Gong Zhichao

In this Chinese name, the family name is Gong.

Gong Zhichao 龚智超
Personal information
Country	China
Born	(1977-12-15) 15 December 1977 Anhua, Hunan, China
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	53 kg (117 lb)
Coach	Li Lingwei
Women's singles
Highest ranking	1
Medal record Women's badminton Representing China Olympic Games 2000 Sydney Women's singles World Championships 1997 Glasgow Women's singles 2001 Seville Women's singles World Cup 1997 Yogyakarta Women's singles Sudirman Cup 2001 Seville Mixed team 1999 Copenhagen Mixed team 1997 Glasgow Mixed team Uber Cup 2000 Kuala Lumpur Women's team 1998 Hong Kong Women's team Asian Games 1998 Bangkok Women's team 1998 Bangkok Women's singles Asian Championships 1996 Surabaya Women's singles 1998 Bangkok Women's singles 1999 Kuala Lumpur Women's singles
BWF profile

Gong Zhichao (simplified Chinese: 龚智超; traditional Chinese: 龔智超; pinyin: Gōng Zhìchāo; born 15 December 1977) is a former badminton player from the People's Republic of China.

Career

Gong was one of the world's leading women's singles players between her first international titles in 1996 and her retirement in 2002. She won some of the world's biggest tournaments, including the venerable All-England Championship consecutively in 2000 and 2001 over fellow countrywomen Dai Yun and Zhou Mi respectively in the finals. Her other titles included the 1996 Asian Championships, the 2000 Copenhagen Masters; and the Denmark (1996), Swedish (1997), China (1997), Japan (1998, 2000), and Malaysia (2000) Opens. At the then biennial IBF (BWF) World Championships Gong was a silver medalist behind fellow countrywoman Ye Zhaoying in 1997, and a bronze medalist in 2001. She played winning singles for Chinese Uber Cup (women's international) teams that reclaimed the world team title from Indonesia in 1998, and retained the title in 2000.

Unfortunately for Gong, her biggest triumph in an event for individual players, women's singles at the 2000 Olympic Games, is tainted by controversy. According to his later statement, China's head badminton coach Li Yongbo instructed Gong's semifinal opponent, teammate Ye Zhaoying, to "throw" the match against her, on his assumption that Gong would have the better chance to defeat Denmark's Camilla Martin in the final. Whatever the effect of these "instructions" on Ye, a two time former IBF World Champion, she lost the match to Gong 8-11, 8-11, who in turn defeated reigning IBF World Champion Martin for the gold medal 13–10, 11–3.

Achievements

Olympic Games

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2000	The Dome, Sydney, Australia	Camilla Martin	13–10, 11–3	Gold

World Championships

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2001	Palacio de Deportes de San Pablo, Seville, Spain	Gong Ruina	10–13, 4–11	Bronze
1997	Scotstoun Centre, Glasgow, Scotland	Ye Zhaoying	11–12, 8–11	Silver

World Cup

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1997	Yogyakarta, Indonesia	Susi Susanti	10–13, 9–11	Bronze

Asian Games

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1998	Thammasat Gymnasium 2, Bangkok, Thailand	Kanako Yonekura	11–1, 5–11, 6–11	Silver

Asian Championships

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1999	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Ye Zhaoying	2–11, 4–11	Bronze
1998	Bangkok, Thailand	Ye Zhaoying	5–11, 12–11	Silver
1996	Surabaya, Indonesia	Lee Joo-hyun	11–7, 11–1	Gold

IBF World Grand Prix

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) since 1983.

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2001	All England Open	Zhou Mi	11–7, 11–3	Winner
2000	Grand Prix Finals	Zhou Mi	5–7, 7–5, 1–7, 0–7	Runner-up
2000	Malaysia Open	Dai Yun	11–6, 11–8	Winner
2000	Japan Open	Ye Zhaoying	11–7, 11–3	Winner
2000	All England Open	Dai Yun	11–5, 8–11, 11–5	Winner
1999	Singapore Open	Ye Zhaoying	5–11, 11–5, 7–11	Runner-up
1999	Japan Open	Ye Zhaoying	11–1, 5–11, 6–11	Runner-up
1998	Swedish Open	Kim Ji-hyun	10–12, 8–11	Runner-up
1998	Japan Open	Ye Zhaoying	11–1, 11–4	Winner
1997	China Open	Dai Yun	11–1, 11–5	Winner
1997	Singapore Open	Mia Audina	6–11, 6–11	Runner-up
1997	All England Open	Ye Zhaoying	3–11, 1–11	Runner-up
1997	Swedish Open	Ra Kyung-min	11–4, 11–4	Winner
1997	Korea Open	Ye Zhaoying	11–6, 10–12, 4–11	Runner-up
1997	Japan Open	Mia Audina	3–11, 11–2, 5–11	Runner-up
1996	Denmark Open	Marina Andrievskaya	12–11, 11–4	Winner
1996	Russian Open	Han Jingna	7–11, 5–11	Runner-up

External links

• Gong Zhichao at BWFBadminton.com
• Gong Zhichao at BWF.TournamentSoftware.com (alternate link)
• Gong Zhichao at Olympedia (archive)
• Gong Zhichao at Olympics.com