Fan Yilin
范忆琳
Fan Yilin at the 2016 Olympic balance beam final
Personal information
Nickname(s)Fan Fan
Country represented China
Born (1999-11-11) November 11, 1999 (age 24)
Taizhou, Zhejiang, China[1]
HometownShanghai, China[2]
Height1.48 m (4 ft 10+1⁄2 in)[1]
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior international elite
Years on national team2014–Present (CHN)
Head coach(es)Lu Lifeng
Zhang Haiyan
Zhou Shiping
Qiao Liang
Former coach(es)Wang Qunce
Xu Jinglei
ChoreographerZhou Jie
Music"String Me" by Céline Roscheck
Eponymous skillsFan (C): L-grip swing to half turn to double tucked salto backward dismount (uneven bars)
Medal record
Representing  China
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Glasgow Uneven Bars
Gold medal – first place 2017 Montreal Uneven Bars
Silver medal – second place 2015 Glasgow Team
Asian Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Hiroshima Balance Beam
Silver medal – second place 2015 Hiroshima Team
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Hiroshima Uneven Bars

Fan Yilin (simplified Chinese: 范忆琳; traditional Chinese: 范憶琳; pinyin: Fàn Yìlín; born 11 November 1999)[3] is a Chinese artistic gymnast and uneven bars specialist. She is a two-time world champion on the uneven bars (2015, 2017) and the 2015 Asian champion on balance beam. At the 2015 World Championships, she was part of the first ever four-way tie along with Viktoria Komova, Daria Spiridonova, and Madison Kocian. Domestically, she is a four-time Chinese national uneven bars champion (2015, 2016, 2020, 2021). She was a member of the Chinese team at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she won a bronze medal in the team competition,[4] and competed at the 2020 Olympic Games.

Early life

Fan Yilin was born on 11 November 1999 in Taizhou, Zhejiang.[1] Her father, Fan Bingzhu, is a former professional wrestler.[2] Fan began gymnastics at the age of six in order to improve her health since she had been ill as a child.[2]

Junior career

In 2013, Fan represented Zhejiang in the 1999-2000 Junior National Championships. The team won gold overall, and Fan placed fifth in the uneven bars final. At the 2013 Chinese National Games, Fan won team gold again and placed fourth on uneven bars. She did not compete in 2014 due to injuries.[2]

Senior career

2015

Fan's senior career started in 2015. At the Chinese National Championships in May, Fan won gold in uneven bars final, ahead of world champion Huang Huidan In addition, she won silver with the Shanghai team and placed third on balance beam.[5] She later made her senior international debut as a member of the Chinese team at the 2015 Asian Championships in Hiroshima, Japan, where she won gold on balance beam,[6] silver with the team,[7] and bronze on uneven bars.[8]

She was selected to compete at the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland alongside Shang Chunsong, Wang Yan, Mao Yi, Tan Jiaxin, Chen Siyi, and Zhu Xiaofang (alternate).[9] They won the silver medal behind the United States team.[10] Individually, after qualifying in fifth-place, Fan won gold on uneven bars in the first ever four-way tie along with Viktoria Komova, Daria Spiridonova, and Madison Kocian.[4] "It made me laugh to see four gymnasts with the same score, but I'm happy for all of the other gold medalists," Fan said.[11]

2016

Fan competed at the Chinese National Championships in May, and she won gold on uneven bars with a 0.434 lead, and she placed sixth on beam.[12] At the conclusion of the Chinese Championships, Fan was named to the Chinese team for the 2016 Summer Olympics along with Shang Chunsong, Mao Yi, Wang Yan, and Liu Tingting (who was later replaced by alternate Tan Jiaxin due to a hand injury).[13][14]

2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics

Fan competed in the women's qualification round at the 2016 Summer Olympics on August 7, scoring 15.266 on bars, 14.866 on beam, and 13.500 on floor exercise.[15] She helped the Chinese team qualify into the team final in second place behind the United States. Individually, Fan qualified sixth into the balance beam final. Controversially, Fan failed to qualify for the uneven bars final placing ninth due to missing some connections in her routine.[16] Her countrywoman Shang Chunsong qualified ahead of her by 0.034.

