Qiao Ya

Qiao Ya is a retired Chinese artistic gymnast. She was the 1994 Asian Games All-Around Champion, a finalist on Balance Beam at the 1994 and 1995 World Gymnastics Championships, and competed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta - where she placed 11th in the individual All-Around and 4th with the team during Team Finals.

Despite a disappointing showing at the 1994 American Cup, Qiao Ya began her international career on a high - beating her more widely known team-mate, Mo Huilan, to Gold during the individual All-Around finals at the 1994 Asian Games. Huilan (the pre-tournament favourite and eventual winner of 5 Gold medals ultimately finished 3rd in the all-around. At these championships Qiao Ya also placed first with her team and finished with a Bronze medal on Balance Beam.

At the 1994 World Championships Qiao Ya had moderate success - finishing 10th in the individual all-around and making the Balance Beam final. Qiao Ya qualified for the Beam final in 4th place and was one of the favourites to challenge America's Shannon Miller for the Gold but took a fall during the final on her tumbling run (a back-handspring to two layout somersaults) and ultimately finished in 7th place.

In 1995 Qiao Ya competed at the 1995 World Championships - where the team took Silver behind 1994 World Champions Romania. The Chinese team actually scored the highest in the Team Optionals portion of the competition but their disappointing scores during the Compulsories round (where they were weak on Vault and Bars) prevented them from taking Gold. During the team competition Qiao Ya did not compete on all four events and so did not make the individual All-Around final. She did however qualify for the Balance Beam final (for the 2nd consecutive year) but a balance break at the beginning of the routine (a difficult round off to layout step-out mount onto the beam) resulted in an 8th place finish.

Qiao Ya also competed at the 1996 Olympics. After their impressive showing at the 1995 Worlds many gymnastics fans and experts expected the Chinese to challenge the US, Romania and Russia for Gold. However the team did not compete well during both the Compulsories and Team Optional exercises and finished the competition in 4th place, just ahead of Ukraine but a long way behind America, Russia and China. Qiao Ya qualified for the all-around final in 29th place and ultimately finished 11th in that competition. Having scored a 9.725 on beam, a 9.675 on floor and 9.718 on vault Qiao Ya looked set to finish in the Top 8 but a disappointing set on bars (traditionally her weakest piece) where she scored only a 9.600 dropped her out of the Top 10 altogether.