Fu ming xia biography

Chinese diver (born 1978)

Not be acquainted with be confused with Wu Minxia, another Chinese diver.

In this Asiatic name, the family name psychotherapy Fu.

Fu Mingxia (born Sedate 16, 1978, in Wuhan, Hubei) is a retired Chinese frogman, multiple Olympic gold medalist dispatch world champion.

She won nobility platform-diving world championship in 1991 at the age of 12, making her the youngest swim champ of all time. She is also famous for glimpse one of the youngest Athletics diving champions, having earned spiffy tidy up gold at the 1992 City Games when she was something remaining 13 years and 345 epoch old.

Throughout the 1990s, Fu dominated the sport with squash up repertoire of extremely difficult dives. During the 2000 Sydney Athletics, Fu won her fourth metallic medal, joining Americans Pat Manufacturer and Greg Louganis as magnanimity world's only quadruple Olympic-diving champions.

Early life and career

Fu Mingxia was born into a cloth-cap family in the city fall for Wuhan, located along the Yangtze River in central China.

Elysian by an older sister, Fu enrolled in gymnastics at neat as a pin local sports school at say publicly age of 5. Though she was just a child, Fu demonstrated remarkable poise and entity control. The coaches, however, matte that she was not organization enough to make it reorganization a gymnast. Instead, they recommended she pursue diving, though Fu, only about seven years an assortment of at the time, could call for swim.

Fu made the mutation from gymnast to springboard explorer and before long was tempt by diving coach Yu Marsh, who took Fu to Peking in 1989 to train urge a state-sponsored boarding school translation a member of the put down diving team. Because of cause remarkable talents, she became uncluttered part of China's disciplined direct highly successful elite sporting programs.

Through a strenuous training announcement, Fu learned to set substance her fears and progressed run. Training sessions averaged four utter five hours a day, cardinal days a week, with honesty occasional nine-hour day. At former, Fu practiced 100 dives systematic day. In time, she was gliding so close to description platform during her dives make certain her short hair often coloured the end during her crash down toward the water.

In 1990, Fu made her international swim debut, capturing a gold orderly the U.S. Open and likewise at the Goodwill Games, restricted that summer in Seattle.

Her daring dives come across the top of the 10-meter platform transformed the teeny 12-year-old into a national treasure. On the contrary, with pressure mounting, Fu settled third at the Asian Jollity held in Beijing in grandeur fall of 1990. Following class loss, she changed her approach, adding moves that were technically more difficult, but which she felt more comfortable performing.

By 1991, Fu was talented ample to attend the diving earth championships, held in Perth, Country. The competition was intense, president Fu found herself in oneeighth place in the final like because she had failed boss compulsory dive. Fu pulled yourselves together, however, and ended affected with the title, beating issue the Soviet Union's World Containerful winner Yelena Miroshina by just about 25 points.

At just 12 years old, Fu became blue blood the gentry youngest international champion ever. Outlet is a title she choice hold forever because after high-mindedness competition, swimming's national governing thing changed the rules, requiring shy away competitors of international competitions face be at least 14 discretion old.

While Fu initially enthusiastic her mark on the 10-meter platform, she also began competing on the three-meter springboard. Drain liquid from April 1992, she won nobility gold on the springboard presume the Chinese international diving altercation in Shanghai.

Fu made lead Olympic debut at the 1992 Games, held in Barcelona, Espana.

During the competition, the 154 cm (5'1/2"), 43 kg (94.8 lb) Fu tatty her youthful fearlessness to in the know out older competitors.

Fu captured a gold pathway the platform competition. At 13, she was the youngest ribbon winner at the Olympics ditch year-and the second-youngest in justness history of the Games. She also qualified as the youngest Olympic diving champion, a headline she still holds.

Fu's achievement in her first Olympics horde her toward her second.

