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Zou Kai

Chinese artistic gymnast

Zou Kai
Zou Kai at the 2008 Summer OlympicsinBeijing
Personal information
Full name	Zou Kai
Country represented	China
Born	(1988-02-25) February 25, 1988 (age 36) Luzhou, Sichuan
Height	158 cm (5 ft 2 in)
Weight	53 kg (117 lb)
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior
Club	China National School
Head coach(es)	Huang Yubin
Assistant coach(es)	Bai Yuanshao
Former coach(es)	Lin Zhaoyang, Lei Ming
Medal record Artistic gymnastics Representing  China Event 1st 2nd 3rd Summer Olympics 5 0 1 World Championships 5 2 0 Asian Games 4 1 1 Total 14 3 2 Olympic Games 2008 Beijing Team 2008 Beijing Floor Exercise 2008 Beijing Horizontal Bar 2012 London Team 2012 London Floor Exercise 2012 London Horizontal Bar World Championships 2006 Aarhus Team 2007 Stuttgart Team 2009 London Horizontal Bar 2011 Tokyo Team 2011 Tokyo Horizontal Bar 2009 London Floor Exercise 2011 Tokyo Floor Exercise Asian Games 2006 Doha Team 2006 Doha Floor Exercise 2014 Incheon Floor Exercise 2014 Incheon Horizontal Bar 2006 Doha Horizontal Bar 2014 Incheon Team

Zou Kai (simplified Chinese: 邹凯; traditional Chinese: 鄒凱; pinyin: Zōu Kǎi; born February 25, 1988, in Luzhou, Sichuan) is a five-time Olympic and five-time World champion Chinese gymnast, specializing in floor exercise and the horizontal bar.

Zou won his first three Olympic gold medals at the 2008 Olympic GamesinBeijing, resulting in a nomination for the Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year in 2009. He later won two additional gold medals at the 2012 Olympic GamesinLondon.^[1]

With a total of five gold medals and one bronze, Zou currently holds the record for most Olympic gold medals won by any Chinese athleteinOlympic history, and is tied for the record of most medals won overall.^[2]

Competitive career[edit]

World Championships debut[edit]

Zou made his debut at the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics ChampionshipsinAarhus, helping the Chinese Team win gold, and placing sixth at the individual floor exercise final.

At the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics ChampionshipsinStuttgart, Zou achieved the same results, winning the team competition and again placing sixth on floor.^[3]

2006 Asian Games[edit]

Zou participated in the 2006 Asian GamesinDoha, winning gold in the floor exercise and silver in the horizontal bar individual events, as well as a gold medal as part of the Chinese team.

2008 Summer Olympics[edit]

On his Olympic debut at the 2008 Summer OlympicsinBeijing, Zou contributed to the team's gold and also won unexpected individual gold medals on floor exercise and the horizontal bar scoring 16.050^[4] and 16.200 respectively.

Zou was the second Chinese Olympian to receive three gold medals at a single Olympic Games, following Li Ning who first achieved the feat at the 1984 Summer Olympics, and was the most successful Chinese athlete at the Beijing Olympics, with the most gold medal wins.

2009 World Championships[edit]

During the 2009 World Artistic Gymnastics ChampionshipsinLondon, Zou won a gold medal in the individual horizontal bar event and also won a silver medal at the floor exercise individual event.

2011 World Championships[edit]

After being left out of the Chinese Gymnastic Team at both the 2010 World ChampionshipsinRotterdam and 2010 Asian GamesinGuangzhou due to weaknesses in the apparatuses he did not specialize in, Zou again won two gold and one silver medals at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics ChampionshipsinTokyo, matching his feat back in 2009.

2012 Summer Olympics[edit]

At the 2012 Summer OlympicsinLondon, Zou led the team to win gold and later successfully defended his Olympic title at the floor exercise, winning gold again, only the second to do so in the men's floor exercise following Soviet Gymnast Nikolai Andrianov who won the event in 1972 and 1976. He was unable to defend his title in the horizontal bar however, finishing less than two tenths of a point behind the lead, eventually winning a bronze medal in the event.^[5] The last gymnast to successfully defend his Olympic title on the high bar was Mitsuo Tsukahara, who won the event in 1972 and 1976, at the same Olympics as Andrianov.

With a total of five Olympic gold medals, Zou holds the record for most golds won by any Chinese athleteinOlympic history, and by adding a bronze medal to the tally, he tied the record for most medals overall, with six.

2014 Asian Games[edit]

Zou participated in the 2014 Asian GamesinIncheon, winning gold in both the floor exercise and horizontal bar individual events, as well as a bronze medal as part of the Chinese team.

Charitable work[edit]

Zou, a Sichuan native, auctioned off one of his Olympic gold medals in 2008, donating all proceeds to fund relief efforts in the aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.^[6] Out of the three gold medals he'd earned at the 2008 Summer OlympicsinBeijing, he chose the medal won for his floor exercise routine for its special significance since only two other Chinese gymnasts had ever won it, Li Ning and Li Xiaoshuang.

See also[edit]

• China at the 2008 Summer Olympics
• China at the 2012 Summer Olympics
• List of Olympic medalists in gymnastics (men)
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zou Kai.

• Zou Kai at the International Gymnastics Federation
• Zou Kai at London2012.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 2012-10-31)