Yang Wei (; born February 8, 1980, in

Xiantao Xiantao () is a sub-prefecture-level city in the east of Hubei province, China. Located at the Jianghan Plain in the middle of Hubei province and spanning 112°55' – 113°49' east longitude and 30°04' – 30°32' north latitude, Xiantao City c ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

) is a male

gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...

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 ...

Career

Yang Wei won the silver medal in the individual all-around competition and won the gold in the team event at the

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. In 2003, he again won the gold in the team event and silver in the all-around competition at the

2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 37th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Anaheim, California, United States, from 16 to 24 August 2003. Tie-breakers were not used at this competition. If two gymnasts received identical scores in the event finals, they were ...

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

. At the

2004 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), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, his world championship winning team finished fifth after many of them fell. Wei was also the favorite to win the gold medal at the Individual All-Around in Athens as well, but a fall from the high bar earned him a low score of 8.975 and put him out of medal contention. He placed seventh that night. The Chinese team redeemed itself by taking gold in 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 ...

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 ...

, beating out Japan and the United States. Yang returned to form at the

2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 39th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Aarhus, Denmark, from October 13 to October 21, 2006. The International Gymnastics Federation, which celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2006, introduced a new Code of Points at the ...

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

, by winning gold in the team event, individual all-around and parallel bars competitions. He also won gold medal in the team event, individual all-around, rings and parallel bars competitions at the

2006 Asian Games 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. He successfully defended his team and all-around titles at the

2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 40th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar r ...

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, and won the all-around and rings at the Chinese National Championships in 2007 and 2008. Yang Wei won gold in the individual all-around and the team final at the

. He also won a silver in the

rings Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

event final and placed fourth in the

pommel horse The pommel horse is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. Traditionally, it is used by only male gymnasts. Originally made of a metal frame with a wooden body and a leather cover, the modern pommel horse has a metal body covered with foam rubber and ...

event final. Yang Wei is best known for his impressive difficulty scores across the six events.

Personal life

Yang Wei has a long-time relationship with former gymnast, Yang Yun, who is an Olympic bronze medalist (uneven bars) for China, and now a CCTV reporter. In June 2006, Yang Wei invited Yang Yun to a news conference, which turned out to be a ploy for him to surprise her with a proposal. While he trained for the Beijing Olympic Games, the two had very few chances to be together, and kept in touch through text messaging. After his Olympic gold in the All-Around in Beijing on Thursday, Yang Wei faced the camera and mouthed the words, "I love you," to his fiancée. Yang Yun, who watched his victory on television, shouted "I love you, too!" back to the screen. Yang Wei: "Gold Medal for my Love!" The two married on November 6, 2008. Their son, Yang Wenchang (), was born November 2009. Their twin daughters were born in 2017.

References

External links

* 19 February 201
Chinese acrobatics onboard CAMPER

Volvo Ocean Race The Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three or four years since 1973. Originally named the Whitbread Round the World Race after its initiating sponsor, British brewing company Whitbread, in 2001 it became the Volvo Ocean Rac ...

, youtube.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Wei 1980 births Living people Chinese male artistic gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Gymnasts at the 2000 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2004 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for China Olympic gymnasts for China Olympic silver medalists for China People from Xiantao World champion gymnasts Olympic medalists in gymnastics Gymnasts from Hubei Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Asian Games medalists in gymnastics Gymnasts at the 1998 Asian Games Gymnasts at the 2002 Asian Games Gymnasts at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for China Asian Games silver medalists for China Asian Games bronze medalists for China Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games