Yao Bin

Yao Bin
Yao Bin in 2007
Personal information
Country represented	China
Born	(1957-08-15) August 15, 1957 (age 59) Harbin, Heilongjiang
Former partner	Luan Bo
Retired	1984

Yao Bin (simplified Chinese: 姚滨; traditional Chinese: 姚濱; pinyin: Yáo Bīn; born August 15, 1957 in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China) is a Chinese figure skating coach. He is considered one of the pioneers of the sport in China. Yao and his partner Luan Bo were the first team to represent China at the World Figure Skating Championships. Since then Yao has almost single-handedly turned China into a pair skating world power.

In the closed society of mid-20th century China, Luan and Yao had only photographs from which to learn their moves. They had a terrible experience at the 1980 World Championships in Dortmund, West Germany; Yao has said he remembers people in the audience laughing at their inferior skating (among those people was Irina Rodnina, who later recalled the skating was indeed very funny). They finished 15th, in last place. They competed at the World Championships twice more in 1981 and 1982, finishing last both times. They also placed 15th at the 1984 Winter Olympics. After these embarrassing experiences, Yao was determined to create a team of world-class figure skaters.

Yao was a member of the Harbin figure skating team from 1970–1984. In September 1984 he retired as an amateur skater and became a coach for the Harbin team. In 1986 he was named the national coach of the sport and soon afterward, in August 1987, graduated from the Harbin Normal University Sports College. He has served as the national figure skating committee's director since 1998.