Du Li

Du Li (杜丽)

Du Li (杜丽) is a Chinese all-round shooter who claimed her first Olympic gold at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

Born in Zibo, Shandong Province on March 5, 1982, Du began to regularly train as a rifle shooter at the Zibo Sport School in 1996. She set the women's 10-meter air rifle world record in 2003, merely one year after joining China’s national shooting squad.

Du further impressed the world by becoming a gold medalist at the Athens Olympic Games the following year. Unfortunately she was unable to defend that title during the 2008 Summer Olympics, losing to Kateřina Emmons on August 9, 2008. Du failed to live up to the expectations of millions of Chinese to win the first Olympic gold on home grounds. However, she shot back to gold in the women's 50 meter rifle three positions competition at the 2012 Asian Shooting Championships.

In 2009 she married Pang Wei, her teammate on the national shooting squad, who is an Olympic gold medalist as well. Du gave birth to a baby boy on August 8, 2010.

List of achievements:

2002 World Shooting Championships – Individual runner-up (air rifle)

2002 Asian Games (Pusan, South Korea) – Team gold medal (women’s air rifle)

2004 Athens Olympic Games – Gold medalist (women's 10-meter air rifle)

2004 ISSF World Cup Final (Bangkok, Thailand) – Champion (women's 10-meter air rifle)

2005 ISSF World Cup (USA) – Champion (women's 10-meter air rifle)

2005 ISSF World Cup (Milan, Italy) – Champion (women's 10-meter air rifle)

2005 ISSF World Cup Final (Munich, Germany) – Champion (women's 10-meter air rifle)

2006 ISSF World Cup (Milan, Italy) – Champion (women's 10-meter air rifle)

2005 ISSF World Cup Final (Spain) – Champion (women's 10-meter air rifle)

2006 World Shooting Championships (Zagreb) – Champion (women's 10-meter air rifle)

2006 Asian Games (Doha, Qatar) – Gold medalist (women's 10-meter air rifle)

2007 ISSF World Cup Final (Bangkok, Thailand) – Champion (women's 10-meter air rifle)

2008 ISSF World Cup (Beijing) – Champion (women's 50-meter rifle three positions)

2008 Beijing Olympic Games – Gold medalist (women's 50-meter rifle three positions), breaking the Olympic record with the score of 690.3 in the final

2011 ISSF World Cup (South Korea) – Third place (women's 50-meter rifle three positions)

2012 Asian Shooting Championships – Champion (women's 50-meter rifle three positions)