Yang Yang (; born 24 August 1976) is a Chinese sports administrator, retired short track speed skater, and businesswoman. She is a two-time Olympic Champion from

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

and a six-time Overall World Champion for 1997–2002. Known as Yang Yang (A), 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 34 world titles, including six Overall World Championships. She is the first person to have won six Overall World Titles and won six consecutively. Her victory in the women's 500 m short track at the

made her China's first-ever

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

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. Yang retired after 2003 World Championships but was persuaded to return as a player-coach during 2004–2005 season to prepare for

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

where she won the bronze medal in 1000m race. She retired again after the Games.

Naming

Yang, born in 1976, is sometimes known as Yang Yang (A), to differentiate her from the speed skater named Yang Yang, born in 1977 and known as Yang Yang (S). The two share the family name but have distinct characters of their given name. The

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

romanisation renders the names indistinguishable in letters as well as in tone. The "(A)" identifier was used as a way to distinguish her from the younger Yang Yang. Originally, the older 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 the younger 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 used 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 Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

legs. Yang was elected as an IOC member in 2010 becoming mainland China's fourth IOC member. and founding member of the Chinese Athlete Education Foundation. She held the IOC position until 2018. In 2013, Yang co-founded the Feiyang Skating Centre in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, a new double-rink facility with an Olympic-sized rink upstairs and a recreational-sized rink downstairs, built to promote ice sports in China. On 7 Sept 2019, Yang was elected to vice-presidency of Wada. In 2021, Yang became a high profile supporter of

UNHCR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...

, the UN refugee agency. She amplifies Chinese social media content highlighting the power of sport to transform the lives of people fleeing conflict and persecution.

Gallery

YangYang(a) Hotel.jpg, Yang Yang in Montreal, 2002. File:YangYang(A).jpg, (2002) – Speed Skating World Cup – Montreal – Yang Yang File:YangYang(A) With journalists.jpg, (2002) – Speed Skating World Cup – Montreal – Yang Yang answering questions from journalists.

References

External links

Yang Yang (A) (Short-track Speed Skating)
from china.org.cn * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Yang 1976 births Living people Chinese female short-track speed skaters Olympic bronze medalists for China Olympic gold medalists for China Olympic short-track speed skaters for China Olympic silver medalists for China Olympic medalists in short-track speed skating Short-track speed skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Short-track speed skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Short-track speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Asian Games medalists in short-track speed skating Short-track speed skaters at the 1996 Asian Winter Games Short-track speed skaters at the 1999 Asian Winter Games Short-track speed skaters at the 2003 Asian Winter Games Chinese International Olympic Committee members World Anti-Doping Agency members People from Jiamusi Speed skaters from Heilongjiang Medalists at the 1996 Asian Winter Games Medalists at the 1999 Asian Winter Games Medalists at the 2003 Asian Winter Games Asian Games gold medalists for China Asian Games silver medalists for China FISU World University Games bronze medalists for China Winter World University Games medalists in short-track speed skating Competitors at the 1997 Winter Universiade World Short Track Speed Skating Championships medalists Delegates to the 11th National People's Congress Delegates to the 12th National People's Congress Members of the 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference