Zhao Hongbo

Infobox Figure skater
title= Zhao Hongbo


caption=
country= PRC
dateofbirth= birth date and age|1973|9|22
residence= Harbin, China (PRC)
height= convert|177|cm|ftin|abbr=on
weight=
partner= Shen Xue
formerpartner=Xie Maomao
coach= Yao Bin
skating club= Harbin SC
retired =
combined total= 206.54
combined date= 2005 GP Final
SP score= 71.07
SP date= 2007 Worlds
FS score= 136.02
FS date= 2005 GP Final

Zhao Hongbo (zh-stp|s=赵宏博|t=趙宏博|p=Zhào Hóngbó; born September 22, 1973) is a Chinese pair skater. With his partner Shen Xue, they won three World Championship titles, five Grand Prix Final championships and two Olympic medals.

At the 2004-2005 Grand Prix Final, they set the World Records under the ISU Judging System for the short program, free skating, and overall combined scores. The short program score has since been broken.

Personal life

At the end of their free skate at the 2007 Worlds, Zhao attempted to propose to Shen, but did not manage to get the question across until some time afterwards. They have since married.

They currently live and coach in Shenzhen.

Early career

Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo began skating together in 1992, under the tutelage of Yao Bin. They competed at their first Olympics in 1998, in Nagano, Japan and finished a respectable fifth. They went on to the World Championships a year later with improved choreography and expression, and won the silver medal, becoming the first Chinese team to ever win a World Championship medal.

Shen and Zhao improved each year, and were considered to be one of the top teams in the world. They won another silver medal at the Worlds in 2000, and a bronze in 2001. They were considered strong medal contenders in the 2002 Winter Olympics. They won the bronze with a strong performance, missing a throw quadruple salchow attempt. They became the first Chinese pair to win a medal at the Olympics for figure skating.

Shen and Zhao won their first World Championship in 2002. They repeated this win the following year in Washington D.C. While practing their throw quadruple salchow, Shen landed badly and severely injured her landing foot and ankle. She required several treatments to numb the foot entirely so that she should compete. The pair performed a brilliant long program that earned them several perfect 6.0's for both technical merits and presentation.

Their attempt to win a third straight World title in 2004 was thwarted when Zhao fell during their short program. They rebounded to win the free program with a string of 6.0s, but it was only good enough for second overall behind their new rivals Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia. Their problems escalated in 2005 when Zhao's achilles injury forced them to withdraw from the World Championships, and weeks later, he ruptured the tendon during practice. They missed the entire competitive season and were unable to return to the ice until weeks before the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Their lack of adequate preparation was obvious, but they managed to win a second Olympic bronze medal.

The 2006-07 proved to be a very strong season for the pairs by winning the Grand Prix Final, the 2007 Asian Winter Games, the 2007 Four Continents Championship, and most importantly, the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships. On March 21, 2007 they won their third World Championship title, and announced their plan to retire and marry. [ [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/sports/2007-03/23/content_835311.htm Figure skating champions to tie knot ] ]

Competitive highlights

(With Shen)

Post-2001

* WD = Withdrew

Pre-2001

References

External links

* [http://shzh.sports.cn/ Official Website]
* [http://shenxuehongbo.blog.sohu.com Official Blog]
* [http://www.pairsonice.net/profileview.php?pid=63 Pairs on Ice: Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao]
*isu name | id=00000595 | name=Hongbo Zhao

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Persondata
NAME=Zhao, Hongbo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=赵宏博 (Chinese); Zhào Hóngbó (Pinyin)
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Chinese figure skater
DATE OF BIRTH=September 22, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=