Liu Xuan (gymnast)

This article is about the contemporary Chinese gymnast. For the Han Dynasty emperor, see Emperor Gengshi of Han.

Liu Xuan (simplified Chinese: 刘璇; traditional Chinese: 劉璇; pinyin: Liú Xuán; born March 12, 1979 in Changsha, Hunan) is a Chinese Gymnast. She was coached by Guo Xinming and Zhang Zhen.

Liu said she took up gymnastics with encouragement from her mom, who had to cease gymnastics training during her younger years because of the closure of the gym during the Cultural Revolution. In fact, Liu's decision to continue for another 4 years after a disappointing 1996 Atlanta Olympics (where she failed to make beam finals due to a fall in the team optionals) was partly to realize her mom's unfulfilled dream.

Liu was the first female gymnast to perform a one-arm giant swing on the uneven bars which is named after her in the Gymnastic's Code of Points; she also performed this skill into a Geinger release move. However, this skill was considered too risky for women gymnasts, and hence was given a ridiculously low "B" difficulty rating so as to discourage female gymnasts from learning it. As a result, Liu herself also stopped performing it after the 1996 Olympics.

Liu was also strong on balance beam, but weak on vault and floor exercise.

In 2000, she was China's first Olympic Champion on balance beam as well as China's first All Around Medalist. At the 2000 Olympics Liu Xuan also led her team to a bronze medal, but the medal was stripped by the IOC in 2010 after one of the Chinese team members, Dong Fangxiao, was found to be underage during the competition. In March 2012, the 1999 World Team bronze medal previously won by the Chinese was forfeited to Ukraine in light of the same information.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Liu served as the on-site gymnastics reporter for Hong Kong broadcaster TVB.

In the July 2009, she became a management contracted actress for TVB.

In the December 2013, she reported that she would marry Wang Tao in Hong Kong.

• 2000 Olympics: 3rd Team*DISQUALIFIED, 3rd All Around, 1st Balance Beam
• 1998 Asian Games: 1st team, 1st all-around, 1st beam
• 1998 World Cup: 1st beam, 3rd bars
• 1997 World Championships: 3rd team, 7th all-around
• 1996 Olympics: 4th team
• 1996 World Championships: 3rd beam, 9th bars
• 1995 World Championships: 2nd team
• 1995 USA/CHN/BLR: 3rd team, 8th all-around
• 1994 DTB Cup: 1st beam, 5th bars, 8th floor
• 1994 Asian Games: 1st team, 2nd bars
• 1994 Team World Championships: 4th

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