Xie Xingfang

In this Chinese name, the family name is Xie (谢).

Xie Xingfang (born September 8, 1981) is a retired Chinese badminton player from Guangzhou, Guangdong. She is a former two-time world champion for women's singles, and former women's singles World No. 1.^[1]

Xie Xingfang 谢杏芳
Personal information
Country	China
Born	(1981-09-08) September 8, 1981 (age 43) Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	60 kg (132 lb; 9 st 6 lb)
Spouse	Lin Dan ​ (m. 2010)​
Handedness	Right
Women's singles
Highest ranking	1
Medal record Women's badminton Representing  China Olympic Games 2008 Beijing Women's singles World Championships 2005 Anaheim Women's singles 2006 Madrid Women's singles 2009 Hyderabad Women's singles World Cup 2005 Yiyang Women's singles 2006 Yiyang Women's singles Sudirman Cup 2005 Beijing Mixed team 2007 Glasgow Mixed team 2009 Guangzhou Mixed team Uber Cup 2004 Jakarta Women's team 2006 Sendai/Tokyo Women's team 2008 Jakarta Women's team Asian Games 2006 Doha Women's team 2006 Doha Women's singles Asian Championships 2000 Jakarta Women's singles 2009 Suwon Women's singles World Junior Championships 1998 Melbourne Girls' doubles 1998 Melbourne Mixed doubles Asian Junior Championships 1999 Yangon Girls' doubles 1999 Yangon Girls' team 1998 Kuala Lumpur Girls' team 1998 Kuala Lumpur Girls' doubles
BWF profile

Xie Xingfang
Traditional Chinese	謝杏芳
Simplified Chinese	谢杏芳
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xiè Xìngfāng Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Che6 Hang6 Fong1

Her first big title was in girls' doubles, with her provincial teammate Zhang Jiewen, at the World Junior Championships in 1998. She has also won a bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in mixed doubles with Cai Yun. However, once she entered the Chinese national team, she switched to singles. 2004 was her "break-out" year, as she won several top tier titles on the world circuit. Xie and her senior compatriot and rival Zhang Ning were the most dominant international women's singles players of the middle and late parts of the decade, though they were pressed by younger teammates such as Zhu Lin, Lu Lan, Jiang Yanjiao and Wang Yihan. Due to her height and slender figure, she is regarded to have elegant movement. Xie's strengths were her reach, quickness, consistency, and court sense. She was a member of China's world champion Uber Cup teams of 2004, 2006, and 2008.

Her last appearance as a player in a major badminton competition came at the National Games of China in October 2009.

During most of her badminton career Xie was romantically involved with fellow Chinese badminton star Lin Dan. In 2006 Xie and Lin won their respective women's and men's singles titles at the IBF World Championships in Madrid. Xie had also won the world title in 2005 when Lin finished second to Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat. Xie Xingfang and Lin Dan were married in Guangzhou, China, on 13 December 2010, after seven years of dating. She is also a mother of a son, Lin Xiao Yu, who was born on 5 November 2016.

Achievements

Olympic Games

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2008	Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium, Beijing, China	Zhang Ning	12–21, 21–10, 18–21	Silver

World Championships

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2009	Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad, India	Lu Lan	21–23, 12–21	Silver
2006	Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad, Madrid, Spain	Zhang Ning	21–16, 21–14	Gold
2005	Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, United States	Zhang Ning	11–8, 9–11, 11–3	Gold

World Cup

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2006	Olympic Park, Yiyang, China	Wang Yihan	18–21, 19–21	Silver
2005	Olympic Park, Yiyang, China	Zhang Ning	21–19, 21–16	Gold

Asian Games

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2006	Aspire Hall 3, Doha, Qatar	Wang Chen	17–21, 21–17, 16–21	Bronze

Asian Championships

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2009	Suwon Indoor Stadium, Suwon, South Korea	Zhu Lin	11–21, 10–21	Silver
2000	Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Indonesia	Ellen Angelina	2–11, 11–7, 11–3	Gold

World Junior Championships

Girls' doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1998	Sports and Aquatic Centre, Melbourne, Australia	Zhang Jiewen	Gong Ruina Huang Sui	3–15, 15–13, 15–10	Gold

Mixed doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1998	Sports and Aquatic Centre, Melbourne, Australia	Cai Yun	Chan Chong Ming Joanne Quay	4–15, 3–15	Bronze

Asian Junior Championships

Girls' doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1999	National Indoor Stadium – 1, Yangon, Myanmar	Zhang Jiewen	Li Yujia Wei Yili	15–9, 15–6	Gold
1998	Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Dong Fang	Jun Woul-sik Lee Hyo-jung	3–15, 8–15	Bronze

BWF Superseries

The BWF Superseries, launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries has two levels: Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries features twelve tournaments around the world, which introduced since 2011, with successful players invited to the Superseries Finals held at the year end.

