Li Xiaopeng (simplified Chinese: 鏉庡皬楣? traditional Chinese: 鏉庡皬榈? pinyin: L菒 Xi菐op茅ng) is a male Chinese gymnast. He was born on July 27, 1981 in Changsha, Hunan.

Career

Li Xiaopeng began gymnastics training in Changsha Spare-time Sports School in Hunan Province at age 6 and was taken on by the Hunan provincial team at 12. Soon, Li was setting himself apart from his peers with his diligence and skill, receiving several provincial titles. Later, He was selected into the national team at the age of 15.

Li Xiaopeng became China's youngest world (team) gymnastics champion ever when he and other teammates won men's team final in 1997 Lausanne World Championships, and was only 16 years old at the time. Li also received silver in parallel bars, just second to his teammate Zhang Jingjin, and bronze in floor exercise in the same event, from which he established his reputation and presence in world gymnastics.

In 1999 Tianjin World Championships, Li helped China to win men's team champion again and got his first gold in vault. However, his failure in parallel bars still left him and his fans down, which pushed him to train even harder for the coming Sydney Olympics.

In 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Li Xiaopeng and his teammates were outstanding, winning gold in the prestigious men's team event, a first for China's gymnasts. Li Xiaopeng also won an individual gold medal in the parallel bars.

In 2003 Anaheim World Championships, Li Xiaopeng was the only person to win three gold medals in men's team final, vault and parallel bars, thus was voted 2003 World Gymnast of the Year.

However, due to a severe foot injury, Li's performance in 2004 Athens Olympic Games was unsatisfying. China finished 5th in the men's team final and Li only got a bronze in parallel bars after he had been unbeaten since 2000 in major competitions. He was the fourth athlete to compete in the vault event finals, but unfortunately shuffled during the initial sprint and fell on the first jump.

Li Xiaopeng was tortured by a long-time ankle injury and eventually had an operation in 2005. He then did not attend any competitions for a long time. However, he returned successfully in 2006 by winning a gold in parallel bars again in 2006 S茫o Paulo World Cup Series Final. He thus tied with his idol 鈥?China's gymnastic legend Li Ning 鈥?by winning a record 14 world titles.

In 2008, after suffering through yet another injury, this time in his toe, he came back to compete in the Chinese Nationals and took gold in parallel bars in both World Cup - Cottbus and Tianjin, thus surpassing Li Ning in the number of world titles.

Li Xiaopeng won the parallel bars gold medal at the Beijing Olympics on August 19, proving his strong comeback to the podium at the highest level.