In a sentence

She stood under 1.5 metres tall, yet built an eight-year dynasty at the table with speed and will.

Playing style

  • Close-to-table fast attack, standing right on the table and hitting extremely early to squeeze an opponent’s reaction time
  • Rapid two-winged transition, keeping the rhythm of the rally firmly in her hands
  • A fiercely imposing match presence, more willing to attack the bigger the point

Career and key moments

At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics she swept both women’s singles and women’s doubles gold (with Qiao Hong); at Atlanta 1996 she defended both, holding four golds. Through the 1990s she spent eight consecutive years as world No. 1 in women’s singles, coming close to a monopoly across singles, doubles and team events. After retiring she turned to study and administration, completing a transition from athlete to scholar to industry participant.

What she left the game

She proved that “fast” and “fierce” can be a systemic form of pressure in table tennis, not just a few bursts. More importantly, she made people outside the sport realize for the first time that this game depends far less on physical build than most assume.

In a sentence: When everyone thinks you were born short of something, speed is the best answer.