Zhang Yining

Zhang Yining
Full name	Zhang Yining
Nationality	China
Born	(1981-10-05) October 5, 1981 (age 35) Beijing, China
Playing style	Shake hands grip
Highest ranking	1
Height	168 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight	54 kg (119 lb)

Zhang Yining (simplified Chinese: 张怡宁; traditional Chinese: 張怡寧; pinyin: Zhāng Yíníng; born October 5, 1981 in Beijing) is a female former Chinese table tennis player. She is considered one of the greatest female table tennis players in the history of the sport.

Zhang Yining held the ITTF #1 ranking continuously from 2003 to 2009, except two months in 2008, remaining as a dominant figure in women's table tennis, with 4 Olympic gold medals, 10 World Championships, and 4 World Cup wins. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she was often referred to by commentators as "The Yellow Beast" denoting her dominance in the sport. She uses a specially made Zhang Yining ZLC for her blade made by butterfly, and tenergy 05 for forehand and tenergy 64 for her backhand.

Zhang is a graduate from Beijing Shichahai Sports School, where Li Jiawei of Singapore studied as well.

Zhang was married in October 2009 and has not been present in table tennis tournaments since then. She announced her retirement from international play in 2011 and she went to the United States to study at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and learn to speak English. This makes her one of few players to retire whilst holding both the World and Olympic titles for singles and team event in table tennis. Zhang also said she would like to introduce to Americans the sport of table tennis. She says she plans to be in America for about 10 months, and has no plans after those months have expired.

Zhang participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing winning gold in both Women's Singles and Women's Team Competition. Zhang successfully defended her singles Olympic gold medal, defeating compatriot Wang Nan in the finals 8-11, 13-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-3. She is also the Women's Doubles Gold Medal Holder at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

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