) is a male gymnast

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

 from China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

.

Career

Yang Wei won the silver medal in the individual all-around competition and won the gold in the team event at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

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In 2003, he again won the gold in the team event and silver in the all-around competition at the 2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

The 37th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Anaheim, California, United States, in 2003.Tie-breakers were not used at this competition...

 in Anaheim.

At the 2004 Olympics in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, his world championship winning team finished fifth after many of them fell. Wei was also the favorite to win the gold medal at the Individual All-Around in Athens as well, but a fall from the high bar earned him a low score of 8.975 and put him out of medal contention. He placed seventh that night. The Chinese team redeemed itself by taking gold in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, beating out Japan and the United States.

Yang returned to form at the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

39th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Aarhus, Denmark from October 13 to October 21, 2006 in NRGi Arena.It was the first time the World Gymnastics Championships was organized by a Danish city...

 in Aarhus

Aarhus

Aarhus or Århus is the second-largest city in Denmark. The principal port of Denmark, Aarhus is on the east side of the peninsula of Jutland in the geographical center of Denmark...

, by winning gold in the team event, individual all-around and parallel bars competitions. He also won gold medal in the team event, individual all-around, rings and parallel bars competitions at the 2006 Asian Games

2006 Asian Games

The 15th Asian Games, officially known as the XV Asiad, is Asia's Olympic-style sporting event that was held in Doha, Qatar from December 1 to December 15, 2006. Doha was the first city in its region and only the second in West Asia to host the games...

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He successfully defended his team and all-around titles at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

The 40th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany, from 1 to 9 September 2007.Oldest and youngest competitors- Men :- Women :- Finals :- Qualifications :- Floor :...

 in Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

, and won the all-around and rings at the Chinese National Championships in 2007 and 2008.

Yang Wei won gold in the individual all-around and the team final at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

. He also won a silver in the rings event final and placed fourth in the pommel horse  event final.

Yang Wei is best known for his impressive difficulty scores across the six events.

Personal life

Yang Wei has a long-time relationship with former gymnast, Yang Yun

Yang Yun

Yang Yun is a Chinese gymnast. She won the bronze medal on the uneven bars at the 2000 Summer Olympics along with a fifth place finish in the all around, where a fall off the balance beam cost her the gold medal, finishing less than three and a half tenths behind eventual champion Simona Amânar...

, who is an Olympic bronze medalist (uneven bars) for China, and now a CCTV reporter. In June 2006, Yang Wei invited Yang Yun to a news conference, which turned out to be a ploy for him to surprise her with a proposal. While he trained for the Beijing Olympic Games, the two had very few chances to be together, and kept in touch through text messaging. After his Olympic gold in the All-Around in Beijing on Thursday, Yang Wei faced the camera and mouthed the words, "I love you," to his fiancee. Yang Yun, who watched his victory on television, shouted "I love you, too!" back to the screen.Yang Wei: "Gold Medal for my Love!" The two got married November 6, 2008. They will be expecting their first child at the end of November 2009.

External links