Tang Xijing

Tang Xijing (Chinese: 唐茜靖; pinyin: Táng Xījìng; born January 3, 2003) is a Chinese artistic gymnast. She is the 2019 World all-around silver medalist, matching Jiang Yuyuan at the 2010 World Championships for the highest all-around finish for a Chinese woman in World or Olympic history. She is also the 2018 Chinese national all-around bronze medalist, the 2018 Youth Olympic balance beam gold medalist and uneven bars bronze medalist, and the 2019 Chinese national balance beam silver medalist.

Tang Xijing 唐茜靖
Tang at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games
Personal information
Full name	Tang Xijing
Country represented	China
Born	January 3, 2003 Beijing, China
Hometown	Beijing, China
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior international elite
Years on national team	2016–Present (CHN)
Head coach(es)	Wang Liming, He Hua
Medal record Representing  China World Championships 2019 Stuttgart All-Around Youth Olympic Games 2018 Buenos Aires Balance Beam 2018 Buenos Aires Uneven Bars

Career

2018

Tang won the gold medal as part of the Chinese team with He Licheng, Qi Qi, Yin Sisi, and Zhao Shiting at the 2018 Asian Junior Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia. Individually, she won the gold on balance beam ahead of Yin and Eum Doh-yun of South Korea. Tang won the bronze medal in the all-around at the 2018 Chinese National Championships behind Luo Huan and Zhang Jin. She won silver with the Beijing team and placed fourth in the uneven bars final.

Tang competed at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she qualified third into the all-around final and all event finals except vault.[1] She placed fourth in the all-around after falling twice on beam.[2] In event finals, Tang won gold on balance beam ahead of Russia's Ksenia Klimenko and Great Britain's Amelie Morgan, and bronze on uneven bars behind Klimenko and Giorgia Villa of Italy. She also placed fourth on floor.[3]

Vault Qualification

Uneven Bars Final

Balance Beam Final

Floor Exercise Final

Tang at the 2018 Youth Olympics

2019

Tang was named to the Chinese team for the 2019 City of Jesolo Trophy with Liu Tingting, Qi Qi, and Zhang Jin, where they won the silver medal behind the United States. She individually placed fourth in the all-around and won silver on the uneven bars. At the 2019 Chinese National Championships, she won silver with the Beijing team and on balance beam behind junior Ou Yushan, as well as fourth in the all-around.

Tang was named to the Chinese team for the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany alongside Chen Yile, Li Shijia, Liu Tingting, Qi Qi, and Zhang Jin.[4] She helped the team qualify in second behind the United States and was the first reserve on uneven bars.[5] Tang failed to qualify to the all-around final due to the two-per-country rule. She competed on vault, where she debuted a new double-twisting Yurchenko vault, uneven bars, and floor during the team final to help China place fourth behind the United States, Russia, and Italy after the team counted three falls.[6]

Tang replaced Liu in the all-around final after Liu's withdrawal.[7] Despite qualifying in 21st place to the all-around, since she was replacing sixth-place qualifier Liu, she was seeded in the top rotating group. Tang hit four strong routines to win a surprise silver medal in the all-around behind five-time world champion Simone Biles of the United States and ahead of 2019 European Games Champion Angelina Melnikova of Russia. She recorded the second-highest beam score of the day behind Biles. This finish marks the highest placement of a female Chinese gymnast in World Championships or Olympic history, matching Jiang Yuyuan's second-place finish at the 2010 World Championships. It was also the first all-around medal won by a Chinese woman at the World or Olympic level since Yao Jinnan's bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships.[8]

2020

After the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tang competed at the delayed Chinese National Championships in September.[9] As the reigning World all-around silver medalist, Tang was a favorite for the title.[10] In the qualification round, which also served as the team final, Tang and Qi Qi led the Beijing provincial team to a fourth consecutive silver medal. Individually, a major error on uneven bars and a fall on balance beam caused Tang to miss qualifying for both of those event finals and to enter the all-around final in sixth place.[11] However, a strong performance on floor featuring a new full-twisting double tuck allowed her to qualify to that final in third place behind Qi and reigning national champion Shang Chunsong.[11] After qualifications, Tang said she felt physically stronger and that she hoped to overcome her pattern of making errors in the first round of a competition.[12][13]

