Yang Yang (A)

Yang Yang (杨扬)

Yang Yang (A) in Montreal, 2002.
Personal information
Born	(1976-08-24) August 24, 1976 Jiamusi, Heilongjiang, China
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	60 kg (130 lb; 9.4 st)
Sport
Country	China
Sport	Speed skating
Medal record Women’s short-track speed skating Olympic Games Gold 2002 Salt Lake City 500 m Gold 2002 Salt Lake City 1000 m Silver 2002 Salt Lake City 3000 m Relay Silver 1998 Nagano 3000 m Relay Bronze 2006 Turin 1000 m World Championships Gold 2005 Beijing 500 m Gold 2003 Warsaw 500 m Gold 2003 Warsaw 3000 m relay Gold 2002 Montréal Overall Gold 2002 Montréal 500 m Gold 2002 Montréal 1000 m Gold 2002 Montréal 1500 m Gold 2001 Jeonju Overall Gold 2001 Jeonju 1000 m Gold 2001 Jeonju 1500 m Gold 2001 Jeonju 3000 m Gold 2001 Jeonju 3000 m relay Gold 2000 Sheffield Overall Gold 2000 Sheffield 1000 m Gold 2000 Sheffield 1500 m Gold 2000 Sheffield 3000 m relay Gold 1999 Sofia Overall Gold 1999 Sofia 500 m Gold 1999 Sofia 1000 m Gold 1999 Sofia 3000 m Gold 1999 Sofia 3000 m relay Gold 1998 Vienna Overall Gold 1998 Vienna 1000 m Gold 1998 Vienna 1500 m Gold 1998 Vienna 3000 m relay Gold 1997 Nagano 500 m Gold 1997 Nagano 1000 m Gold 2001 Nobeyama Team Gold 2000 The Hague Team Gold 1999 St. Louis Team Gold 1998 Bormio Team Silver 2005 Beijing 3000 m relay Silver 2003 Warsaw Overall Silver 2002 Montréal 3000 m relay Silver 2001 Jeonju 500 m Silver 2000 Sheffield 3000 m Silver 1999 Sofia 1500 m Silver 1998 Vienna 3000 m Silver 1997 Nagano Overall Silver 1996 The Hague 3000 m relay Silver 1994 Guildford 3000 m relay Silver 2005 Chuncheon Team Silver 2003 Sofia Team Silver 2002 Milwaukee Team Silver 1995 Zoetermeer Team Bronze 2003 Warsaw 1000 m Bronze 2003 Warsaw 1500 m Bronze 1997 Nagano 3000 m Bronze 1994 Guildford 500 m Bronze 1994 Guildford 3000 m Goodwill Games Gold 2000 Lake Placid 1000 m Bronze 2000 500 m

Yang Yang (simplified Chinese: 杨扬; traditional Chinese: 楊揚; pinyin: Yáng Yáng; born 24 August 1976 in Jiamusi, Heilongjiang, China) is a former Chinese short track speed skater and current IOC member. She is a two-time Olympic Champion from 2002 Winter Olympics and a five-time Overall World Champion for 1998-2002. She was formerly a member of the Chinese national short track team. Yang is one of the most accomplished short track speed skaters of all time having won 32 world titles, including five Overall World Championships. She is the second person to have won five Overall World Titles (after Sylvie Daigle of Canada) and the first to have won five consecutively. Her victory in the women's 500 m short track at the 2002 Winter Olympics made her China's first-ever Winter Olympics gold medalist. She added a second gold in the women's 1000 m short track at the same Games and has also won two silver and a bronze medal. After 2003 World Championships, Yang took time off competing, but came back in 2004-2005 season in lead-up to 2006 Winter Olympics where she won the bronze medal in 1000m race. She retired soon afterwards.

Naming

By coincidence, she had a contemporary on the Chinese skating team also named Yang Yang. The "(A)" identifier was used as a way to distinguish her from the other Yang Yang. Originally, this Yang Yang was known as Yang Yang (L) for "large" (大 or 'big' in Chinese is used to distinguish between younger and older persons of roughly the same age), as she is older than Yang Yang (S) (for "small"); however, she objected to the "L" identifier, changing it to "A" for "August", her birth month. Although Yang Yang (S) is now retired from competition and there is no longer a need to distinguish between the two in results, Yang Yang (A) still uses the identifier in competition, considering it a part of her identity.

Retirement

Yang Yang (A) was chosen to be one of 12,000 torchbearers to carry the Olympic torch for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, and on November 22, 2009, she ran a portion of the Prince Edward Island legs.^[1][2]

Yang was elected as an IOC member in 2010 becoming mainland China's fourth IOC member.^[3] She is also a committee member of the World Anti Doping Agency, and founding member of the Chinese Athlete Education Foundation.

In 2013, Yang co-founded the Feiyang Skating Centre, a new double-rink facility with an Olympic-sized rink upstairs and a recreational-sized rink downstairs, built to promote ice sports in China.

Career

Gallery

• 

  (2002) - Speed Skating World Cup - Montreal - Yang Yang

• 

  (2002) - Speed Skating World Cup - Montreal - Yang Yang answering questions from journalists.

References

• Yang Yang (A) (Short-track Speed Skating) from china.org.cn
• Yang Yang, the queen of short track speed skating (Interview) from Speed-Skating.Net

v t e ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup Men's Overall Champions 1997–98: Li Jiajun 1998–99: Li Jiajun 1999–2000: Kim Dong-Sung 2000–01: Apolo Ohno 2001–02: Kim Dong-Sung 2002–03: Apolo Ohno 2003–04: Ahn Hyun-Soo 2004–05: Apolo Ohno 2005–06: Ahn Hyun-Soo 2006–07: Tyson Heung 2007–08: Lee Ho-Suk 2008–09: Sung Si-Bak 2009–10: Lee Jung-Su 2010–11: Thibaut Fauconnet 2011–12: Noh Jin-Kyu 2012–13: Noh Jin-Kyu 2013–14: Charles Hamelin Women's Overall Champions 1997-98: Chun Lee-Kyung 1998–99: Yang Yang (A) 1999–2000: Yang Yang (A) 2000–01: Yang Yang (A) 2001–02: Yang Yang (A) 2002–03: Tyan Yu Fu 2003–04: Choi Eun-Kyung 2004–05: Wang Meng 2005–06: Jin Sun-Yu 2006–07: Byun Chun-Sa 2007–08: Jin Sun-Yu 2008–09: Wang Meng 2009–10: Wang Meng 2010–11: Katherine Reutter 2011–12: Arianna Fontana 2012–13: Shim Suk-Hee 2013–14: Shim Suk-Hee Seasons 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 See also: ISU World Speed Skating Championships