On August 9, in the team final, Fan competed on the uneven bars and the balance beam, contributing 15.733 and 15.066 respectively to China's third-place finish behind the United States and the Russian teams.[15] Fan placed sixth in the balance beam final on August 15 with a score of 14.500.[15]

2017

Fan competed at the National Championships, placing third on the uneven bars and seventh on balance beam.[17] She was not named to the team competing at the Asian Championships. However, she performed well at the National Games later in the year and won gold on uneven bars.[18] She was named to the team roster to compete at the World Championships along with Liu Tingting, Luo Huan, and Wang Yan.[18]

In the qualifying round at the World Championships, Fan qualified into the uneven bars final in third place and successfully landed her original dismount, after which it was named after her in the Code of Points.[19] Fan won the uneven bars final with a 15.166 ahead of Elena Eremina of Russia and Nina Derwael of Belgium after upgrading from the first day of competition to have the highest difficulty score in the final.[20][21] With this victory, she became the first Chinese woman and the fourth overall gymnast in history to defend their World uneven bars title after Maxi Gnacuk, Daniela Silivas, and Svetlana Khorkina.

2018

Fan did not compete for much of the year, missing both the Chinese National Championships in the spring and the Asian Games in August. However, she competed at the Individual National Championships where she won gold on the uneven bars.[22] Despite this result, she was not chosen to compete at the World Championships. Because she missed the World Championships, she became eligible to qualify an individual nominative spot to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan as the winner of the 2018-2020 Individual Apparatus World Cup series on the uneven bars, based on the new qualification rules introduced following the 2016 Summer Olympics.[23]

Fan returned to international competition at the Cottbus World Cup, where she qualified in first place to the uneven bars final ahead of new world champion Nina Derwael; however, in the final, she fell on her eponymous dismount and placed eighth.[24]

2019

Fan was selected to compete at the Melbourne World Cup alongside countrywoman Lyu Jiaqi, who she beat to win gold in the uneven bars final.[25] She later competed at the Doha World Cup in March where she qualified to the uneven bars final in second place behind Nina Derwael.[26] In the event finals, she once again placed second behind Derwael.[27]

At the 2019 Chinese National Championships, Fan qualified in first place on the uneven bars with a score of 15.200. In the team final, she recorded the top uneven bars score of the day to contribute toward the Shanghai provincial team's 7th-place finish. In the event final, however, a major error on a half-turn caused Fan to place fourth behind Liu Tingting, Cheng Shiyi, and Ou Yushan.

Fan was not included in the selection pool for the Chinese team at the 2019 World Championships due to her participation in the world cup series. Instead, she competed at the individual national championships in September and defended her uneven bars title ahead of Du Siyu and Lv Jiaqi.[28] Fan concluded her year by competing at the 2019 Cottbus World Cup in November, qualifying in second place to the uneven bars final behind Anastasia Agafonova of Russia. In the final, she upgraded her routine to narrowly finish ahead of Agafonova and compatriot Yin Sisi.[29]

2020

Fan competed at the Baku World Cup where she finished first on uneven bars during qualifications and qualified to the event final.[30] However event finals were canceled due to the 2020 coronavirus outbreak in Azerbaijan.[31] Later, FIG announced that the qualifications standings from the Baku event would count towards points in the Individual Apparatus World Cup series. As a result, Fan clinched a first-place overall standing on the uneven bars and unofficially qualified to the 2020 Summer Olympics as an individual athlete for China.[32] These Olympics were later postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[33]

In September, she competed at the National Championships where she won gold on the uneven bars and placed sixth with the Shanghai provincial team.[34][35] This marked her first national uneven bars title since 2016, despite recording the top international uneven bars score among all Chinese athletes every year since then.

Skills

Selected Competitive Skills

Apparatus Name Description Difficulty[a] Performed
Uneven Bars Healy Reverse grip swing to full (1/1) pirouette to L-grip E 2015-2020
Inbar 1/1 Inbar to full (1/1) pirouette 2015-2020
Komova II Inbar Shaposhnikova transition to high bar 2015-2020
Ling L-grip swing to full (1/1) pirouette to L-grip 2015-2020
Ling 1/2 L-grip swing to 540° (1½) pirouette to reverse grip 2016
Balance Beam Layout Laid out salto backwards with legs together (to two feet) E 2015-2017
Switch Ring Switch Leap to Ring Position (180° split with raised back leg) 2015-2017
Triple Twist Dismount: Triple-twisting (3/1) laid out salto backward F 2015-2017
Floor Exercise Triple Twist Triple-twisting (3/1) laid out salto backward E 2016

Eponymous skill

Fan has one eponymous skill listed in the Code of Points.[36]

Apparatus Name Description Difficulty[b] Added to the Code of Points
Uneven bars Fan Dismount: L-grip swing to half turn to double tucked salto backward C 2017 World Championships
  1. ^ Valid for the 2017-2020 Code of Points
  2. ^ Valid for the 2022-2024 Code of Points

