Ann Zhang

Ann Zhang (Chinese: 張元元; born 21 June 1957) is a retired Chinese short track athlete and coach, who worked as the coach of the Australian short track team from 1996 to 2014.

Early life

Zhang Yuanyuan was born on 21 June 1957. She hails from Heilongjiang. According to her Facebook profile, she studied at Harbin Sport University from 1981 to 1985. In 1988 she immigrated to Australia.[1][2] Initially she took other jobs while she was teaching skating in sports clubs.[3]

Coaching career

Zhang, living in Brisbane, Australia, began her coaching career as the junior coach of the New South Wales selection in 1992. Four years later she was promoted to become the Australia national coach. At that time, the country's short track team had already achieved considerable success, including the first medal for Australia at the Winter Olympics, a bronze medal in the relay at the Games in Lillehammer in 1994. After Zhang took over the team, an Australian short tracker was able to finish fourth in the Short Track World Cup in 1996. Zhang achieved her greatest successes as a coach at the Olympic Games. The short track team was successful in the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. Steven Bradbury surprisingly won the first Winter Olympics gold medal for his country.

On 15 April 2014, Zhang stepped down as the Australian head coach and retired.[4][5]

In 2019, Zhang briefly worked as an interim coach for the Singaporean national team.[6][7]

References
  1. "李琰执教阿波罗 张元元家乡抒情怀--名将在他乡-搜狐体育". sports.sohu.com. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  2. "华人教练执教海外冰场 冬奥会成绩出色引起关注". www.chinaqw.com. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  3. "李琰：我在国外挺好的 张元元：我超额完成了任务". news.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  4. "I take this opportunity to advise that earlier today, Ann Zhang announced her retirement from the position as Head Coach from the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia Short Track program". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  5. "Ann Zhang has been coaching Australian skaters since 1998 and instrumental in Steven Bradbury's gold in 2002". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  6. "Singapore loses star ice skating coach". The Singapore Monitor. 2 January 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  7. "Ice skating: China to assign coaches to train S'pore's speed skaters as part of partnership between two countries". The Straits Times. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2021.


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