Zou Jingyuan

Zou was born 3 January 1998 in Yibin, Sichuan, China. He started gymnastics at the age of three when he was scouted by a coach because of his good physical condition.^[2]

The General Administration of Sport of China named Zou an Elite Athlete of National Class in 2016.^[2]

Zou studied physical education at Chengdu Sport University.^[2]

Zou competed at the 2017 Asian Championships in Bangkok, Thailand, where he helped China win team gold.^[2] Individually he won gold on parallel bars and rings, as well as silver on pommel horse.^[2] Later that year Zou competed at the 2017 World Championships in Montreal, Canada, where he won gold on parallel bars, earning his first World title.^[2]

At the 2018 Asian Games Zou helped China win team gold.^[2] Individually he placed first on parallel bars and second on pommel horse.^[2] At the 2018 World Championships he helped China win team gold ahead of Russia and defended his title on the parallel bars.^[2]

In 2019, Zou competed at the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, where he helped China win team silver.^[2] He failed to qualify for the parallel bars event final after an error in qualifying and was therefore unable to defend his title.^[3][4] He did qualify to the pommel horse final where he ultimately finished fourth.^[2]

Zou was named to the team to compete at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo alongside including Sun Wei, Xiao Ruoteng, and Lin Chaopan.^[5] During the team final they won bronze with a combined score of 262.397, 0.606 points behind the winning Russian Olympic Committee team.^[6] Zou won Olympic gold on parallel bars with a score of 16.233,^[7] the highest score and widest margin of victory (0.533) posted by any gymnast in any event at the Tokyo Olympics.^[8][9]

Zou competed at the 2022 World Championships in Liverpool. During the qualification round he successfully competed a new skill on rings.^[10] During the team final he helped China win gold.^[11] During event finals he won silver on rings behind Adem Asil^[12] and gold on parallel bars. His score in the parallel bars final of 16.166 was the highest score posted by a gymnast at the competition.^[13]

In the summer of 2023 Zou competed at the postponed 2021 World University Games where he helped China win team gold. Individually he won gold on parallel bars, silver on rings, and placed fourth on pommel horse.^[14] In the fall, the Chinese-hosted postponed 2022 Asian Games were scheduled to take place around the same time as the 2023 World Championships. Due to this, the Chinese Gymnastics Federation opted to send their best athletes to the Asian Games; as a result Zou was unable to defend his World title. At the Asian Games Zou helped China win team gold and individually he won gold on parallel bars.^[15]

Zou was selected to represent China at the 2024 Summer Olympics alongside Liu Yang, Su Weide, Xiao Ruoteng, and Zhang Boheng.^[16] During the qualification round China qualified to the team final in first, 2.434 points ahead of their rivals Japan;^[17] as a result they were expected to win the gold medal. During the team final China went into the final rotation with a 3.267 point lead; however after Zou's teammate Su fell twice, Japan was able to capitalize on the mistakes leaving China with the silver medal.^[18] During the individual event finals Zou won silver on rings behind compatriot Liu and successfully defended his Olympic title on the parallel bars.^[19][20]