Yang Yang (A) (Chinese: 楊揚; born 24 August 1976 in Harbin, China) is an Olympic short track speed skater. She is currently a member of the Chinese national short track team. Most notably, her victory in the women's 500m short track at the 2002 Winter Olympics made her China's first-ever Winter Olympics gold medalist. She added a second gold in the women's 1000m short track at the same Games.

The "(A)" identifier was used as a way to distinguish her from another Yang Yang who was one of her contemporaries on the Chinese short track team. Originally, this Yang Yang was known as Yang Yang (L) for "large" (大 or 'big' in Chinese is used to distinguish between younger and older persons of roughly the same age), as she is older than Yang Yang (S) (for "small"); however, she objected to the "L" identifier, changing it to "A". Although Yang Yang (S) is now retired from competition and there is no longer a need to distinguish between the two in results, Yang Yang (A) still uses the identifier in competition, considering it a part of her identity.

Incidentally, the two Yang Yangs do not have identical Chinese names. Yang Yang (A)'s name means "flying flag", while Yang Yang (S)'s means "sunshine".

Personal Bests

References

• Yang Yang (A) (Short-track Speed Skating) from china.org.cn
• Bio at NBC Olympics site

1976 births | Living people | Chinese speed skaters | Olympic competitors for China | Short track speed skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics | Short track speed skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics | Short track speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics | Olympic gold medalists | Olympic silver medalists | Olympic bronze medalists

Yang Yang (A) | Yang Yang (A) | Yang Yang (A) | Yang Yang (A) | Yang Yang (A) | 楊揚