Wang Nan (; born October 23, 1978 in

Fushun Fushun (, formerly romanised as ''Fouchouen'', using French spelling, also as Fuxi ()) is a prefecture level city in Liaoning province, China, about east of Shenyang, with a total area of , of which is the city proper. Situated on the Hun Rive ...

, Liaoning) is a female Chinese

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

player from Liaoning. Wang remained as world #1 on the ITTF ranking system from January, 1999 to November, 2002. She is left-handed, and began playing table tennis when she was seven years old. Her particular skills are changing the placement of the ball during rallies and her loop drive, as well as her notable speed. Wang has been the leader of the women's table-tennis team of China after

Deng Yaping Deng Yaping (; born February 6, 1973) is a Chinese table tennis player, who won eighteen world championships including four Olympic championships between 1989 and 1997. She is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. ...

's retirement. In terms of achievements, she is one of the most successful female table tennis players (alongside Li Xiaoxia,

, Ding Ning, Zhang Yining) having won the gold medal in each of the Table Tennis World Cup, the Table Tennis World Championships, and the Olympic Games.

Personal life

Wang Nan is married to Guo Bin.

Career performance

In 1994 Wang Nan won the women's singles titles at the

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. The nex, Women's World Table Tennis Cup and

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

. From 1997 to 1998 she won the Women's World Table Tennis Cup twice, as well as the American Open and China Open. At the 1998 Asian Games in

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, Wang won the four gold medals on offer (singles, doubles, mixed doubles and women teams). At the end of 1998, she won the ITTF tour finals. In 1999 she won the gold medal at the World Table Tennis Championships and the ITTF tour finals in both singles and doubles. She became world #1 in the same year. In the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney she won two gold medals in singles and doubles. Her excellent success record has resulted in her becoming a Grand-Slam champion. However, in the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, she lost two finals in the singles and women's teams competitions, winning no gold medals. Many people criticized her attitude and observed that she was inactive and lacking confidence. A lot of rumors claimed that she was going to retire because her skills were depleted and she could not compete on the improving world stage. Wang Nan attended 2003 World Table Tennis Championships in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. This is her fourth time representing China. She won three gold medals in singles, doubles and mixed doubles and of particular interest, she won both singles and doubles championship for the third time in a row, records which are hard to break in the future. Many people didn't expect her success before the competition began; however, the three gold medals proved that she was still one of the top players in the world. At the 2004 Summer Olympics Wang Nan failed to retain her singles crown but went on to win the women's doubles with Zhang Yining. Four years later at the 2008 Summer Olympics she made it to the Women's Final yet again, this time losing out to Zhang Yining, 8-11, 13–11, 11–8, 11–8, 11–3. She did, however, win the team gold for the host country.

Performance timelines

World Title Events Finals (24–6)

Team (8–0)

Singles (8–4)

Doubles (7–1)

Mixed Doubles (1–1)

Other significant finals

ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals (7–3)

Singles: 4 (2–2)

Doubles: 6 (5–1)

Tournament of Champions (1–1)

Pro Tour Titles (37)

Team (3)

Singles (18)

Doubles (16)

References

"Wang Nan, a true world class table tennis champion"
TableTennisMaster.com

External links

* ** ** * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Nan 1978 births Living people Olympic gold medalists for China Olympic silver medalists for China Olympic table tennis players of China People from Fushun Table tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in table tennis Asian Games medalists in table tennis Table tennis players from Liaoning Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 1998 Asian Games Table tennis players at the 2002 Asian Games Table tennis players at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for China Asian Games silver medalists for China Asian Games bronze medalists for China Chinese female table tennis players Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics