Liu Zige (, born March 31, 1989 in

Benxi Benxi (, ) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, south-southeast of the provincial capital Shenyang. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,326,018 (1,709,538 in 2010) whom 809,655 ...

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

) is a world record holding swimmer from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. She swam for China at the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

, where she won the women's 200m butterfly in a new

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

of 2:04.18.

Career

She won the women's 200 m butterfly Gold medal at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

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 ...

. In the final, she clocked a time of 2:04.18, breaking Jessicah Schipper's world record by over 1 second, and won China's only gold medal in swimming at the Games. Her teammate, Jiao Liuyang, took the silver in 2:04.72, also under the former world mark. Schipper took the bronze in 2:06.26. Liu's win was considered a big upset, as she was relatively unknown prior to the Beijing Games. She made her international debut at the 2005 World Championships, where she placed 20th in the 200 m butterfly at 2:14.25. She progressed steadily afterwards, and prior to the Olympics, her best time was 2:07.76, from the Chinese Olympics Trials. Liu, nicknamed "Lucy," spent some time training under

Jessicah Schipper Jessicah Lee Schipper OAM (born 19 November 1986) is an Australian former competition swimmer. Specialising in the 100 and 200 metres butterfly, she won several gold medals at the Olympic Games and the World Championships between 2004 and 20 ...

's swimming coach, Ken Wood, and Wood sold Schipper's training program to Liu's coach. She would eventually beat Schipper and broke her world record in 200 meter butterfly during the

. In 2009, Liu regained the 200m butterfly world record from Schipper at the Chinese National Games, with a time of 2:01:81 to win the gold medal. She later added the short course world record at the World Cup in Stockholm (2:02:50). She then even shortened that time in the next meet at Berlin with the time of 2:00.78.

Major achievements

*2007 National Champions Tournament – 1st 200 m butterfly *2008 Beijing Olympics women's 200 m butterfly Gold *2009 World Aquatics Championships – 2nd Women's 200 m butterfly *2013 World Aquatics Championships – 1st Women's 200 m butterfly

References

External links

* http://2008teamchina.olympic.cn/index.php/personview/personsen/5347 {{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Zige 1989 births Living people Chinese female butterfly swimmers Olympic gold medalists for China Olympic swimmers of China People from Benxi Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics World record setters in swimming World record holders in swimming World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Swimmers from Liaoning Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2014 Asian Games Olympic gold medalists in swimming Asian Games competitors for China 21st-century Chinese women

Career

Major achievements

See also

References

External links