Li Xiaopeng

One of China’s most successful gymnasts of all-time, Li Xiaopeng particularly excelled in the horse vault and the parallel bars. As evidence for this, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has named two moves after Li, one on each of the apparatuses. Li achieved his greatest successes on the parallel bars, winning two Olympic golds (2000 and 2008), two world titles (2002-03) and three World Cups (1998, 2002, 2006) in the discipline. Additionally, he placed third in the 2004 Olympics, when he was plagued bythe aftermath of a foot injury, and second at the 1997 and 2005 Worlds. In the horse vault, he won three world titles, in 1999, 2002 and 2003. He only made the Olympic final in the vault in 2004, but placed seventh due to a botched first jump. In addition to these exploits, Li’s prize cabinet contains several team all-around medals, two from the Olympics (2000, 2008), and three from World Championships (1997, 1999, 2003). He also won the 1998 World Cup in the floor exercise. Late in his career, Li suffered from numerous injuries, but recovered in time to excel at the Beijing Olympics, his last major tournament prior to retirement. In 2010, Li married the daughter of another Chinese Olympic gymnast, the similarly named (in Latin alphabet) Li Xiaoping, a team silver medallist in 1984.