Zhang Yining (; born 5 October 1981) is a 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 who retired in 2009. She is considered one of the greatest female players in the sport's history. In terms of achievements, she is one of the most successful female table tennis players (alongside

Ding Ning Ding Ning (; born 20 June 1990) is a former Chinese table tennis player. She was the winner of women's singles in the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships. At the 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, Ding won her second world title in w ...

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. ...

, Wang Nan,

Li Xiaoxia Li Xiaoxia (; born 16 January 1988) is a Chinese table tennis Grand Slam champion. Career She trained in the Jiangsu Wuxi Shanhe Club in Wuxi, China. Her trainer is Li Sun, who is also the mentor of Olympic gold medal winner Zhang Yining. As ...

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

History

Zhang Yining held the ITTF #1 ranking continuously from 2003 to 2009, except two months in 2008, remaining as a dominant figure in women's table tennis, with four

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

gold medals, ten

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, ...

, and four

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

wins. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she was often referred to by commentators as "The Yellow Beast", denoting her dominance in the sport. She uses a specially made Zhang Yining ZLC for her blade made by butterfly, and tenergy 05 for forehand and tenergy 64 for her backhand. Zhang is a graduate from Beijing Shichahai Sports School, where

Li Jiawei Li Jiawei (; born 9 August 1981) is a retired Chinese-born former Singaporean table tennis player, four-time Olympian and twice Olympic medalist. She trained in Beijing's famous Shichahai Sports School with Olympic medalist Zhang Yining. In ...

of Singapore studied as well. Zhang was married in October 2009 and has not been present in table tennis tournaments since then. She announced her retirement from international play in 2011 and she went to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

to study at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

and learn to better speak English. This makes her one of few players to retire whilst holding both the World and Olympic titles for singles and team event in table tennis. Zhang also said she would like to introduce to Americans the sport of table tennis. Since 2010, Zhang serves as the assistant president of the China Table Tennis College in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

Successes

* 45th

World Table Tennis Championships The World Table Tennis Championships are table tennis competitions sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The World Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Five individual events, which include me ...

(1999) Women's Single Silver * 45th

(2000) Women's Team Gold * 5th ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals (2000) Women's Single Gold * 5th Table Tennis World Cup (2001) Women's Single Gold * 46th

(2001) Women's Team Gold * 6th Table Tennis World Cup (2002) Women's Single Gold * 7th ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals (2002) Women's Single Gold * 47th

(2003) Women's Single Silver, Women's Double Gold * 47th

(2004) Women's Team Gold * Games of the 28th

Olympiad An olympiad ( el, Ὀλυμπιάς, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games. Although the ancient Olympics were established during Greece's Archaic Era, it was not unti ...

(2004) Table Tennis Women's Single Gold, Women's Double Gold * 8th Table Tennis World Cup (2004) Women's Single Gold * 48th

(2005) Women's Single Gold, Women's Double Gold * 10th

National Games of China The National Games of the People's Republic of China (), sometimes known as the All China Games (though not to be confused with the All-China Games), is the premier sports event in China at national level. It is usually held once every four yea ...

(2005) Women's Team Gold, Women's Single Gold * 9th Table Tennis World Cup (2005) Women's Single Gold * 10th ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals (2005) Women's Single Gold * 48th

(2006) Women's Team Gold * 11th ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals (2006) Women's Single Gold * 49th

(2007) Women's Double Gold * 11th Table Tennis World Cup (2007) Women's Team Gold * 49th

(2008) Women's Team Gold * Games of the 29th

(2008) Table Tennis Women's Single Gold, Women's Team Gold * 50th

(2009) Women's Single Gold

Olympic record

2008 Summer Olympics Women's Table Tennis Singles results

Zhang participated in 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 Nat ...

in Beijing, winning gold in both the women's singles and women's team competition. Zhang successfully defended her singles Olympic gold medal, defeating compatriot Wang Nan in the finals 8-11, 13–11, 11–8, 11–8, 11–3. She was also the women's doubles gold medal winner at 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), ...

. The following table shows the scores of the women's singles table tennis matches that Zhang Yining played during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games: Click here to see further details regarding the 2008 Summer Olympics Table Tennis competition results.

2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony

At the opening ceremony of the

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

, Zhang took the

Olympic Oath The Olympic Oath (distinct from the Olympic creed) is a solemn promise made by one athlete, judge or official, and one coach at the Opening Ceremony of each Olympic Games. Each oath taker is from the host nation and takes the oath on behalf of all ...

on behalf of all competitors at the Games.

References

External links

Zhang Yining world ranking record at the ITTF

ITTF Stats for Zhang Yining
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Yining 1981 births Living people Chinese female table tennis players Olympic gold medalists for China Olympic table tennis players of China Table tennis players from Beijing 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 Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2002 Asian Games Universiade medalists in table tennis Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for China Asian Games silver medalists for China World Table Tennis Championships medalists Oath takers at the Olympic Games Universiade gold medalists for China