Zhang Jun

Gao Ling (at the front) and Zhang Jun (at the back) were the seventh seed at Sydney 2000, but they upset the second-seeded pair of Na Gyeong-Min / Kim Dong-Mun, the fourth-seeded pair of Rikke Olsen / Michael Søgaard, and the first-seeded pair of Minarti Timur / Tri Kusharyanto to win the title. In the final, Gao / Zhang lost the first game 1-15, but made a remarkable comeback to win the match. Gao / Zhang had a 1-3 head-to-head (H2H) against Timur / Kusharyanto and a 3-11 H2H againt Na / Kim in their entire career, but the victories came when they mattered most.

The following year, Gao / Zhang defeated Na / Kim in the final to win the 2001 World Championships. At Athens 2004, they successfully defended their Olympic title, which only Ge Fei / Gu Jun had done before.

Zhang Jun was not the most complete player, but his exceptionally powerful smash made up for his weaknesses, earning him the nickname “Zhang the One-Punch”. He was also good at men’s doubles and helped the Chinese team win three Sudirman Cups (1999, 2001, 2005). He was inducted into the BWF Hall of Fame in 2011, together with Gao Ling and Huang Sui, Gao’s women’s doubles partner.

After retirement, Zhang Jun transitioned into coaching. In 2017, when chief coach Li Yongbo left, the national team reorganized under a two-head-coach system, with Zhang Jun overseeing doubles and Xia Xuanze overseeing singles. In 2019, Zhang became president of the Chinese Badminton Association, a position he held until April 2026, when he was arrested on suspicion of corruption.