|
Quick Facts
Represents: China
Age: 28 (October 28, 1979)
Hometown: Qingdao, Shandong Province
Residence: Shanghai
Affiliation: Nike
Event: Pole Vault (4.64m/15 feet, 2.75 inches PB2007) |
|
Career Highlights
- National and Asian Record (4.64m/15 feet, 2.75 inches, 2007)
- 2-time Olympian (2000, 2004)
- 5th, 2001 and 2005 World Championships
- 9th, 2003 World Championships
- 2-time Gold Medalist, Asian Games (2002, 2006)
- Gold Medalist, 2001 World University Games
|
Background
When Shuying was in the fourth grade, she began sprinting and found the #1 benefit was not having to sit in the classroom all day. By middle school, she was a heptathlete until a coach took a look at how tall she was growing and switched her to the pole vault. “I thought pole vault would be difficult,” she recalls, “but when I take the pole and jump, I feel pretty good and cool.”
So far, Shuying says the highlight of her career has been the 2000 Olympics, her first huge international competition. But she is excited that the next Olympics are on her home turf, where she is focusing on a medal. To that end, she spends part of her time training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. Also training there is boyfriend Tora Harris, the 2006 U.S, Champion in the high jump.
Perhaps the oddest day of Shuying’s career was in Stockholm in 2001. When she unpacked her poles at the track after the flight from Beijing, she discovered they had been cut into two or three pieces, perhaps to fit into the cargo hold of the plane. Only one pole survived, and she used it to jump a then-personal best and Asian Record. |
