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Xue Chen

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Xue Chen
Personal information
Born18 February 1989 (1989-02-18) (age 35)
Fuzhou, Fujian, China
Height191 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Honours
Women's beach volleyball
Representing  China
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Beijing Beach
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2013 Stare Jabłonki Beach
Bronze medal – third place 2011 Rome Beach
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2006 Doha Beach
Gold medal – first place 2010 Guangzhou Beach

Xue Chen (Chinese: ; pinyin: Xuē Chén; born 18 February 1989 in Fuzhou, Fujian) is a Chinese beach volleyball player, measuring 191 centimetres (6 ft 3 in) in height. Her hometown is Fuzhou, but she trains in Sanya, Hainan. She has also trained in California under coach Dane Selznick. She competed at the 2020 Olympics with X. Wang in Tokyo held in 2021.

Career

Xue began playing basketball as a child, but disliked the physical contact of that sport. She then played indoor volleyball from the age of 10 to 13 before settling into beach volleyball.[1] She began training for her sports career in 2000 at the Fuzhou Sports Training School. In 2002, she attended the Athletic Sports College of Fuzhou and became a member of the Chinese national beach volleyball team. Xue then made her Swatch-FIVB World Tour debut in 2005, playing in two events with You Wenhui and winning the FIVB Top Rookie award for 2006.[2]

Early 2006 Xue became the youngest player to ever win a major event, when on 28 May 2006 the 17-year-old won the $400,000 China Shanghai Jinshan Open.[3]

Later in 2006, Xue and Zhang Xi won the gold medal in the women's team competition at the 2006 Asian Games. The pair also won the bronze medal in women's beach volleyball at the 2008 Summer Olympics.[4]

The pair had great success in 2010, which included winning the Grand Slam in Moscow, Russia, for the second time. They also achieved an extraordinary gold-medal win on the FIVB World Tour Women's Final in Åland, Finland,[5] by snapping the record gold-medal winning-streak of Brazil's FrançaSilva duo on 21 August 2010. In 2009 they won the gold medal at the Asian Beach Volleyball Championships in Haikou, China, and retained the title in 2010. They then went on to win gold at the Sanya Open in Hainan, the Guangzhou Asian Games, and the Asian Beach Games. The team of Xue and Zhang were ranked 4th overall on the 2010 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Rankings and finished the season ranked first in the FIVB World Rankings.

Xue and Zhang represented China in the 2012 London Olympics and ended 4th in the female beach volleyball competition.[4] She competed at the 2020 Olympics with X. Wang in Tokyo held in 2021.

Playing partners

  • Zhang Xi 2010–present
  • Zhang Ying 2008–2009
  • Zhang Xi 2006–2008
  • Yan Ni 2003–2006
  • Xia Xinyi 2017–present
  • Ma Yuanyuan 2017–Present
  • X. Wang (at 2020 Olympics in Tokyo held in 2021)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Xue Chen Profile & Bio, NBC Olympics". Retrieved 25 August 2008.
  2. ^ "Xue Chen: Career, Beach Volleyball Database". Retrieved 11 August 2008.
  3. ^ "17-year old Xue Chen Captures SWATCH-FIVB World Tour Gold Medal". Retrieved 10 November 2008.
  4. ^ a b "Xue Chen Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  5. ^ "News | China topples Brazil's Larissa, Juliana in Finland | Universal Sports". Archived from the original on 31 August 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2010.


Awards
Preceded by Women's FIVB World Tour "Top Rookie"
2006
Succeeded by
 April Ross (USA)