Liu was China's first All Around Medalist in the 2000 Olympics. She also led her team to a bronze medal, but the medal was stripped by the IOC in 2010 after one of the Chinese team members was found to be underage during the competition.
Liu was the first female gymnast to perform a one-arm giant swing on the uneven bars which is named after her in the Gymnastic's Code of Points.
After retiring from gymnastics in 2001, Liu has dabbled as an actress, host, gymnastics judge and commentator. She graduated with a degree in journalism in 2005. She has focused on an entertainment career since signing in 2009 with leading Hong Kong broadcaster TVB, the former training ground for the likes of Stephen Chow, Wong Kar-wai and Chow Yun-fat.
This has been Liu's coming-out year — she released her debut pop album with a Hong Kong label in February and starred in a 30-episode TVB kung fu drama released in March.
Liu said she wants to show that elite athletes can successfully reinvent themselves after their days of competition end. She serves as an example for mainland Chinese athletes who trade their childhoods for rigorous sports programs that can leave them with little other career skills.
Recording her new album "Beautiful Faces" taught her that making music can be more about building the right mood than any practice-makes-perfect strategy she may have used for gymnastics.
She said her gymnastics training came in handy for her role as the feisty wife of a kung fu master in the TVB drama "Grace under Fire," but she had to learn how to manage the strength of her kicks and punches.
Liu said she feels that even though she is a rookie performer, the bar is set higher for her because of her successful gymnastics career.
Liu was the first female gymnast to perform a one-arm giant swing on the uneven bars which is named after her in the Gymnastic's Code of Points.
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| LIU XUAN |
After retiring from gymnastics in 2001, Liu has dabbled as an actress, host, gymnastics judge and commentator. She graduated with a degree in journalism in 2005. She has focused on an entertainment career since signing in 2009 with leading Hong Kong broadcaster TVB, the former training ground for the likes of Stephen Chow, Wong Kar-wai and Chow Yun-fat.
This has been Liu's coming-out year — she released her debut pop album with a Hong Kong label in February and starred in a 30-episode TVB kung fu drama released in March.
Liu said she wants to show that elite athletes can successfully reinvent themselves after their days of competition end. She serves as an example for mainland Chinese athletes who trade their childhoods for rigorous sports programs that can leave them with little other career skills.
Recording her new album "Beautiful Faces" taught her that making music can be more about building the right mood than any practice-makes-perfect strategy she may have used for gymnastics.
She said her gymnastics training came in handy for her role as the feisty wife of a kung fu master in the TVB drama "Grace under Fire," but she had to learn how to manage the strength of her kicks and punches.
Liu said she feels that even though she is a rookie performer, the bar is set higher for her because of her successful gymnastics career.