Competitive history

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
Junior
2013 National Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 5
National Games 1st place, gold medalist(s) 4
2014 did not compete
Senior
2015 National Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Asian Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
World Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2016 National Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 6
Olympic Games 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 6
2017 National Championships 5 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7
National Games 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
World Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2018 National Individual Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Cottbus World Cup 8
2019 Melbourne World Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Doha World Cup 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
National Championships 7 4
National Individual Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Cottbus World Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2020 Baku World Cup [a]
National Championships 6 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2021 National Championships 7 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Olympic Games 7
  1. ^ Fan qualified to the UB final in first place; however event finals were canceled

References

  1. ^ a b c "FAN Yilin (CHN)". FIG. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d "World Bars Champion Fan Yilin Of China Took Up Gymnastics Because She Had Been Troubled With Illness Since A Young Age". WOGymnastika. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  3. ^ "46th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Womens Entry List By NOC" (PDF). Gymnastics Results. FIG. 18 October 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  4. ^ a b Zaccardi, Nick (31 October 2015). "Four-way tie for gold medal(s) at World Gymnastics Championships". NBC Sports. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  5. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (1 June 2015). "2015 Chinese Championships Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  6. ^ "6th Senior Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships Women's Finals Apparatus Result Balance Beam" (PDF). Gymnastics Results. Japan Gymnastics Association. 2 August 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  7. ^ "6th Senior Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships Women's Final Team All-Around Result" (PDF). Gymnastics Results. Japan Gymnastics Association. 31 July 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 February 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  8. ^ "6th Senior Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships Women's Finals Apparatus Result Uneven Bars" (PDF). Gymnastics Results. Japan Gymnastics Association. 2 August 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  9. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (18 September 2015). "Chinese World Championships Team Named". The Gymternet. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  10. ^ "USA wins third straight women's team title at 2015 World Championships". USA Gymnastics. 27 October 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  11. ^ "China's Fan Yilin shares amazing four-way tie for gold at world gymnastics championships". South China Morning Post. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. 2 November 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  12. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (15 May 2016). "Chinese Nationals Conclude with Event Finals". The Gymternet. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  13. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (16 May 2016). "Shang Leads China's Olympic Nominative Team". The Gymternet. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  14. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (18 July 2016). "Tan Replaces Liu on China's Olympic Team". The Gymternet. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  15. ^ a b c "Fan Yilin". sports-reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  16. ^ "China hits out at 'unfair judging' after top gymnasts fail to make it through to individual event finals". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  17. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (6 May 2017). "2017 Chinese Championships Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  18. ^ a b Hopkins, Lauren (4 September 2017). ""I Can't Stop Myself From Crying": China's Worlds Team and Retirements". The Gymternet. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  19. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (23 October 2017). "The Montreal Uneven Bars Final". The Gymternet. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  20. ^ "2017 Worlds: Day 1 Event Finals". The Couch Gymnast. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  21. ^ "China's Fan defends uneven bars title at gymnastics worlds in Montreal". China Daily. 9 October 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  22. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (13 September 2018). "2018 Chinese Individual Championships Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  23. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (21 November 2018). "Individual Qualification for Tokyo Begins in Cottbus". The Gymternet. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  24. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (30 November 2018). "Andrade Dominates at Cottbus to Kick Off Individual Olympic Qualification". The Gymternet. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  25. ^ "Specialists Fan, Yeo win as Melbourne finals begin". Rocker Gymnastics. 28 February 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  26. ^ "12th FIG Artistic Gymnastics Individual Apparatus World Cup Doha (QAT) Qualification Women Uneven Bars" (PDF). Sportlicht Ltd. March 20, 2019.
  27. ^ Bidappa, Sahan (22 March 2019). "Derwael makes a winning return to world title venue". Gulf Times. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  28. ^ "Results VT/UB EF 2019 Chinese Individual Nationals". Golden China. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  29. ^ "2019 Cottbus World Cup Results". The Gymternet. 2019-11-25. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  30. ^ "2020 Baku World Cup Results". The Gymternet. March 13, 2020.
  31. ^ "Finals of Baku World Cup cancelled". International Gymnastics Federation. March 13, 2020.
  32. ^ Twitter https://twitter.com/thegymterdotnet/status/1248351108516450305. Retrieved 2020-09-28. ((cite web)): Missing or empty |title= (help)
  33. ^ "Tokyo Olympics officially postponed until 2021". ESPN.com. 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  34. ^ "Results QF/TF 2020 Chinese Nationals". Golden China. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  35. ^ "Results VT/UB EF 2020 Chinese Nationals". Golden China. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  36. ^ "2022-2024 Code of Points Women's Artistic Gymnastics" (PDF). International Gymnastics Federation. pp. 104, 208. Retrieved 22 January 2022.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fan Yilin.
World Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Women's Uneven Bars
Asian Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Women's Balance Beam
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