Chen Zhong

Chen Zhong (; born November 22, 1982) is a retired Chinese taekwondo competitor who represented her country at international level for more than 10 years, including three consecutive Summer Olympic Games. She won China's first Olympic gold medal in taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and successfully defended her title at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but did not make it past the quarter-final round.

Early life Chen was born on 22 November 1982 in Jiaozuo, Henan, People's Republic of China. She played basketball at the Jiaozuo Amateur Sport School for four years before changing to taekwondo in 1995. Chen doubted that she could continue but her mother told her to persevere, saying that if others could endure the programme, so could she. She won a bronze medal in taekwondo at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok. The following year, she won gold in her division at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. Leading up to the Summer Olympics in Beijing, Chen won her division at the 2008 Asian Championships in Luoyang. By this time, Zhang Jinghui (a former teammate) was coaching her.

At the quarter-finals of the women's heavyweight taekwondo competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Chen fought Sarah Stevenson from Great Britain and was declared the winner, but British officials protested. They claimed that the referees missed a scoring kick by Stevenson; subsequent examination of video footage showed this to be true. In the semi-final round, the British athlete lost to María del Rosario Espinoza (the eventual gold medallist), meaning that any opportunity for Chen to win a medal through repechage was gone.

During most of her competitive career, Chen was listed at in height and in weight.

Post-competition career In the period leading up to the 2008 Summer Olympics, Chen had indicated that she would retire for taekwondo competition after the Olympic tournament.