Gong Lijiao

She finished seventh at the 2007 World Championships, her international debut. At the 2008 Summer Olympics she finished fifth but received the bronze medal later after two competitors were stripped of their medals because of doping violations.

She set a personal best throw of 19.46 metres in the qualifying round of the 2008 Olympics; this was the furthest mark for a female Chinese shot putter for over a decade. At the 2009 National Games of China, Gong further improved her personal best to 19.82 m, taking her to tenth place on the all-time Chinese shot putter's list.[1]

She won the bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin with a personal best of 19.89 metres.[2]

She won the gold medal at the 2009 National Games of China in Jinan with a personal best of 20.35 metres.[3]

She won the gold medal at the 2009 Asian Athletics Championships in Guangzhou with a personal best of 19.04 metres.

She initially finished fourth in the London 2012 Summer Olympics, but was retroactively awarded the bronze medal after the winner, Nadzeya Astapchuk, was disqualified for failing a drug test.[4] On 20 August 2016, the IOC announced Yevgeniya Kolodko, the Russian silver medalist of women's shot put, failed anti-doping test. Gong therefore got the silver medal.[5]

In 2018, Gong won Gold Medal on Women's Shot Put during the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia .[6]

In 2021, she won the gold medal in women's shot put at the 2020 Summer Olympics In Tokyo with her personal best of 20.58 m,[7] thereby becoming the first Chinese athlete to be crowned the Olympic champion in any field event and the first Asian to win an Olympic gold medal in women's shot put.[8]