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2009	Singapore Open	Zhou Mi	19–21, 21–18, 10–21	Runner-up
2008	Hong Kong Open	Wang Chen	16–21, 21–10, 10–21	Runner-up
2008	French Open	Wang Lin	18–21, 21–13, 11–21	Runner-up
2008	Swiss Open	Zhang Ning	21–18, 21–17	Winner
2007	Hongkong Open	Zhu Lin	21–19, 21–14	Winner
2007	China Open	Wong Mew Choo	16–21, 21–8, 17–21	Runner-up
2007	French Open	Pi Hongyan	21–13, 21–13	Winner
2007	Japan Open	Tine Rasmussen	15–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2007	China Masters	Zhang Ning	21–11, 8–21, 23–21	Winner
2007	Singapore Open	Zhang Ning	18–21, 21–19, 3–21	Runner-up
2007	All England Open	Pi Hongyan	21–6, 21–13	Winner
2007	Korea Open	Zhu Lin	21–14, 21–7	Winner

  BWF Superseries tournament

  BWF Superseries Premier tournament

  BWF Superseries Finals tournament

BWF Grand Prix

The BWF Grand Prix has two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. The World Badminton Grand Prix has been sanctioned by the International Badminton Federation since 1983.

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2008	Thailand Open	Lu Lan	26–24, 21–7	Winner
2007	Macau Open	Jun Jae-youn	21–10, 21–10	Winner
2007	German Open	Huaiwen Xu	19–21, 21–12, 21–19	Winner
2006	Japan Open	Zhang Ning	11–21, 21–16, 29–30	Runner-up
2006	Hongkong Open	Zhang Ning	Walkover	Winner
2006	Chinese Taipei Open	Zhang Ning	15–21, 15–21	Runner-up
2006	China Masters	Wang Lin	21–15, 13–21, 15–21	Runner-up
2006	All England Open	Zhang Ning	11–6, 4–11, 11–2	Winner
2005	China Open	Zhang Ning	11–3, 4–11, 8–11	Runner-up
2005	Hongkong Open	Zhang Ning	4–11, 11–1, 6–11	Runner-up
2005	Japan Open	Zhang Ning	7–11, 8–11	Runner-up
2005	All England Open	Zhang Ning	11–3, 11–9	Winner
2005	German Open	Zhang Ning	11–5, 11–4	Winner
2004	Indonesia Open	Eriko Hirose	11–8, 11–0	Winner
2004	China Open	Wang Chen	5–11, 11–3, 11–4	Winner
2004	German Open	Xu Huaiwen	9–11, 11–6, 11–7	Winner
2004	Denmark Open	Yao Jie	11–9, 8–11, 11–7	Winner
2003	Indonesia Open	Wang Chen	11–6, 8–11, 11–1	Winner
2003	Japan Open	Camilla Martin	1–11, 5–11	Runner-up
2003	All England Open	Zhou Mi	6–11, 5–11	Runner-up
1999	Hong Kong Open	Ling Wan Ting	7–11, 11–7, 11–4	Winner

  BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

  BWF & IBF Grand Prix tournament

IBF International

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2002	French International	Wang Rong	7–3, 7–2, 7–1	Winner

Record against selected opponents

Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists.

Players Matches Results Difference Won Lost / Huang Chia-chi 2 2 0 +2 Petya Nedelcheva 3 3 0 +3 Dai Yun 3 1 2 –1 Gong Ruina 6 3 3 0 Gong Zhichao 1 0 1 –1 Lu Lan 12 9 3 +6 Wang Lin 5 2 3 –1 Wang Yihan 5 3 2 +1 Zhang Ning 23 11 12 –1 Zhu Lin 6 5 1 +4 Cheng Shao-chieh 5 3 2 +1 Tine Baun 12 11 1 +10 Camilla Martin 5 2 3 –1 Tracey Hallam 9 8 1 +7

Players Matches Results Difference Won Lost Pi Hongyan 10 9 1 +8 Petra Overzier 2 2 0 +2 Juliane Schenk 4 4 0 +4 Xu Huaiwen 9 9 0 +9 / Wang Chen 9 7 2 +5 Yip Pui Yin 4 3 1 +2 / Zhou Mi 12 3 9 –6 Saina Nehwal 2 2 0 +2 Maria Kristin Yulianti 2 2 0 +2 Wong Mew Choo 8 6 2 +4 / Mia Audina 6 6 0 +6 Bae Yeon-ju 1 1 0 +1 Kim Ji-hyun 1 0 1 –1