 Lindswell at the 2018 Asian Games | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nickname | "Queen of Wushu" |
| Nationality | Indonesian |
| Born | 24 September 1991[1][2] Binjai, North Sumatra, Indonesia[3] |
| Occupation(s) | Martial artist, athlete |
| Height | 161 cm (5 ft 3 in)[1] |
| Weight | 53 kg (117 lb)[1] |
| Spouse | Achmad Hulaefi (m. 2018) |
| Children | 2 |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Wushu |
| Event(s) | Tai chi, taijijian |
| Team | Indonesia wushu team |
| Coached by | Zhang Yue Ning[1] |
| Retired | 2018 |
Medal record | |
Lindswell, also known as Lindswell Kwok (Chinese: 郭利娟; pinyin: Guō Lìjuān, born 24 September 1991) is an Indonesian former tai chi athlete. She is one of the most renowned wushu taolu athletes of all time. In 2013, she was named Best Athlete by the Indonesian Olympic Committee, and received the Dharma Sports Medal, the highest sports award in Indonesia.[1] For her achievements, Indonesian media dubbed her as the "queen of wushu".[11][12]
Kwok began practicing wushu in 1999, following her brother Iwan.[13] She won a silver medal in the Indonesian Junior National Competition in 2005 and a gold medal in the following year. In 2006, she competed at the first World Junior Wushu Championships (WJWC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and won the bronze medal in taijijian.[14] A year later, she debuted at the 2007 World Wushu Championships in Beijing, China, and placed fourth in tai chi.[15] She then represented North Sumatra at the 2008 National Games and won a silver medal. Due to her high placement at the world championships from the previous year, she was also able to compete in the 2008 Beijing Wushu Tournament where she placed sixth in the women's tai chi combined event.[16] Also in 2008, she competed at the second World Junior Wushu Championships in Bali, Indonesia, where she won the gold medal in tai chi.[17]
Lindswell competed at the 2009 World Wushu Championships in Toronto, Canada, and won a gold medal in tai chi and a bronze medal in taijijian.[18] In her first event of tai chi, Lindswell tied Japan's Ai Myaoka with a score of 9.80, but was able to win due to tie-breaking procedures regarding B-score.[19] In her second event of taijijian, she received a score of 9.74. Shortly after, she then competed in the 2009 SEA Games in Vientiane, Laos, and won the silver medal in the tai chi and taijijian combined event under Chai Fong Ying.
In 2010 at the first rendition of the World Combat Games in Beijing, China, she won the gold medal in the tai chi and taijijian combined event. A few months later, she competed in women's tai chi the 2010 Asian Games. During the first round of competition which consisted of taijijian, Lindswell was in a three-way tie for first with Malaysia's Chai Fong Ying and Japan's Ai Miyaoka whom all scored 9.67. In the second round of tai chi, Lindswell received a low score of 9.43 due to some deductions and placed sixth overall in the event with a score of 19.10.
At the 2011 World Wushu Championships in Ankara, Turkey, Lindswell won a silver medal in tai chi and a bronze medal in taijijian.[20] A month later, Lindswell competed at the 2011 SEA Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. She won the gold medal in the tai chi and taijijian combined event with a combined score of 19.47.[21]
Lindswell's next major appearance was at the 2013 World Games in Cali, Colombia, and won the gold medal in the tai chi and taijijian combined event. Around two months later, she competed in the 2013 Islamic Solidarity Games, and won gold medals in the tai chi and taijijian events. Half a month later, she competed in the 2013 World Combat Games in St. Petersburg, Russia, and won once again in the tai chi combined event, thus making her the only wushu athlete to win two gold medals at the World Combat Games. Two weeks later, she competed in the 2013 World Wushu Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and won a gold medal in taijijian and a silver medal in tai chi.[22] Around a month later, she competed in the 2013 SEA Games in Naypyidaw, Myanmar and won again in the tai chi and taijijian combined event.
In women's tai chi at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, Lindswell steadily held her second-place position during both rounds and thus was able to win the silver medal slightly above Japan's Ai Uchida and under China's Yu Mengmeng. Over a month later, she competed in the first rendition of the World Taijiquan Championships in Dujiangyan, China, and won a won a gold and a bronze medal in Yang-style tai chi and taijijian respectively.
The following year, Lindswell first competed at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games held in Singapore. The tai chi and taijijian events were reformed into two separate events, and Lindswell was able to win gold medals in each event. Four months later at the 2015 World Wushu Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, she was a double gold medalist in her usual events.[23]
A year later, Lindswell returned to the World Taijiquan Championships in 2016 which were held in Warsaw, Poland, and she was a double gold medalist in yang style tai chi and taijijian.[24]
At the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, she only competed and won in taijijian, as the tai chi event was modified to be a compulsory routine event.[24] At the 2017 World Wushu Championships in Kazan, Russia, despite placing twelfth in the taijijian event, she won the gold medal in tai chi, her fifth gold medal.[25][26] With this achievement, she firmly established herself as the most renowned tai chi athlete at the world championships.
In women's tai chi at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, Lindswell established her dominance over the competition and won the gold medal by consistently scoring 9.75 in both of her events.[27][28] The President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, witnessed her victory and refereed to her as the "queen of Asia."[29] After her victory, Lindswell announced her formal retirement from competition, citing knee injuries as her main reason.[13][30]
Her brother, Iwan Kwok, became a secretary and a coach of the Indonesian Wushu Federation.[28]
In 2015, Lindswell, originally a practitioner of Buddhism, started studying Islam after watching one of her teammates pray.[31] After the 2018 Asian Games, she officially converted to Islam and on December 9, 2018, in the absence of her family, she married her former wushu teammate Achmad Hulaefi.[32][33] Their son, Achmad Zubayr, was born on January 10, 2020.[34] In 2022, she gave birth to a son, Achmad Miqdad.
By the Republic of Indonesia
