Zhao Hongbo

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Olympic medal record
Figure skating
Bronze	2002 Salt Lake City	Pairs
Bronze	2006 Turin	Pairs

Zhao Hongbo

Personal Info
Country:	People's Republic of China
Residence:	Harbin, China (PRC)
Height:	177 cm
Partner:	Shen Xue
Coach:	Yao Bin
Skating Club:	Harbin SC
ISU Personal Best Scores
Short + Free Total:	206.54	2005 GP Final
Short Program:	71.07	2007 Worlds
Free Skate:	136.02	2005 GP Final

Zhao Hongbo (Simplified Chinese: 赵宏博; Traditional Chinese: 趙宏博; pinyin: Zhào Hóngbó; born September 22, 1973) is a Chinese pairs figure skater. With his partner Shen Xue, they won three World Championship titles, five Grand Prix Final championships and two Olympic medals.

Contents 1 Early Career 1.1 2001-2002 season 1.2 Olympics & 2004-2006 season 1.3 Current: 2006-2007 season 1.4 Personal Life 1.5 Future 2 Competitive highlights 3 See also 4 External links 5 Navigation

[edit] Early Career

Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo began skating together in 1992, under the tutelage of Yao Bin. They competed at their first Olympics in 1998, in Nagano, Japan and finished a respectable fifth. They went on to the World Championships a year later with improved choreography and expression, and won the silver medal, becoming the first Chinese team to ever win a World Championship medal.

[edit] 2001-2002 season

Shen and Zhao improved each year, and were considered to be one of the top teams in the world. They won another silver medal at the Worlds in 2000, and a bronze in 2001. They were considered strong medal contenders in the 2002 Winter Olympics. They won the bronze with a strong performance, narrowly missing a throw quadruple salchow attempt. They became the first Chinese pair to win a medal at the Olympics for figure skating. Their achievement was overshadowed by the judging controversy surrounding their rivals Elena Berezhnaya & Anton Sikharulidze and Jamie Salé & David Pelletier, but they had nonetheless solidified their role in Chinese figure skating history as trailblazers.

Shen and Zhao won their first World Championship in 2002. They repeated this win the following year in Washington D.C., with perhaps their most memorable performance. While practing their throw quadruple salchow, Shen landed badly and severely injured her landing foot and ankle. She was in such severe pain that she required several treatments to numb the foot entirely so that she should compete. Miraculously, she showed no signs of weakness, and the pair performed a brilliant long program that earned them a racous standing ovation, and several perfect 6.0's for presentation.

[edit] Olympics & 2004-2006 season

Their attempt to win a third straight World title in 2004 was thwarted when Zhao fell during their short program. They rebounded to win the free program, but it was only good enough for second overall behind their new rivals Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia. Their problems escalated in 2005 when Zhao's achilles injury forced them to withdraw from the World Championships, and weeks later, he ruptured the tendon during practice. They missed the entire competitive season and were unable to return to the ice until weeks before the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Their lack of adequate preparation was obvious, but they managed to win a second Olympic bronze medal.

[edit] Current: 2006-2007 season

The 2006-07 proved to be a very strong season for the pairs by winning the Grand Prix Final, the 2007 Asian Winter Games, the 2007 Four Continents Championship, and most importantly, the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships. On March 21, 2007 they won their third World Championship title, and announced their plan to retire and marry[1].

[edit] Personal Life

At the end of their free skate at the 2007 Worlds, Zhao attempted to propose to Shen, but did not manage to get the question across until some time afterwards. They plan to marry in 2008.

Shen and Zhao's skating idols are Ekaterina Gordeeva and the late Sergei Grinkov.

Because of Shen and Zhao and their coach Yao Bin, Chinese pair skating has made a meteoric rise, and fields world-class teams such as Olympic silver medalists Zhang Dan & Zhang Hao, and 2006 World Champions Pang Qing & Tong Jian. China is considered to have more top pairs teams than any other nation in the world.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Future

Many fans expected the pair to retire after the Olympic season, but they have not yet made any formal announcement about their plans.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Competitive highlights

With Shen

Event	1995-1996	1997-1998	1998-1999	1999-2000	2000-2001	2001-2002	2002-2003	2003-2004	2004-2005	2005-2006	2006-2007
Winter Olympic Games		5th				3rd				3rd
Asian Winter Games	1st		1st				1st				1st
World Championships		4th	2nd	2nd	3rd	1st	1st	2nd			1st
Four Continents			1st		2nd		1st				1st
Chinese Nationals		1st	1st		1st	1st
Grand Prix Final		4th	1st	1st	3rd	3rd	2nd	1st	1st		1st
Skate America					2nd
Skate Canada Int.			1st					2nd	1st
Bofrost Cup				3rd		1st	1st
Cup of China								1st	1st		1st
Trophee Eric Bompard		3rd							1st
Cup of Russia			2nd	2nd	2nd		1st
NHK Trophy		1st	2nd	4th	1st	1st	1st				1st

[edit] See also

• Pair skating

[edit] External links

• Official Website
• Blog
• Pairs on Ice: Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao
• Hongbo Zhao at the International Skating Union biography page

[edit] Navigation

Persondata
NAME	Zhao, Hongbo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	赵宏博 (Chinese); Zhào Hóngbó (Pinyin)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Chinese figure skater
DATE OF BIRTH	September 22, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH