Zhang Xiaoling is the most successful player in the history of Table Tennis at the Paralympic Games and is one of China’s greatest Paralympians.

She has represented her country at six successive Paralympic Games, making her debut in 1988 in Seoul where she won gold in the Open event. Three gold medals followed at Atlanta 1996, followed by a further two at Sydney 2000.

In the Athens 2004 Singles 6-8 class finals, 47-year-old Zhang fought back from one set behind to defeat Sweden’s Marleen Bengtsson Kovacs to secure victory.

Although Beijing 2008 was the first Games at which she failed to win gold, the bronze she won in women’s Singles maintained her place on the podium and further cemented her reputation as a legend of the sport.