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Yang Yang (speed skater, born 1976)

Chinese sports administrator and retired short track speed skater (born 1976) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yang Yang (Chinese: 杨扬; pinyin: Yáng Yáng; born 24 August 1976) is a Chinese sports administrator, retired short track speed skater, and businesswoman. 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. Yang retired after 2003 World Championships but was persuaded to return as a player-coach during 2004–2005 season to prepare for 2006 Winter Olympics where she won the bronze medal in 1000 m race. She retired again after the Games.

PresidentWitold Bańka
Chair
President
Born (1976-08-24) 24 August 1976 (age 50)
Tangyuan County, Jiamusi, Heilongjiang, China
Quick facts Vice President of World Anti-Doping Agency, President ...
Yang Yang
Yang Yang in 2024
Vice President of World Anti-Doping Agency
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 January 2020
PresidentWitold Bańka
Vice-chair of the All-China Youth Federation
In office
25 August 2010 – 17 July 2020
Chair
Member of the International Olympic Committee
In office
February 2010 – September 2018
President
Personal details
Born (1976-08-24) 24 August 1976 (age 50)
Tangyuan County, Jiamusi, Heilongjiang, China
PartyCommunist[1]
Spouse
Zhang Zhen
​
(m. 2007)​
Children1
Alma materTsinghua University
Sports career
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight60 kg (132 lb; 9 st 6 lb)
SportWomen's short track speed skating
Events
500 metres, 1000 metres, 1500 metre, 3000 metre, relay
Retired2006
Sports achievements and titles
Personal bests
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
Gold medal – first place2002 Salt Lake City500 m
Gold medal – first place2002 Salt Lake City1000 m
Silver medal – second place1998 Nagano3000 m Relay
Silver medal – second place2002 Salt Lake City3000 m Relay
Bronze medal – third place2006 Turin1000 m
World Championships
Gold medal – first place1997 Nagano500 m
Gold medal – first place1997 Nagano1000 m
Gold medal – first place1997 NaganoOverall
Gold medal – first place1998 Vienna1500 m
Gold medal – first place1998 Vienna1000 m
Gold medal – first place1998 ViennaOverall
Gold medal – first place1998 Vienna3000 m relay
Gold medal – first place1999 Sofia500 m
Gold medal – first place1999 Sofia1000 m
Gold medal – first place1999 Sofia3000 m
Gold medal – first place1999 SofiaOverall
Gold medal – first place1999 Sofia3000 m relay
Gold medal – first place2000 Sheffield1000 m
Gold medal – first place2000 Sheffield1500 m
Gold medal – first place2000 SheffieldOverall
Gold medal – first place2000 Sheffield3000 m relay
Gold medal – first place2001 Jeonju1000 m
Gold medal – first place2001 Jeonju1500 m
Gold medal – first place2001 Jeonju3000 m
Gold medal – first place2001 JeonjuOverall
Gold medal – first place2001 Jeonju3000 m relay
Gold medal – first place2002 Montréal500 m
Gold medal – first place2002 Montréal1000 m
Gold medal – first place2002 Montréal1500 m
Gold medal – first place2002 MontréalOverall
Gold medal – first place2003 Warsaw500 m
Gold medal – first place2003 Warsaw3000 m relay
Gold medal – first place2005 Beijing500 m
Silver medal – second place1994 Guildford3000 m relay
Silver medal – second place1996 The Hague3000 m relay
Silver medal – second place1998 Vienna3000 m
Silver medal – second place1999 Sofia1500 m
Silver medal – second place2000 Sheffield3000 m
Silver medal – second place2001 Jeonju500 m
Silver medal – second place2002 Montréal3000 m relay
Silver medal – second place2003 WarsawOverall
Silver medal – second place2005 Beijing3000 m relay
Bronze medal – third place1994 Guildford500 m
Bronze medal – third place1994 Guildford3000 m
Bronze medal – third place1997 Nagano3000 m
Bronze medal – third place2003 Warsaw1500 m
Bronze medal – third place2003 Warsaw1000 m
World Team Championships
Gold medal – first place1998 BormioTeam
Gold medal – first place1999 St. LouisTeam
Gold medal – first place2000 The HagueTeam
Gold medal – first place2001 NobeyamaTeam
Silver medal – second place1995 ZoetermeerTeam
Silver medal – second place2002 MilwaukeeTeam
Silver medal – second place2003 SofiaTeam
Silver medal – second place2005 ChuncheonTeam
Asian Winter Games
Gold medal – first place1996 Harbin1500 m
Gold medal – first place1996 Harbin3000 m relay
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Naming

Yang, born in 1976, is sometimes known as Yang Yang (A), to differentiate her from the speed skater named Yang Yang, born in 1977 and known as Yang Yang (S). The two share the family name but have distinct characters of their given name. The pinyin romanisation renders the names indistinguishable in letters as well as in tone.

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.[2][3][4][5]

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 22 November 2009, she ran a portion of the Prince Edward Island legs.[6][7]

Yang was elected as an IOC member in 2010 becoming mainland China's fourth IOC member.[8] and founding member of the Chinese Athlete Education Foundation. She held the IOC position until 2018.

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.

On 7 September 2019, Yang was elected to vice-presidency of Wada.[9]

In 2021, Yang became a high profile supporter of UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. She amplifies Chinese social media content highlighting the power of sport to transform the lives of people fleeing conflict and persecution.[10]

Gallery

  • Yang Yang in Montreal, 2002
    Yang Yang in Montreal, 2002
  • Yang Yang at the Speed Skating World Cup in Montreal, 2002
    Yang Yang at the Speed Skating World Cup in Montreal, 2002
  • Yang Yang answering questions from journalists – Speed Skating World Cup, Montreal, 2002
    Yang Yang answering questions from journalists – Speed Skating World Cup, Montreal, 2002

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