Liu Hongmei
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Liu Hongmei | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
27 December 1973 Shandong, China | ||
| Height | 162 cm (5 ft 4 in) | ||
| Weight | 58 kg (128 lb; 9 st 2 lb) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Shot | Right | ||
| Played for | Harbin Ice Hockey | ||
| National team |
 China | ||
| Playing career | 1992–2002 | ||
|
Medal record | |||
| Liu Hongmei | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 劉紅梅 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 刘红梅 | ||||||
| |||||||
Liu Hongmei (Chinese: 刘红梅; pinyin: Liú Hóngméi; born 27 December 1973) is a Chinese retired ice hockey player.[1] She competed in the women's tournaments at the 1998 Winter Olympics and the 2002 Winter Olympics.[2]
Liu Hengmei was born on 27 December 1973 to a security guard and a maintenance worker for the city.[2][3] Between 1992 and 2002, she represented the China women's national ice hockey team.[4] Liu competed in the 1992 IIHF Women's World Championship.[4] She played in five games at the 1994 IIHF Women's World Championship, where she tallied eight goals.[5] Liu went to Winnipeg in 2001, where she learned how to converse in English.[3] The Hockey News called her "the Chinese women's team's answer to Wayne Gretzky" and said she was a "player to watch" during the 2002 Winter Olympics.[5]
During the Olympics, she competed for China in the forward position and was the team's captain.[3] The shoulder of her uniform during the Olympics bore the Swoosh logo.[3] She earned three goals for her team.[6] During the game against the Germany team, she made two goals.[7] In a game with the Kazakhstan team, she had an injured shoulder. With 1 minute 39 seconds left in overtime, Liu scored a close-range goal, giving her team a 2–1 win and seventh place.[6][8] Liu said in an interview after the game, "I had very complicated feelings at the time. Originally, we could win without overtime. After scoring the goal, I thought we had finally won. Yes, it's really not easy."[6] With three goals each, she and Yang Xiuqing were their team's highest scorers.[7]
Liu and four other players retired from the national team after the 2002 Olympics, which "China Consumer Daily" said weakened the team's strength.[9] During her over a decade tenure on the national team, Liu earned 44 points, completed 27 goals, and had 17 assists.[4] Writing for Sina Corporation in 2015, Wang Xuefeng called Liu "a star player" who has been "highly praised by the international ice hockey community".[4]
