Zhang Yining (
simplified Chinese: 张怡宁;
traditional Chinese: 張怡寧;
pinyin: Zhāng Yíníng; born 5 October 1981)[1] is a Chinese
table tennis player who retired in 2009. She is considered one of the greatest female players in the sport's history. In terms of achievements, she is one of the most successful female table tennis players (alongside
Ding Ning,
Deng Yaping,
Wang Nan,
Li Xiaoxia) having won the gold medal in each of the Table Tennis World Cup, the Table Tennis World Championships, and the Olympic Games. She is also the first player overall, and the first female, to have completed a Double Grand Slam.
History
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,[2] with four
Olympic gold medals, ten
World Championships, and four
World Cup wins.[3] 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.[citation needed] 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 better speak English.[4][5] 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.[6]
Since 2010, Zhang serves as the assistant president of the China Table Tennis College in
Shanghai.[7]
Zhang participated in the
2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, winning gold in both the 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.