Jia Rui (; born February 18, 1987), is a retired professional wushu taolu athlete from

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

. He was one of the most dominant wushu taolu athletes of the 2000s and the early 2010s, and won the first gold medal for Macau at the Asian Games.

Career

Early career

Jia started practising wushu taolu at the age of five. In 2003, the 17-year-old Jia travelled to Macau through a foreign exchange programme between the Chinese Wushu Association (CWA) and the Macau wushu team. Jia then entered the Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM) while training wushu intensively.

Competitive career

Jia's international debut was at the

2005 East Asian Games The 4th East Asian Games was an international multi-sport event for countries in East Asia which was held in Macau from October 29 to November 6, 2005. Host city At the 11th EAGA Council Meeting held in Guam in March 1996, Macau, then a Portugue ...

where he won a gold medal in changquan, a silver medal in the daoshu and gunshu combined event, and a bronze medal in duilian. He then competed at the

2005 World Wushu Championships The 2005 World Wushu Championships was the 8th edition of the World Wushu Championships. It was held at the Quan Ngua Sports Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the easte ...

where he won a silver medal in daoshu and a bronze medal in gunshu. With these achievements, the Macau SAR government awarded Jia a certificate of merit. At the

2006 Asian Games The 2006 Asian Games (), officially known as the XV Asiad or 15th Asian Games (, and commonly known as Doha 2006 (), were an Asian multi-sport event held in Doha, Qatar, from December 1 to 15, 2006, with 424 events in 39 sports featured in the ga ...

the following year, he won the silver medal in men's changquan all-around. A year later at the

2007 World Wushu Championships The 2007 World Wushu Championships was the 9th edition of the World Wushu Championships. It was held at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Beijing, China from November 11 to November 17, 2007. Nearly 1,000 athletes from 89 IWUF national fed ...

, he became the world champion in gunshu and won a silver medal in daoshu. The same year, it was also arranged for him to participate in the torch relay for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. With his victories in the world championships, he qualified for the

2008 Beijing Wushu Tournament The 2008 Beijing Wushu Tournament ( Chinese: 北京2008武术比赛; pinyin: ''Běijīng 2008 wǔshù bǐsài'') was a wushu competition which was held from August 21 to 24, 2008 at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Beijing, China. The tourn ...

, where he earned the silver medal in the men's daoshu and gunshu combined event. That same year, he was a triple medallist at the Asian Wushu Championships. Returning to the East Asian Games in 2009, he won a gold medal in changquan and a silver medal in daoshu and gunshu. That same year at the

2009 World Wushu Championships The 2009 World Wushu Championships was the 10th edition of the World Wushu Championships. It was held at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by populatio ...

, he was the world champion in daoshu and also won two silver medals in changquan and gunshu. A year later, Jia competed at the

2010 World Combat Games The first World Combat Games were held in Beijing, China, from August 28 to September 4, 2010. 136 gold medals were vied for by 1,108 competitors from all five continents. There were twelve martial arts sports competitions: boxing, judo, ju-jitsu ...

and won the gold medal in the changquan event. A few months later at the

2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), were a regional multi-sport event held from November 12 to 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China (although several events commenced ear ...

, he made history by winning the first gold medal for Macau at the Asian Games, doing so in the daoshu and gunshu combined event. Following his win at the Asian Games, he competed in the

2011 World Wushu Championships The 2011 World Wushu Championships was the 11th edition of the World Wushu Championships. It was held at the Ankara Arena in Ankara, Turkey from October 9 to October 14, 2011. This competition was also the qualifier for the 2013 World Combat Gam ...

and once again was the world champion in gunshu and additionally won two silver medals in changquan and daoshu. A year later, he won a gold medal in daoshu and a bronze medal in gunshu at the 2012 Asian Wushu Championships. A year later at the

2013 East Asian Games The 2013 East Asian Games, officially known as the VI East Asian Games, was an international multi-sport event that took place in Tianjin, China, between 6 October and 15 October 2013. 2,422 Athletes from nine East Asian nations competed in 254 eve ...

, he won two gold medals in his specialty events and a bronze medal in duilian. He was also the world champion in gunshu for the third time at the

2013 World Wushu Championships The 2013 World Wushu Championships was the 12th edition of the World Wushu Championships. It was held at the Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from November 1 to November 5, 2013. Medal table Medalists Men's taolu W ...

. Jia's last major international competition was at the

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games (), officially known as the 17th Asian Games () and also known as Incheon 2014 (), were a pan-Asian multi-sport event held from 19 September to 4 October 2014 in Incheon, South Korea. On 17 April 2007, Incheon was awarded ...

where he won a silver medal in

changquan Changquan () () refers to a family of external (as opposed to internal) martial arts (kung fu) styles from northern China. The forms of the Long Fist style emphasize fully extended kicks and striking techniques, and by appearance would be consi ...

. He subsequently retired from competition and began coaching young athletes.

Competitive History

Honours

Awarded by the Macau SAR Government * Honourific Title of Merit: 2005 * : 2007 * : 2013 Macau Outstanding Athletes Election * Honorary Athletes Awards: Elected 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 * Most Popular Athletes: Bronze Award (2011)

References