Xing Huina

Xing Huina is a former Chinese track and field athlete. She is widely recognised as the most successful Asian female runner of all time, after winning the Athens olympic gold medal in 2004. In a relatively short elite career that effectively ended before the age of 25, her most significant achievement was to win a shock gold in the 2004 Olympic Games in the women's 10,000 m at the age of just 20. Narrowly missing the podium twice in the 2005 World Championships in the following year, the lifetime ban for her coach Wang Dexian for doping his athletes in 2006, and recurrent injuries, derailed her following years. A move to marathon running failed to revitalise her career, and Xing effectively retired in 2009.