In the all-around final, Tang improved on her qualifications performance to place fifth in the two-day combined all-around standings. Tang recorded the top beam score of the day by a wide margin after landing her new double pike dismount and earned the fourth-highest score on both vault and floor exercise. Another major error on the uneven bars prevented her from making the all-around podium, with her training mates Wei Xiaoyuan and Qi Qi ultimately taking silver and bronze.[14][15] In the floor exercise final, Tang also placed fifth with a clean routine, less than a tenth from the podium.[16]

Selected competitive skills

Apparatus	Name	Description	Difficulty	Performed
Vault	Baitova	Yurchenko entry, laid out salto backwards with two twists	5.4	2019-2020
Uneven Bars	Healy	Forward giant with 360° turn on one arm from reverse grip to L grip	E	2019-2020
	Ling	Forward giant with 360° turn on one arm from L grip to L grip		2019-2020
	Piked Jaeger	Reverse grip swing to piked salto forwards to catch high bar		2019-2020
	Van Leeuwen	Toe-on Shaposhnikova transition with ½ twist to high bar		2019-2020
Balance Beam	Layout step-out	Mount: round-off at end of beam, salto stretched with step out	E	2019-2020
	Layout	Salto backwards stretched with legs together		2019-2020
	Switch ring	Switch leap to ring position (180° split with raised back leg)		2019-2020
	Double Pike	Dismount: Double piked salto backwards		2020
	Triple twist	Dismount: laid out salto backwards with triple (3/1) twist	F	2019
Floor Exercise	Mukhina	Double tucked salto backwards with full (1/1) twist	E	2020
	Triple twist	Laid out salto backwards with triple (3/1) twist		2019-2020

Competitive history

Junior

Tang (right) on the uneven bars podium at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games

Tang (center) on the balance beam podium at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2016	Junior National Championships
2017	National Championships		4				8
	National Games
2018	Asian Junior Championships
	National Championships				4
	Individual National Championships				4	5
	Youth Olympic Games		4				4

Senior

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2019	City of Jesolo Trophy		4
	National Championships		4
	World Championships	4
2020	National Championships		5				5
	Individual National Championships					6

Source: [17]

References

1. Hopkins, Lauren (October 11, 2018). "Bachynska Edges Out Villa for Youth Olympic Games Lead". The Gymternet.
2. Hopkins, Lauren (October 13, 2018). "Villa Wins Youth Olympic Games Gold". The Gymternet.
3. "King Kitazono makes it five, women's golds for Villa and Tang". Olympic Channel. October 15, 2018.
4. "体操世锦赛中国队参赛名单揭晓" [Gymnastics World Championships China team entry list announced]. Xinhua News Agency. September 17, 2019.
5. Wijangco, Amanda (October 4, 2019). "China Tops Day 1 Of Gymnastics Worlds Qualifications". FloGymnastics.
6. Hopkins, Lauren (October 8, 2019). "2019 World Championships | Women's Team Final Live Blog". The Gymternet.
7. Goh, ZK; Bregman, Scott (October 9, 2019). "Artistic Gymnastics World Championships 2019 | Day 6 As It Happened". Olympic Channel. It appears that China's women's team captain, Liu Tingting, is out of the all-around final tomorrow. She had a rough day in team finals yesterday as China missed out on a medal.
8. "Biles wins record fifth world All-around title". Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique. October 10, 2019.
9. "Tokyo Olympics officially postponed until 2021". ESPN.com. 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
10. says, Zyxcba (2020-09-24). "Injuries Sideline Top All-Arounders, But Competition Still Fierce at China's Nationals". The Gymternet. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
11. "Official qualifiers AA/EF 2020 Chinese Nationals". Golden China. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
12. "https://twitter.com/sui_luwu/status/1309533407295152133". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-10-05. External link in |title= (help)
13. "https://twitter.com/sui_luwu/status/1309533193146527744". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-10-05. External link in |title= (help)
14. "Results AA 2020 Chinese Nationals". Golden China. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
15. "Tumblr". Tumblr. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
16. "2020 Chinese Championships Results". The Gymternet. 2020-09-29. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
17. Hopkins, Lauren. "Tang Xijing". The Gymternet.