Zhang Ouying (; 2 November 1975 – 1 December 2018) was a Chinese

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who competed in the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

and in the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

as well as the 1999, 2003, and 2007

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

. She was a member of the Chinese team that won the silver medal at the 1999 World Cup.

Life

Zhang was born in

Zhangjiakou Zhangjiakou (), also known as Kalgan and by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province in Northern China, bordering Beijing to the southeast, Inner Mongolia to the north and west, and Shanxi to the southwest ...

, Hebei, in 1975. In 2000, she finished fifth with the Chinese team in the

. She played all three matches. Four years later she finished ninth with the Chinese team in the

. She played in one match. She married an American in 2006, and moved to the United States after retirement. From 2010 to 2012, she coached numerous teams at the San Diego Futbol Academy in

Rancho Peñasquitos, San Diego Rancho Peñasquitos is a suburban community in northeastern San Diego, California. It is named after the first Mexican land grant in San Diego County, Rancho Santa Maria de Los Peñasquitos. ( is Spanish for "little cliffs".) The community abuts ...

. After that, she coached teams for the San Diego Soccer Club and was often referred to as "Coach O". Zhang was diagnosed with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

in March 2018, and died in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

on 1 December 2018, at the age of 43.

References

External links

ProfileProfile
at

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the Uni ...

1975 births 2018 deaths 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Asian Games gold medalists for China Asian Games footballers for China Women's association football forwards China women's international footballers Chinese emigrants to the United States Chinese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Footballers from Hebei Olympic footballers for China Sportspeople from Zhangjiakou San Diego Spirit players Women's United Soccer Association players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Chinese women's footballers 21st-century Chinese sportswomen Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Deaths from lung cancer in California Asian Games gold medalists in football {{PRChina-women-footy-bio-stub