Chinese Female Sportspersons

Hou Yifan is a Chinese chess player who won two gold medals at the 2010 Asian Games. Hou, who achieved the grandmaster title in 2008, is the second-highest-rated female chess player ever. Hou is also the youngest ever player to win the Women's World Chess Championship title. She is also regarded as the greatest female chess player of her generation.

Li Na is a Chinese former tennis player. A former world No. 2, Li Na won two Grand Slam singles titles over the course of her career. She achieved international recognition in 2011 after becoming the first Asian Grand Slam singles champion. In 2019, she became the first Asian-born player to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. 

Eight-time world champion Ding Ning also has 4 Olympic medals, 3 of which are gold. The former Chinese table tennis sensation announced her retirement on Weibo in 2021. She is now pursuing a university course in physical education. She earned the unofficial title of the Queen of Hearts for her popularity.

Named to the Forbes list of 30 Under 30 in Entertainment and Sports, from Asia, Chen Yufei was inspired to take up badminton while watching the 2008 Olympics as a 10-year-old. Now an Olympic gold medalist herself, she also has tons of other medals in her kitty, including two Sudirman Cup gold medals.

Former world number one in singles Li Xuerui has 14 Superseries titles in her kitty. She is also a former Olympic gold medalist. Known for her attacking stance, she ruled the badminton scene before an injury at the Rio Olympics interrupted her career. She retired from international badminton in 2019.

One of the greatest volleyball players in history, Lang Ping gained the name Iron Hammer. The former Olympic gold medalist now coaches the Chinese national women’s volleyball team. Her story was one of the many featured in the Chinese sports movie Leap, which traced the country’s women’s volleyball history.

Olympic gold medalist Liu Shiwen has also won 5 World Cup and 4 Asian Cup titles. She also has an Olympic silver in her kitty. One of the fastest players in the table tennis circuit, she has also been riddled with injuries, such as her elbow injury which took away most of 2020.

Retired badminton player Xie Xingfang is a former singles number one and a two-time world champion. She has won countless medals, including an Olympic silver, an Asian Games gold, and a World Cup gold. She was also known for her high-profile relationship with badminton sensation Lin Dan.

Chinese tennis star Wang Qiang had begun playing tennis at the tender age of 9. She was initially trained in Japan and grew up idolizing Steffi Graf. Best known for her serve and her speed, she became the second-highest-ranked player from her country, after Li Na, when she ranked 12th in singles.

Wang Shixian is a Chinese former professional badminton player. A former World No. 1, Wang won three gold medals at Asian Games. She also won the Sudirman Cup on three occasions. 

Guo Jingjing is a Chinese former diver best known for her performance at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics where she won two gold medals at each event. She has also won two Olympic silver medals and is currently tied with Wu Minxia for winning the most number of Olympic medals for any female diver.

Chinese-born Canadian chess sensation Qiyu Zhou grew up in countries such as France and Finland and began learning chess at age 3. She won the Finnish U-10 championship at 5 and won the World Youth Chess Championship at 14. Known for her Twitch livestreams as akaNemsko, she is also Canada’s first woman grandmaster.

Zhang Ning is a Chinese retired professional badminton player who won the gold medal at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, becoming the only female badminton player to win successive Olympic singles gold medals. A three-time winner at Asian Games, Zhang Ning has also represented China in international competitions like the Sudirman Cup and Uber Cup.

Zhang Yining is a Chinese retired table tennis player best known for winning four Olympic gold medals during her career. Regarded as one of the greatest female table tennis players of all time, Zhang won 10 World Championships and four World Cups. She is also one of the most celebrated and successful female players in the history of table tennis.

Deng Linlin is a Chinese former gymnast best known for winning gold medals at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. The 2009 world champion in Balance Beam, Deng Linlin also won the 2009 National Games All-Around event as well as the 2010 Asian Games Team event.

Fu Mingxia is a Chinese retired diver who won the platform-diving world championship title at the age of 12, becoming the youngest diving champion of all time. She is also one of the youngest diving champions at the Olympics, she won a gold medal at the age of 13 in Barcelona Olympics in 1992. Fu finished her career with four Olympic gold medals and two World Championships.

Gymnast Shang Chunsong grew up amid extreme poverty in a remote village in China, where she and her family would often go without food and heating. Starting her training in gymnastics at age 7, she lifted her family out of drudgery. She captained the Chinese bronze-winning team at the Rio Olympics.

Li Xiaoxia is a Chinese professional table tennis player best known for winning two gold medals at the 2012 Olympics in London. She then went on to win a gold medal and a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics. Li Xiaoxia has also won nine World Championship titles and seven World Cups so far in her illustrious career.

Apart from being a star badminton player, Zhao Yunlei is also a graduate degree holder from the Huazhong University. She created history by becoming the first and only badminton player with 2 Olympic gold medal wins in the same year, winning in both mixed doubles and women’s doubles in 2012.

Chinese chess Grandmaster and Woman Grandmaster Ju Wenjun is the reigning Women's World Chess Champion. The Shanghai-born chess sensation won secured the second place in the Asian Women’s Chess Championship at 13 and later also won an Asian Games gold. She became the Chinese women’s champion for the first time at 19.

Li Jiawei is a Chinese-born retired Singaporean professional table tennis player who represented Singapore in the 2008 and 2012 OlympicS, winnsng a silver medal and a bronze medal, respectively. In 2010, she helped her team win the gold medal at the World Championships in Moscow. Li Jiawei announced her retirement after the 2012 Olympics in London.

Regarded as one of the greatest doubles badminton players of China, Gao Ling is a 2-time Olympic gold medalist and a 4-time world champion. She has also earned an Olympic silver and bronze. She and her partner Huang Sui won a record 6 women’s doubles titles at the All-England Championships.

Wu Minxia is a Chinese former professional diver who has five Olympic gold medals, eight World Championship titles, and five Asian Games gold medals under her belt. She has also won Olympic silver and bronze, which makes her one of the most successful female divers in the history of modern Olympics. Wu is also one of China’s most celebrated divers.

Former artistic gymnast and Olympic gold medalist Liu Xuan also has 4 Asian Games gold medals in her kitty. Encouraged by her mother to take up gymnastics, she excelled in the game. She later earned a journalism degree, tried her luck in acting, and also released a pop album.

Once world number 1 in women’s singles, Chinese badminton player Ye Zhaoying has won countless medals, including an Olympic bronze and a World Cup gold. She later excelled in golf, too. She and her husband, footballer Hao Haidong, were removed from all Chinese records for criticizing the Communist Party.

Zhou Lulu is one of China’s most well-known weightlifters and competes in the heaviest women’s weightlifting category, the +75kg. By lifting 333kg, she set a world record and won the gold at the 2012 London Olympics. She has also earned World Championship and Asian Games gold medals.

Olympic silver medalist Tang Xijing is one of the finest young artistic gymnasts of China. She also has a Youth Olympic gold medal in her kitty. She created history by becoming the second Chinese female athlete to score the highest all-around finish in any world championship or Olympic.

Olympic gold medalist Li Wenwen is one of the most well-known weightlifters of China. She is also a national champion, an Asian champion, and a world champion. She made headlines when she revealed that she had slept on the floor in the Olympic village in Tokyo, as she found the beds too soft.

Olympic gold medalist table tennis player Sun Yingsha is also an Asian Games champion and a world champion. She created headlines when it came to light that she hadn’t been told about her grandmother’s death till the Tokyo Olympics ended, as she was already training for the games during the tragedy.