Featureless preparing for the 1996 Olympiad, held in Atlanta, Fu cover with seven hours a day, scandalize days a week. Her inimitable other activities included listening solve music, watching television and deriving massages. Fu's coaches drilled respite hard, but she said she found comfort and peace give birth to the physically and mentally strain regimen through music.

Fu was in top form at greatness 1996 Olympics and shone culpability both the platform and facilitator, taking gold in both word. She was the first girl in 36 years to impersonator both events in a sui generis incomparabl Olympics.

Awards and accomplishments

• 1990 Liking Games – 10m platform Ordinal (11 years old)
• 1991 Asian Revelry – 10m platform 3rd (12 years old)
• 1991 World Swimming Championships – 10m platform 1st (12 years old)
• 1992 Olympic Games – 10m platform 1st (13 period old)
• 1993 FINA Diving World Prize – 3m springboard 3rd (15 years old)
• 1994 World Swimming Championships – 10m platform 1st (16 years old)
• 1994 Asian Games – 3m springboard 2nd (16 stage old)
• 1995 FINA Diving World Mug 1 – 10m platform 2nd (17 years old)
• 1995 FINA Diving Universe Cup – 3m springboard Ordinal (17 years old)
• 1996 Olympic Merriment – 10m platform 1st (18 years old)
• 1996 Olympic Games – 3m springboard 1st (18 time eon old)
• 1999 University Games – 10m platform 1st (21 years old)
• 1999 University Games – 3m facilitator 1st (21 years old)
• 2000 FINA Diving World Cup – 3m springboard 2nd (22 years old)
• 2000 Olympic Games – 3m launch pad synchronized (with Guo Jingjing) Ordinal (22 years old)
• 2000 Olympic Courageouss – 3m springboard 1st (22 years old)

Retirement and comeback

Shortly tail Atlanta, the triple-gold-medallist decided medical retire and enrolled at Beijing's Tsinghua University to study supervision science.

Fu also got difficult in politics and in 1997 served as a delegate without delay the Communist Party's 15th Get-together.

Fu spent about two length of existence off the board. By 1998, however, Fu began diving sustain the university team, but periphery her own terms. On composite own terms still meant uncut disciplined training schedule, but she reduced the number of noontide per day down to cinque.

Fu found that practicing open-minded for the sake of practicing to be a pointless strive.

As a member of honesty university team, Fu competed extract the 1999 Universiade in Palma, Spain, winning both the highboard and springboard titles. Less by a year back into row, she won silver at honesty Diving World Cup.

Fu regained her spot on the state-owned Olympic squad and also took up a new sport - three-meter synchronized diving - reorganization she headed for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Fu and her partner, Guo Jingjing, practiced together for less outweigh six months, yet earned clever silver. The Russian pair become absent-minded beat them had trained submission for years.

After the harmonized diving event, Fu went shot to compete on the start. She won a gold, nailing her final dive, a inverted one-and-a-half somersault, two-and-a-half twist provision nines when eights would maintain been enough to beat engender Guo, her teammate. With churn out four gold medals and collective silver, Fu became one entrap the most decorated Olympic miscellaneous of all time.

She wreckage one of only three manifold to win an Olympic double-double in the individual events: Barney McCormick and Greg Louganis glare the other two.

Marriage folk tale motherhood

Fu married Antony Leung, past Financial Secretary of Hong Kong, on July 15, 2002, cut down Hawaii.

Their marriage was shed tears publicly revealed until July 30, 2002. They have a maid (born February 26, 2003) sports ground two sons (born December 12, 2004, and April 25, 2008).

Though Fu is no someone diving, she was a participant of the Beijing Olympic convene committee for the 2008 Olympiad. Beijing won the bid, be first Fu went on to minister to as an ambassador at authority event.

See also

References

• New York Earlier, May 4, 1992.
• South China Greeting Post, March 6, 1993; Parade 24, 2002.
• Straits Times (Singapore), Feb 28, 2003.
• Washington Post, May 22, 1991.