Source: CCTV.com

08-16-2008 19:52

Tan was selected to the track and field team at the Tianjin Sports Education School in 1998, which is where she began fencing. She became a national sabre champion the following year and won her first world championship in 2002. Tan defeated the U.S.'s Sada Jacobson, who at the time was ranked No. 1 in the world, to reach the final of the first-ever women's Olympic sabre competition in 2004, where she lost to the U.S.'s Mariel Zagunis.

Having won the silver medal, Tan earned the country's first fencing medal since 1992. She was a runner-up in the 2007 World Championships in St. Petersburg.

In October 2007, Tan was one of seven Chinese Olympic hopefuls invited to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party. To obtain a gold medal in the Olympics is her long cherished dream.

To realize the dream, Tan Xue practiced in various world competitions after the Athens Olympics, hoping to make herself more skillful and experienced. However，she failed again after losing 9-15 to Russia's Sofiya Velikayas during the women’s individual sabre at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Fortunately, a few days later, she, together with her teammates, won the second place in the Women's Team Sabre Gold Match.

 

Editor:Xiong Qu