Xue Chen (; born 18 February 1989) is a Chinese

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

player. A 4-time Olympian, she won the bronze medal alongside Zhang Xi at the women's beach volleyball tournament of 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 ...

. In 2013, she won the gold medal also with Zhang at the

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships is the double-gender world championship for the sport of beach volleyball organized by the ' (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball, FIVB) the sport's global governing body. The first official e ...

, the first and only Asian team to do so. Her hometown is Fuzhou, but she trains in

Sanya Sanya; Chinese postal romanization, also spelled Samah is the southernmost city on Hainan Island, and one of the four prefecture-level cities of Hainan, Hainan Province in Southeast China, South China. According to the Sixth National Populati ...

Hainan Hainan is an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...

. She has also trained in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

under coach Dane Selznick.

Early life and career

Xue began playing

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

as a child, but disliked the physical contact of that sport. She then played

indoor volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

from the age of 10 to 13 before settling into beach volleyball. She began training for her sports career in 2000 at the Fuzhou Sports Training School after she caught the attention of coach Zhou Guoqin, who immediately recruited her to the team and began to train her in indoor volleyball after she already had grown to 167 cm. In 2002, she attended the Athletic Sports College of Fuzhou and became a member of the Chinese national beach volleyball team. Xue then made her Swatch-FIVB World Tour debut in 2005, playing in two events with

You Wenhui You Wenhui (; born October 20, 1979, in Shanghai) is a female Chinese beach volleyball player who competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as At ...

and winning the FIVB Top Rookie award for 2006. On 28 May 2006, Xue teamed up with Zhang Xi for the first time and became the youngest player to ever win a major event, when the 17-year-old won the $400,000 China Shanghai Jinshan Open. Later in 2006, Xue and Zhang won the gold medal in the women's team competition at the Doha Asian Games. The pair also won the bronze medal in women's beach volleyball at the

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. The pair had great success in 2010, which included winning the Grand Slam in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Russia, for the second time. They also achieved an extraordinary gold medal win on the FIVB World Tour Women's Final in

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

, Finland, by snapping the record gold-medal winning-streak of Brazil's

França Franca is a municipality in Brazil. Franca or França may also refer to: People * França (surname), a list of people with the Portuguese language surname * Franca (given name), a list of people * França (footballer, born 1976) (born 1976), Bra ...

–

Silva Silva, da Silva, and de Silva are surnames of Portuguese or Galician origin which are widespread in the Portuguese-speaking countries including Brazil. The name is derived from Latin ("forest" or "woodland"). It is the family name of the Hous ...

duo on 21 August 2010. In 2009, they won the gold medal at the

Asian Beach Volleyball Championships The Asian Beach Volleyball Championships is an international beach volleyball competition held every year in Asia and Oceania contested by the double-gender beach volleyball of the members of Asian Volleyball Confederation. Men's tournaments Sum ...

Haikou Haikou; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanized as Hoihow is the capital city, capital and most populous city of the Chinese province of Hainan. Haikou city is situated on the northern coast of Hainan, by the mouth of the Nandu River. ...

, China, and retained the title in 2010. They then went on to win more golds at the Sanya Open in Hainan, the Guangzhou Asian Games, and the

Asian Beach Games The Asian Beach Games, also known as ABG, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia. The Games are described as the second or third largest Asian m ...

Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...

, Oman. The team of Xue and Zhang were ranked 4th overall on the 2010

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Rankings The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Rankings is a ranking system for men's and women's national teams in beach volleyball. The teams of the member nations of the FIVB, beach volleyball and volleyball's world governing body, are ranked based on their co ...

and finished the season ranked 1st in the FIVB World Rankings. Xue and Zhang represented China in the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and settled at 4th place. Xue also competed at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

with Wang Xinxin held in 2021 and at the

2024 Paris Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

with

Xia Xinyi Xia Xinyi (; pinyin: Xià Xīnyí; born 14 January 1997) is a Chinese beach volleyball player. She competed at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Pari ...

and placed at 9th.

Playing partners

* Yan Ni (2003–2006) *

(2005) * Zhang Xi (2006–2013) * Zhang Ying (2008–2009) *

(2013–present) * Ma Yuanyuan (2017) * Wang Xinxin (2020–2021)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Xue, Chen 1989 births Living people Chinese women's beach volleyball players Olympic beach volleyball players for China Olympic medalists in beach volleyball Olympic bronze medalists for China Asian Games medalists in beach volleyball Asian Games gold medalists for China Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2006 Asian Games Beach volleyball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2010 Asian Games Beach volleyball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2022 Asian Games Sportspeople from Fuzhou Volleyball players from Fujian Beach volleyball players at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century Chinese sportswomen

Early life and career

Playing partners

See also

References

External links