Xu Lijia is a Chinese sailboat racer who won a bronze medal in women's Laser Radial class at the 2008 Summer Olympics and a gold medal in the same event at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she was the flag bearer for China at the closing ceremony.
12 Facts About Xu Lijia
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Xu Lijia was born nearly deaf in one ear and nearly blind in one eye.
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Xu Lijia started swimming at age four and attended a sports school in the Changning District of Shanghai.
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Just a year after she started sailing, Xu Lijia won the 1998 Chinese National Championships held in Hong Kong.
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In 1999, when she was twelve, Xu Lijia narrowly escaped death in a sudden storm while training on the open sea off the coast of Fujian Province with her coach and teammates.
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Xu Lijia began her international career aged 11 in the Optimist class in the 1998 Asian Championships, winning her first international gold medal in the 1999 Asian Championships.
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Xu Lijia then won the gold medals in the 2001 and 2002 World Championships, and the 2002 Asian Games, all in the Optimist class.
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Xu Lijia switched to coach Liu Xiaoma, the husband of her old coach Zhang Jing.
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Xu Lijia initially hoped to postpone the tumor-removal surgery until after the Olympics, but doctors warned that the tumor could spread within months which would necessitate amputation of the leg.
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In March 2008 Xu Lijia won a silver medal at the World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand.
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Xu Lijia resumed training in May 2011 and won a silver medal in May 2012 at the World Championships held in Boltenhagen, Germany.
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On 6 August 2012, Xu Lijia won the gold medal in the women's Laser Radial race at the 2012 Summer Olympics, beating Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands and Evi Van Acker of Belgium.