Deng Yaping

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Olympic medal record
Women's table tennis
Gold 1992 Barcelona Singles
Gold 1992 Barcelona Doubles
Gold 1996 Atlanta Singles
Gold 1996 Atlanta Doubles

Deng Yaping 邓亚萍, 鄧亞萍 (born February 5, 1973 in Zhengzhou in the Henan province of China) is a 4-time Olympic gold medalist. When she retired at the age of 24, she had won more titles than any other player in the sport, including four Olympic gold medals, and had been 18 times world champion in table tennis. From 1990 to 1997, she retained the title of world No. 1 ranked female table tennis player for 8 years. She was voted Chinese female athlete of the century, and joined the International Table Tennis Federation Hall of Fame in 2003.

[edit] Career performances

  • 40th Table Tennis World Championship (1989) Women's Double Gold.
  • 1st Table Tennis World Cup (1990) Women's Team Gold.
  • 41st Table Tennis World Championship (1991) Women's Single Gold, Women's Double Gold.
  • 2nd Table Tennis World Cup (1991-1992) Women's Team Gold, Women's Double Gold.
  • 25th Olympic Games (1992) Table Tennis Women's Single Gold, Women's Double Gold.
  • 42nd Table Tennis World Championship (1993) Women's Team Gold, Women's Double Silver.
  • 43rd Table Tennis World Championship (1995) Women's Team Gold, Women's Single Gold, Women's Double Gold, Mixed Double Silver.
  • 4th Table Tennis World Cup (1995) Women's Team Gold
  • 26th Olympic Games (1996) Table Tennis Women's Single Gold, Women's Double Gold.
  • 44th Table Tennis World Championship (1997) Women's Team Gold, Women's Single Gold, Women's Double Gold, Mixed Double Silver.

[edit] Life after retirement

Following her retirement, she was selected a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1997, and is a member of the elite Laureus World Sports Academy, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. She gained a Bachelor's degree from Tsinghua University, a Master's Degree from the University of Nottingham, and as of March 2006[1], was continuing to study for a PhD. in Land Economy at the University of Cambridge (Jesus College). Her research work coincides with her professional focus on the marketing, management and development of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She got married to Lin Zhigang, also a table tennis player, last year and recently gave birth to a baby boy.

[edit] See also