 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Guo Shuang |
| Born | February 26, 1986 Tongliao, Inner Mongolia, China |
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[1] |
| Weight | 70 kg (154 lb)[1] |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Track |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Sprint |
| Major wins | |
| World keirin champion (2009) | |
Medal record | |
Guo Shuang (郭爽, born February 26, 1986) is a Chinese professional track cyclist. She won two bronze medals at the 2006 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, in Sprint and Keirin, and two silver medals at the 2007 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, again in Sprint and Keirin.
Guo had an eventful semi-final in the sprint at the 2008 Summer Olympics, having won the first heat and conceded the second to her opponent Anna Meares, the third heat saw Guo come down the banking too steeply and her front wheel slipped from beneath her. The heat was re-run and although Guo won by a few millimetres, she was relegated for coming down the tack and pushing Meares onto the côte d'azure on the final lap. This put Meares through to the final ride-off for gold. Guo went on to win the final ride-off for the bronze against Willy Kanis.
Guo competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.[2] She and Gong Jinjie set a world record of 32.447 seconds in the qualification round of the team sprint event, which they then improved upon with 32.422 in the next round.[3] They went on to finish first in the final against the German team, but were disqualified for an early relay, and were relegated to the silver medal instead.[4] Guo and Gong's coach Daniel Morelon maintains that the pair were "robbed" of the gold medal, and described it as an "injustice". He complained that the judges refused to provide a "video footage of the race on slow motion", and only provided a "vague explanation" for the infringement they had allegedly committed.[5] However, the British cycling champions Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Varnish, who were also disqualified for a similar reason earlier on in the competition, accepted the judges decision and chose not to claim that they were unfairly robbed of a medal.[6] Pendleton recovered and went on to win a gold medal in the women's keirin event with Guo Shuang coming 2nd.[7]
- ^ a b "Athlete Biography – GUO Shuang". Beijing Olympics official website. Archived from the original on September 2, 2008.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Guo Shuang". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on December 4, 2016.
- ^ "Cycling – China set world record, Britain out". Reuters. August 2, 2012. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
- ^ "Chinese women's sprint cycling team disqualified for lane change; Germany wins Olympic gold". Washington Post. August 2, 2012. Archived from the original on January 19, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
- ^ "Chinese cycling coach says women's sprint team 'robbed' of gold". CBC. August 3, 2012.
- ^ "Victoria Pendleton & Jess Varnish relegated from team sprint". BBC News. August 2, 2012. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
- ^ Victoria Pendleton wins gold in the women's keirin at London 2012 Olympics. www.telegraph.co.uk. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.