Shen Xue

Infobox Figure skater
title= Shen Xue


caption=
country= PRC
dateofbirth= birth date and age|1978|11|13
residence= Harbin, China (PRC)
height= convert|160|cm|ftin|abbr=on
weight=
partner= Zhao Hongbo
coach= Yao Bin
skating club= Harbin SC
retired =
combined total= 206.54
combined date= 2005 GP Final
SP score= 71.07
SP date= 2007 Worlds
FS score= 136.02
FS date= 2005 GP Final

Shen Xue (zh-stp|s=申雪|t=申雪|p=Shēn Xuě; born November 13, 1978 in Harbin, China) is a pair skater from China. Along with her partner Zhao Hongbo, they became the first World Champion pairs team from China, and also the first to win an Olympic medal. Shen and Zhao were the first Chinese pair to be competitive on the senior international level. They are three time World Champions and five time Grand Prix Final Champions.

At the 2004-2005 Grand Prix Final, they set the World Records under the ISU Judging System for the short program, free skating, and overall combined scores. The short program score has since been broken.

Personal life

Shen and Zhao announced their engagement after the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships. They were married shortly after.

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. They impressed audiences with their abilities and finished an impressive 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.

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, missing a throw quadruple salchow attempt. They became the first Chinese pair to win a medal at the Olympics for figure skating.

Shen and Zhao won their first World Championship in 2002. They repeated this win the following year in Washington D.C. While practing their throw quadruple salchow, Shen landed badly and severely injured her landing foot and ankle. She required several treatments to numb the foot entirely so that she should compete. The pair performed a brilliant long program that earned them several perfect 6.0's for both technical merits and presentation.

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 with a string of 6.0s, 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 tendon 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.

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. Following the win, they married and announced their retirement from the sport.

Competitive highlights

(With Zhao)

Post-2001

* WD = Withdrew

Pre-2001

External links

* [http://shzh.sports.cn/ Official Website]
* [http://shenxuehongbo.blog.sohu.com Official Blog]
* [http://www.pairsonice.net/profileview.php?pid=63 Pairs on Ice: Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao]
*isu name | id=00000595 | name=Xue Shen

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Persondata
NAME=Shen Xue
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=申雪; Shēn Xǔe
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Chinese figure skater
DATE OF BIRTH=November 13, 1978
PLACE OF BIRTH=Harbin, China
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=