Liu Xuan (gymnast)

Liu Xuan (gymnast)

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.

As of June 2005 she was filming a movie.

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

In the July 2009, she became one of the management contract actress for TVB.