Li Xiaopeng (gymnast)

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Medal record
Gymnastics
Olympics
Gold	2000 Sydney	Team competition
Gold	2000 Sydney	Parallel Bars
Bronze	2004 Athens	Parallel Bars
World Championships
Gold	1997 Lausanne	Team competition
Gold	1999 Tianjin	Team competition
Gold	1999 Tianjin	Vault
Gold	2002 Debrecen	Vault
Gold	2002 Debrecen	Parallel Bars
Gold	2003 Anaheim	Team competition
Gold	2003 Anaheim	Vault
Gold	2003 Anaheim	Parallel Bars
Silver	1997 Lausanne	Parallel Bars
Silver	2005 Melbourne	Parallel Bars
Bronze	1997 Lausanne	Floor
World Cup
Gold	1998 Sabae	Parallel Bars
Gold	1998 Sabae	Floor
Gold	2002 Stuttart	Parallel Bars
Gold	2006 Sao Paulo	Parallel Bars

1 Profile
2 Career
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Profile

Li Xiaopeng (Simplified Chinese: 李小鹏; Traditional Chinese: 李小鵬; Pinyin: Lǐ Xiǎopéng) is a famous Chinese gymnast. He was born onJuly 27, 1981in Changsha,Hunan.

[edit] Career

Li Xiaopeng began gymnastics training in Changsha Spare-time Sports School in Hunan Province at age six and was taken on by the Hunan provincial team at 12. Soon, Li was setting himself apart from his peers with his diligence and skill, receiving several provincial titles. Later, He was selected into the national team at 15.

Li Xiaopeng became China's youngest world (team)gymnastics champion ever when he and other teammates won men's team final in in 1997 Lausanne World Championships.At that time, he was only 16. Li also received silver in parallel bars, just second to his teammate Zhang Jingjin and bronze in floor exercise in the same event, from which he established his reputation and presence in world gymnastics.

In 1999 Tianjin World Championships, Li helped China to win men's team champion again and got his first gold in vault. However, his failure in parallel bars still left him and his fans down, which pushed him to train even harder for the coming Olympics.

In 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Li Xiaopeng and his teammates were outstanding, winning gold in the prestigious men's team event, a first for China's gymnasts. Li Xiaopeng also won an individual gold medal in the parallel bars.

In 2003 Anaheim World Championships, Li Xiaopeng was the only person to win three gold medals in men's team final, vault and parallel bars, thus was voted 2003 World Gymnast of the Year.

However, Li's performance in 2004 Athens Olympic Games was unsatisfied. China ranked 7th in men's team final and Li only got bronze in parallel bars after had been unbeaten since 2000 in major competitions. He failed in vault qualification, losing the opportunity to compete in the final.

Li Xiaopeng was tortured by a long-time injury in ankle and eventually had an operation in 2005. He did not attend any competition for a long time. However, he returned successfully in 2006 by winning a gold in parallel bars again in 2006 Sao Paulo World Cup Series Final. Thus he tied with his idol China's legend Li Ning by winning a record 14 world titles.

[edit] Trivia

He is considered as the successor of Li Jia Jun(team of li), which was consisted of Li Ning,Li Jing,Li Xiaoshuang who brought glory to China during the past years. His favorite event is the parallel bars. He got injured in his arms and could not train for pommel horse, which prevented him from being a great all-around player.