7 Xiamen athletes to participate in Rio Olympics

The Chinese Delegation scheduled to participate in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games gathered in the Great Hall of the People on July 18th. Among them were seven athletes from Xiamen, the same as in 2012, the most of any city in the province. They will compete in rowing, badminton, weightlifting, shooting and athletics, among other things.

●Rowing

 
Duan Jingli, born in 1989, is the leading athlete in the women’s rowing team. She beat Zhang Xiuyun in the 12th National Games in Shenyang, won third place in the 2014 and 2015 World Championships, and is expected to win the single scull rowing this time.

Duan Jingli entered the national team in 2011, but unfortunately missed out on the London Olympics due to issues surrounding training methods. Hopefully, the Rio Olympics will be a good chance to make up for the disappointment.

●Badminton

 
Shen Long, also born in 1989, won a bronze medal in the London Olympics and was ranked first in badminton men’s singles in the 2014 and 2015 World Championships, and won second place three times during the China Open Badminton Championships this year. He and Lin Dan, ranking second and third worldwide in men’s singles, are both competing with Lee Chong Wei, the number one in the world rankings, for  the championship.

Hong Wei, born in 1989 in Xiamen, came second in the men’s doubles of the 2015 China Open Badminton Championships and the 2016 Malaysia Open. He will play in the badminton men’s doubles in Rio, which will be the first time for him to join the Olympics.

●Weightlifting

Deng Wei, born in 1993, will also join the Olympic squad for the very first time. She surpassed the world record of the women’s weightlifting clean and jerk lifting 63kg twice during national preliminaries for the Rio Olympics, and is very likely to win this time.

●Shooting

Zhang Binbin, born in Xiang’an, Xiamen, won the national championship in 2012. She appeared very happy to be participating in the Rio games, the first time for her to join the Olympics, and she will go all out to win.

●Athletics

Lin Huijun, born in 1993, has trained with the Xiamen Sports Team since 2007. She  won the gold medal in the women’s 400-meter relay race in the 21st Asian Athletic Championships and was ranked second in the Kawasaki Athletics Gold League Matches. She is being hailed as “the new Asian flier”.
 
Ge Manqi, born in 1997, won gold in the 2013 Asian Youth Games and the 2016 national indoor athletics tournament. Ge Manqi, Yuan Qiqi, Wei Yongli and Liang Xiaojing ranked first in the women’s 400-meter relay race in the Beijing IAAF Challenge on May 18th. They are expected to win the gold medal in this event in Rio Olympics.