Hsu Shu-ching

Hsu, of Hakka descent, was born in Lunbei, Yunlin, Taiwan.[1][2] She played basketball in high school, switching to weightlifting at the age of 13, after the school disbanded its basketball team.[3] Hsu later attended Kaohsiung Medical University.[4]

Hsu was coached by Tsai Wen-yee.[5] She won a gold medal in the women's 53 kg at the 2012 London Olympics, after the original gold medalist, Zulfiya Chinshanlo failed a doping retest.[6] At the 2014 Asian Games, she set a world record in the same event, with a lift of 233 kg.[7] Hsu won another gold medal in the women's 53 kg at the 2016 Summer Olympics.[8] Hsu announced her decision to retire from competition in June 2018, citing injuries sustained in the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships.[9][10]

In March 2019, the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee disclosed that Hsu underwent a drug test prior to the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships.[11] Her sample tested positive for a banned substance in January 2018, and the CTOC subsequently placed Hsu under a three-year ban from competition.[12] Hsu's test result was not publicized until March 2019, after the World Anti-Doping Agency issued a deadline for the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee to release the information.[13] Hsu's 2012 Olympic gold medal is scheduled to be formally conferred in 2021, and she will become the first Taiwanese competitor to have received two Olympic gold medals.[14]