wa ...

, Wang Yan,

Mao Yi Mao Yi (; born 16 September 1999) is a Chinese artistic gymnast. She won the silver medal with the team in 2015 World Gymnastic Championships. She competed in the 2016 Olympic Games, where she and her teammates won a bronze medal in the team ev ...

Tan Jiaxin Tan Jiaxin (; born December 3, 1996 in Changsha) is an elite Chinese gymnast. Career 2012 Although she did not make the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Tan has continued to compete and become a strong player for China. Later in 2012, she co ...

, Chen Siyi, and Zhu Xiaofang (alternate). They won the silver medal behind the United States team. Individually, after qualifying in fifth-place, Fan won gold on uneven bars in the first ever four-way tie along with

, and

. "It made me laugh to see four gymnasts with the same score, but I'm happy for all of the other gold medalists," Fan said.

2016

Fan competed at the Chinese National Championships in May, and she won gold on uneven bars with a 0.434 lead, and she placed sixth on beam. At the conclusion of the Chinese Championships, Fan was named to the Chinese team for the 2016 Summer Olympics along with

, Wang Yan, and Liu Tingting (who was later replaced by alternate

due to a hand injury).

2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics

Fan competed in the women's qualification round at the

on August 7, scoring 15.266 on bars, 14.866 on beam, and 13.500 on floor exercise. She helped the Chinese team qualify into the team final in second place behind the United States. Individually, Fan qualified sixth into the balance beam final. Controversially, Fan failed to qualify for the uneven bars final placing ninth due to missing some connections in her routine. Her countrywoman Shang Chunsong qualified ahead of her by 0.034. On August 9, in the team final, Fan competed on the uneven bars and the balance beam, contributing 15.733 and 15.066 respectively to China's third-place finish behind the United States and the Russian teams. Fan placed sixth in the balance beam final on August 15 with a score of 14.500.

2017

Fan competed at the National Championships, placing third on the uneven bars and seventh on balance beam. She was not named to the team competing at the

Asian Championships An Asian Championship is a top level international sports competition between Asian athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships (Summer Olympic Sports) ;Aquatics * Asian ...

. However, she performed well at the National Games later in the year and won gold on uneven bars. She was named to the team roster to compete at the World Championships along with Liu Tingting,

Luo Huan Luo Huan () is an elite Chinese gymnast. She is a two-time Chinese national all-around champion (2017, 2018) and the 2017 Asian and 2018 Asian Games all-around silver medalist. On her specialty events, she is the 2017 Asian and 2017 Chinese nat ...

, and Wang Yan. In the qualifying round at the

, Fan qualified into the uneven bars final in third place and successfully landed her original dismount, after which it was named after her in the Code of Points. Fan won the uneven bars final with a 15.166 ahead of

Elena Eremina Elena Vyacheslavovna Eremina (russian: Елена Вячеславовна Ерёмина, pron. ''Yelena Vyacheslavovna Yeryomina'', born 29 July 2001) is a retired Russian artistic gymnast. She is the 2017 World all-around bronze medalist and ...

of Russia and

Nina Derwael Nina Derwael ( or ; born 26 March 2000) is a Belgians, Belgian artistic gymnast. She is the Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics, 2020 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion (2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, 2018, 2019 World ...

of Belgium after upgrading from the first day of competition to have the highest difficulty score in the final. With this victory, she became the first Chinese woman and the fourth overall gymnast in history to defend their World uneven bars title after Maxi Gnacuk, Daniela Silivas, and

Svetlana Khorkina Svetlana Vasilyevna Khorkina (russian: Светлана Васильевна Хоркина; born 19 January 1979) is a retired Russian artistic gymnast. She competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics, the 2000 Summer Olympics, and the 2004 Summer Ol ...

2018

Fan did not compete for much of the year, missing both the Chinese National Championships in the spring and the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

in August. However, she competed at the Individual National Championships where she won gold on the uneven bars. Despite this result, she was not chosen to compete at the

. Because she missed the World Championships, she became eligible to qualify an individual nominative spot to the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

as the winner of the 2018-2020 I ndividual Apparatus World Cup series on the uneven bars, based on the new qualification rules introduced following the

. Fan returned to international competition at the Cottbus World Cup, where she qualified in first place to the uneven bars final ahead of new world champion

; however, in the final, she fell on her eponymous dismount and placed eighth.

2019

Fan was selected to compete at the Melbourne World Cup alongside countrywoman Lyu Jiaqi, who she beat to win gold in the uneven bars final. She later competed at the Doha World Cup in March where she qualified to the uneven bars final in second place behind

. In the event finals, she once again placed second behind Derwael. At the 2019 Chinese National Championships, Fan qualified in first place on the uneven bars with a score of 15.200. In the team final, she recorded the top uneven bars score of the day to contribute toward the Shanghai provincial team's 7th-place finish. In the event final, however, a major error on a half-turn caused Fan to place fourth behind Liu Tingting, Cheng Shiyi, and Ou Yushan. Fan was not included in the selection pool for the Chinese team at the 2019 World Championships due to her participation in the world cup series. Instead, she competed at the individual national championships in September and defended her uneven bars title ahead of

Du Siyu Du Siyu (Chinese: 杜思雨; born 8 November 2002 in Anhui) is a Chinese artistic gymnast. She is a 2018 world bronze medalist in the team competition (as an alternate on the Chinese team). Biography She debuted at the senior level at the 201 ...

and Lv Jiaqi. Fan concluded her year by competing at the 2019 Cottbus World Cup in November, qualifying in second place to the uneven bars final behind

Anastasia Agafonova Anastasia Nikolaevna Agafonova (russian: Анастасия Николаевна Агафонова; born 4 August 2003) is a Russian artistic gymnast. She was part of the Russian team that won silver at the 2019 World Championships. Career Ag ...

of Russia. In the final, she upgraded her routine to narrowly finish ahead of Agafonova and compatriot

Yin Sisi Yin may refer to: *the dark force in the yin and yang from traditional Chinese philosophy and medicine *Yīn (surname) (), a Chinese surname *Yǐn (surname) (), a Chinese surname *Shang dynasty, also known as the Yin dynasty **Yinxu or Yin, the S ...

2020

Fan competed at the Baku World Cup where she finished first on uneven bars during qualifications and qualified to the event final. However event finals were canceled due to the 2020 coronavirus outbreak in Azerbaijan. Later, FIG announced that the qualifications standings from the Baku event would count towards points in the Individual Apparatus World Cup series. As a result, Fan clinched a first-place overall standing on the uneven bars and unofficially qualified to the

as an individual athlete for China. These Olympics were later postponed to 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. In September, she competed at the

National Championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

where she won gold on the uneven bars and placed sixth with the

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

provincial team. This marked her first national uneven bars title since 2016, despite recording the top international uneven bars score among all Chinese athletes every year since then.

Skills

Selected Competitive Skills

Eponymous skill

Fan has one eponymous skill listed in the Code of Points.

Competitive history

Junior

Senior

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fan, Yilin 1999 births Living people Chinese female artistic gymnasts World champion gymnasts Olympic gymnasts of China Olympic medalists in gymnastics Gymnasts at the 2016 Summer Olympics 2016 Olympic bronze medalists for China Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics Gymnasts from Shanghai Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics