Yang Yang biography
Yang Yang, (born Aug. 24, 1975, Qitaihe, Heilongjiang province, China), famend Chinese short-track velocity skater who on the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, received China’s first-ever Winter Olympic gold medals and was the primary short-track velocity skater from any nation to win a number of gold medals at one Winter Games.
Yang, born in northeastern China close to the Russian border, started skating in 1984, and by age 13 she had reached the finals of an International Skating Union check competitors. Yang certified for the Chinese short-track workforce in 1995, however she overtrained for the 1996 world championships and achieved solely mediocre outcomes. By the following season she had perfected her coaching, and on the 1997 world championships she break up an total win with two-time world champion Chun Lee-Kyung of South Korea. In doing so she turned China’s first short-track world champion.
To distinguish her from a equally named teammate with whom she typically shared the medalists’ podium, the letter A (for her start month of August) was typically appended to Yang’s identify; her teammate, born in September, was known as Yang Yang (S). The written distinction between Yang Yangs (A) and (S) was for the advantage of non-Chinese audio system; their names are pronounced in another way in Chinese.
Yang had a blended displaying on the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, the place she did not win any particular person medals. She was robust in early heats and, in reality, set a world file (1 min 31.991 sec) within the 1,000-metre quarterfinal. In the 1,000-metre last, she once more met Chun, the defending Olympic champion, whom she led for many of the race. The two tangled arms on the end, nevertheless, and Chun kicked ahead to simply nostril out Yang earlier than falling to the ice. Compounding the loss, the judges then disqualified Yang for interference. The solely medal Yang took dwelling from Nagano was a silver for the three,000-metre relay. She blamed poor psychological preparation for the outcomes. Later in 1998, nevertheless, Yang received her second world championship—this one hers alone—and she or he thereafter dominated the World Cup circuit and the world championships.
Yang Yang confirmed her dominance in 2001 by successful her fifth consecutive world championship total title. During three days of competitors in Chŏnju (Jeonju), S.Kor., Yang reached the finals of all 5 girls’s occasions, taking gold within the 1,000-, 1,500-, and three,000-metre particular person races and the three,000-metre relay and silver within the 500-metre race. Her decisive win got here as little shock. After a season through which she had reached the finals in 14 of the 17 occasions she competed in and had tallied eight particular person wins, she entered the world championships because the top-ranked girl on the World Cup circuit.