Jujie Luan

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Jujie Luan
Personal information
Nationality Chinese (before 1994)
Canadian (since 1994)
Born (1958-07-14) 14 July 1958 (age 59)
Nanjing, China
Sport
Sport Fencing

Jujie Luan (Chinese :栾菊杰; pinyin :Luán Jújié; born 14 July 1958 [2] in Nanjing, China) is a Chinese-born Canadian fencer. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she became the first Chinese athlete to win the gold medal in fencing. Since moving to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1985, she has become a Canadian citizen. At the age of 50, Luan represented Canada at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She has also participated in the 1988 and 2000 Summer Olympics. [3]

Simplified Chinese characters standardized Chinese characters developed in mainland China

Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, they are one of the two standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the People's Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s to encourage literacy. They are officially used in the People's Republic of China and Singapore.

Hanyu Pinyin, often abbreviated to pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China and to some extent in Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Mandarin Chinese, which is normally written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones. Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters.

Nanjing Prefecture-level & Sub-provincial city in Jiangsu, Peoples Republic of China

Nanjing, formerly romanized as Nanking and Nankin, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China and the second largest city in the East China region, with an administrative area of 6,600 km2 (2,500 sq mi) and a total population of 8,270,500 as of 2016. The inner area of Nanjing enclosed by the city wall is Nanjing City (南京城), with an area of 55 km2 (21 sq mi), while the Nanjing Metropolitan Region includes surrounding cities and areas, covering over 60,000 km2 (23,000 sq mi), with a population of over 30 million.

Career

Being an outstanding athlete in her youth, she had already done well in track and badminton before switching to fencing. [4] She started fencing at the age of 17 and quickly joined the national team in the same year. Luan quickly rose in the international ranking capturing 2nd in the 1978 World Junior Championships (first Asian athlete to enter since 1901) and golds at the 1979 Chinese National Games, 1983 International Women's Fencing Tournament (first East Asian fencer to ever win an international event) and 1984 World Championships. [5] She competed for the Chinese National Fencing Team in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles when she was 26 years old and she became the first East Asian person to ever win an Olympic Gold in the sport of fencing. She also competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics for China.

1984 Summer Olympics Games of the XXIII Olympiad, held in Los Angeles in 1984

The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event that was held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. This was the second time that Los Angeles had hosted the Games, the first being in 1932.

Los Angeles City in California

Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in California, the second most populous city in the United States, after New York City, and the third most populous city in North America. With an estimated population of four million, Los Angeles is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. The city is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, Hollywood and the entertainment industry, and its sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles is the largest city on the West Coast of North America.

1988 Summer Olympics Games of the XXIV Olympiad, celebrated in Seoul (South Korea) in 1988

The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea.

Throughout her fencing career, she was noted for her toughness, once even continuing a match after being stabbed in the arm by a broken foil. She also struggled with kidney problems throughout her career.

Luan eventually moved to Edmonton, Alberta. She first came to Edmonton for the 1983 Summer Universiade and "fell in love with the city" so much that she moved to Edmonton in 1989 where she had three children. She started teaching at the Edmonton Fencing Club [6] and was fundamental in the club's growth expanding it from a mere 40 members in 1989 to over 400 members today. She became a Canadian citizen in 1994.

Edmonton Provincial capital city in Alberta, Canada

Edmonton is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchors the north end of what Statistics Canada defines as the "Calgary–Edmonton Corridor".

Alberta Province of Canada

Alberta is a western province of Canada. With an estimated population of 4,067,175 as of 2016 census, it is Canada's fourth most populous province and the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces. Its area is about 660,000 square kilometres (250,000 sq mi). Alberta and its neighbour Saskatchewan were districts of the Northwest Territories until they were established as provinces on September 1, 1905. The premier has been Rachel Notley since May 2015.

The 1983 Summer Universiade, also known as the 1983 World University Games or XII Summer Universiade, took place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between July 1 and 12, 1983. Over 2400 athletes from 73 countries participated. It was the first time Canada hosted these Games. Edmonton also hosted the 1978 Commonwealth Games.

She continued competing in fencing events in Canada and in the Fencing World Cup winning 4 Canadian National Championships in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999. In 2000, she qualified for her third Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia despite her age at the time of 42. She eventually lost in the preliminary rounds. She actively trained at the EFC and fenced in numerous competitions in hopes of gaining a berth on the 2008 Canadian Olympic team, which she succeeded in accomplishing. [7] [8]

2000 Summer Olympics Games of the XXVII Olympiad, held in Sydney in 2000

The 2000 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and commonly known as Sydney 2000 or the Millennium Olympic Games/Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event which was held between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was the second time that the Summer Olympics were held in Australia, and also the Southern Hemisphere, the first being in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1956.

Sydney City in New South Wales, Australia

Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Port Jackson and extends about 70 km (43.5 mi) on its periphery towards the Blue Mountains to the west, Hawkesbury to the north, the Royal National Park to the south and Macarthur to the south-west. Sydney is made up of 658 suburbs, 40 local government areas and 15 contiguous regions. Residents of the city are known as "Sydneysiders". As of June 2017, Sydney's estimated metropolitan population was 5,230,330 and is home to approximately 65% of the state's population.

Australia Country in Oceania

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Back in China, she is still often studied in textbooks, and has even had a movie made about her life. In 1999 she was named one of China's top 35 sports stars since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. [5]

Luan has qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics for Team Canada. [9] On 11 August 2008, Jujie won her first round 13-9 win against the higher ranked Tunisian fencer Ines Boubakri, but ultimately had a 15-7 loss to Hungary's Aida Mohamed, 32, who was ranked seventh in the world. [10]

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References

  1. "Olympics Statistics: Jujie Luan". databaseolympics.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 2011-04-28.
  2. Canoe.ca biography
  3. "Jujie Luan Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Retrieved 2011-04-28.
  4. Canoe.ca article
  5. 1 2 Chinese Olympic Committee bio
  6. Edmonton Fencing Club
  7. Fencing Frailty Archived 21 July 2012 at Archive.is
  8. "No Way to Cut Luan Story Short" by Terry Bell, The Province, 13 July 2008
  9. Canadian Olympic Committee
  10. Luan's Olympic dream ends