Top 10 Chinese Athletes of the YearFollowing are the top ten Chinese athletes for the year of 2000 selected by Xinhua News Agency:1. Fu Mingxia, 23, female, diving Following three golds from the previous two Games, Fu won the 3m springboard title in Sydney Olympics. 2. Sun Wen, 27, female, soccer Sun was awarded the Women's Soccer Player of the Century by FIFA in an Internet vote on the FIFA's official website. Sun joined Women's United Soccer Association of the United States which will be launched in April. 3. Xie Jun, 30, female, chess In December defending champion Xie took the title at the women's world chess championships in New Delhi for the fourth time in ten years. She also helped China retain its women's team title in the 34th Chess Olympiad at Istanbul in November. 4. Tao Luna, 26, female, shooting Tao Luna won the women's air pistol for China's first gold in Sydney Olympics. She also took the air pistol gold in November's World Cup Finals. 5. Xiong Ni, 26, male, diving Xiong retired after winning the 3m springboard gold in Atlanta Games. In 1998 He made a comeback and claimed the 3m springboard title in Sydney Olympics where he also won the 3m springboard synchronized diving. 6. Wang Nan, 22, female, table tennis In Sydney Olympics, Wang Nan won the singles title and worked with her teammate to take the women's doubles gold. In Feburary she also helped China win the women' team competition for the 13rd time in the 45th world championships. From January 1999 till now, she has kept leading the women's world rankings. 7. Ji Xinpeng, 22, male, badminton, the gold medallist of the men's singles competition at Sydney Olympics. 8. Li Xiaopeng, 19, male, gymnastics In Sydney Olympics, he was a key member of the Chinese team which landed its first ever Olympics men's team title. He also won the parallel bars gold medal in Sydney. 9. Kong Linghui, 25, male, table tennis Kong beat Jan-Ove Waldner of Sweden to win the men's singles title in Sydney Olympics., completing China's feat of sweeping all table tennis golds in two straight Games. He came back to top the men's rankings of the International Table Tennis Federation in November. 10. Wang Liping, 24, female, walk race Wang won gold in the women's 20km walk in Sydney Olympics for China's only gold in athletics. |
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