Yang Yang (speed skater, born 1976)

Yang Yang (simplified Chinese: 杨扬; traditional Chinese: 楊揚; pinyin: Yáng Yáng; born 24 August 1976 in Jiamusi, Heilongjiang, China) is a retired Chinese short track speed skater. She is a two-time Olympic Champion from 2002 Winter Olympics and a six-time Overall World Champion for 1997–2002. Known as Yang Yang (A), she was formerly a member of the Chinese national short track team. Yang is one of the most accomplished short track speed skaters of all time having won 34 world titles, including six Overall World Championships. She is the first person to have won six Overall World Titles and won six consecutively. Her victory in the women's 500 m short track at the 2002 Winter Olympics made her China's first-ever Winter Olympics gold medalist. She added a second gold in the women's 1000 m short track at the same Games and has also won two silver and a bronze medal. After 2003 World Championships, Yang took time off competing, but came back in 2004–2005 season in lead-up to 2006 Winter Olympics where she won the bronze medal in 1000m race. She retired soon afterwards.

Yang Yang
Yang Yang in Montreal, 2002.
Personal information
Born (1976-08-24) 24 August 1976
Jiamusi, Heilongjiang, China
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight60 kg (132 lb; 9 st 6 lb)
Sport
Country China
SportSpeed skating
World championship wins1997 Overall
1998 Overall
1999 Overall
2000 Overall
2001 Overall
2002 Overall
Medal record
Women's short track speed skating
Representing  China
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 2 2 1
World Championships 28 9 5
World Team Championships 4 4 0
Olympic Games
2002 Salt Lake City 500 m
2002 Salt Lake City 1000 m
1998 Nagano 3000 m Relay
2002 Salt Lake City 3000 m Relay
2006 Turin 1000 m
World Championships
1997 Nagano 500 m
1997 Nagano 1000 m
1997 Nagano Overall
1998 Vienna 1500 m
1998 Vienna 1000 m
1998 Vienna Overall
1998 Vienna 3000 m relay
1999 Sofia 500 m
1999 Sofia 1000 m
1999 Sofia 3000 m
1999 Sofia Overall
1999 Sofia 3000 m relay
2000 Sheffield 1000 m
2000 Sheffield 1500 m
2000 Sheffield Overall
2000 Sheffield 3000 m relay
2001 Jeonju 1000 m
2001 Jeonju 1500 m
2001 Jeonju 3000 m
2001 Jeonju Overall
2001 Jeonju 3000 m relay
2002 Montréal 500 m
2002 Montréal 1000 m
2002 Montréal 1500 m
2002 Montréal Overall
2003 Warsaw 500 m
2003 Warsaw 3000 m relay
2005 Beijing 500 m
1994 Guildford 3000 m relay
1996 The Hague 3000 m relay
1998 Vienna 3000 m
1999 Sofia 1500 m
2000 Sheffield 3000 m
2001 Jeonju 500 m
2002 Montréal 3000 m relay
2003 Warsaw Overall
2005 Beijing 3000 m relay
1994 Guildford 500 m
1994 Guildford 3000 m
1997 Nagano 3000 m
2003 Warsaw 1500 m
2003 Warsaw 1000 m
World Team Championships
1998 Bormio Team
1999 St. Louis Team
2000 The Hague Team
2001 Nobeyama Team
1995 Zoetermeer Team
2002 Milwaukee Team
2003 Sofia Team
2005 Chuncheon Team
Asian Winter Games
1996 Harbin 1500 m
1996 Harbin 3000 m relay
In this Chinese name, the family name is Yang.

Naming

Yang, born 1976, is sometimes known as Yang Yang (A), to differentiate her from the speed skater named Yang Yang born in 1977 (known as "Yang Yang (S)").

By coincidence, Yang Yang had a contemporary on the Chinese skating team, one year and one month her junior, also named Yang Yang in pinyin and English (although with a different given name character in Chinese). The "(A)" identifier was used as a way to distinguish her from the younger Yang Yang. Originally, the older Yang Yang was known as Yang Yang (L) for "large" (大 or 'big' in Chinese is used to distinguish between younger and older persons of roughly the same age), as she is older than Yang Yang (S) (for "small"); however, she objected to the "L" identifier, changing it to "A" for "August", her birth month. Although the younger Yang Yang (S) is now retired from competition and there is no longer a need to distinguish between the two in results, Yang Yang (A) still used the identifier in competition, considering it a part of her identity.[1][2][3][4]

Retirement

Yang Yang (A) was chosen to be one of 12,000 torchbearers to carry the Olympic torch for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, and on November 22, 2009, she ran a portion of the Prince Edward Island legs.[5][6]

Yang was elected as an IOC member in 2010 becoming mainland China's fourth IOC member.[7] She is also a committee member of the World Anti Doping Agency,[8] and founding member of the Chinese Athlete Education Foundation.

In 2013, Yang co-founded the Feiyang Skating Centre in Shanghai, a new double-rink facility with an Olympic-sized rink upstairs and a recreational-sized rink downstairs, built to promote ice sports in China.

Career
Personal records
Women's short track speed skating
Event Result Date Location Notes
500 m44:0842002-02-20Calgary
1000 m1:30.2162005-10-02Hangzhou 2005 / 2006 World Cup
1500 m2:21.6902002-02-13Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics
3000 m5:03.6522000-12-10Changchun 2000 / 2001 World Cup
  • (2002) – Speed Skating World Cup – Montreal – Yang Yang
  • (2002) – Speed Skating World Cup – Montreal – Yang Yang answering questions from journalists.

References
  1. "Five-Ring Circus: Yang Yang and Yang Yang". The Toledo Blade. 2002-02-13. Retrieved 2010-02-02.
  2. Lopresti, Mike (2006-02-10). "Athletes usher in the Torino Games". USA Today. Retrieved 2010-02-02.
  3. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Yang Yang (A)". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2016-12-10.
  4. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Yang Yang (S)". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2016-12-10.
  5. http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=14160.html?cid=rssnews1130
  6. http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2009/10/c7954.html
  7. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sports/2010-02/13/c_13174113.htm
  8. "Yang Yang becomes first Chinese WADA vice president". China Daily. 2019-11-08. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
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