Zhuang Yong

Zhuang Yong (庄泳)

Zhuang Yong (庄泳) is a famous Chinese female swimmer, and one of the "Five Golden Flowers" in Chinese swimming.

Zhuang took a silver medal in the women's 100m freestyle at the 24th Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988 with a time of 55.47 seconds, the best Asian record in the event. Her success put an end to the record of Chinese swimmers having won no medals at the Olympics. She then went on to win China's first Olympic gold swimming medal in the 100m freestyle at the 25th Games in Barcelona in 1992.

Born in Shanghai on August 10, 1972, Zhaung started swimming training at the age of five. When she was still in kindergarten, she was spotted by Xu Renhui, a coach from the spare-time sports school in Luwan District, Shanghai. This was the beginning of her contact with water. At the age of seven, she was admitted into the Luwan District Sports School so that she could receive regular training.

In 1984, Zhuang was selected to the Shanghai municipal swimming team, and then became a member of the national swimming team in 1986. She took second place in the 100m freestyle at the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988 to win the first Olympic swimming medal for China.

At the 11th Asian Games in 1990, Zhuang won the gold medals in women's 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 4×100m freestyle relay and 4×100m medley. She took the gold medals in the women's 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle at the World Swimming Championships in 1991, and won the gold medal in the women's 100m freestyle at the 25th Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992, China's first Olympic gold medal in swimming. In addition, she won silver medals in the women's 50m freestyle and 4×100m freestyle relay. After the 7th National Games in 1993, she announced her retirement.