Zhong Tianshi

Zhong Tianshi (, born 2 February 1991) is a Chinese track cyclist. She represented her nation at the 2012, 2014 and 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. In 2015, she became world champion in the team sprint and won bronze in the sprint.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, she and her partner Gong Jinjie established a world record of 31.928 seconds in the qualification round of the team sprint event, before sprinting their way towards a gold-medal triumph for the Chinese track cycling team in the final match against Russia.

On 2 August 2021, she teamed with Bao Shanju and defended her Olympic championship in the women's team sprint at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, thus becoming the first Chinese cyclist to win two Olympic gold medals. During the first round, she and Bao set the new world record of 31.804 seconds. While being awarded at the medals ceremony, Zhong and her partner Bao were seen on top of the podium with Mao Zedong pin-badges affixed to their team sporting jackets, alluding to symbolic patriotism; however, according to Graham Dunbar and Joe McDonald at Associated Press, this symbolism may have been in breach of Olympic Charter Rule 50 (which prohibits political statements on the podium), and that this "incident came one day after silver medalist Raven Saunders (standing below gold medalist Gong Lijiao of China) crossed the wrists of her raised arms on the podium", to which Dunbar and McDonald further suggested that it may have been "a response to the (Gong/Saunders) women's shot-put medal ceremony".

Major results

2014 Asian Track Championships

Asian Games

1st Sprint, Hong Kong International Track Cup 1st Keirin, South Australian Track Classic China Track Cup 1st Keirin 2nd Keirin 2nd Sprint 2nd Sprint, Adelaide Cycling Grand Prix 2nd Sprint, Super Drome Cup 2015 1st Sprint, Singen 1st Keirin, Oberhausen 1st Keirin, Öschelbronn 1st Sprint, Dudenhofen Cottbuser SprintCup 1st Sprint 2nd 500m Time Trial GP von Deutschland im Sprint 1st Sprint 1st Team Sprint (with Gong Jinjie) 3rd Keirin China Track Cup 1st Keirin 1st Sprint 2nd Keirin 2016 Asian Track Championships

2017 National Track Championships

3rd Team Sprint (with Guo Shuang) 2nd Sprint, China Track Cup 2018 Asian Track Championships