Lina Lei

Lina Lei’s table tennis odyssey began in her native Sichuan, China, when she was five years old. By the time she was 15, Lei had become a World Para Champion in singles and teams and, two years later, claimed the first of her Paralympic gold medals, at Athens in 2004.

Born with a deficiency in her right lower leg, Lei kept her self-confessed sweet tooth at bay to remain a force in her sport between 2006 and 2014, winning every gold medal up for grabs at Paralympic level and at World Para Championships, a truly extraordinary run of success.

Following the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Lei moved to Australia, and was selected to represent her new nation for the first time at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

At the Games, Lei ended Australia’s 37-year gold medal drought when she won the women’s individual class 9 final 3-2 against former China teammate Guiyan Xiong. Xiong won the opening set 6-11, however, Lei fought back to win the next two games, winning both sets with a score of 11-5. After the fourth set was won by Xiong 9-11, the two battled for the gold medal in a pivotal fifth set. Dominating 11-5, Lei secured the win to become a six-time Paralympic gold medallist. It was also Australia’s first-ever gold medal in the women’s singles event.

Following her individual competition, she teamed up with Qian Yang and Melissa Tapper in the women’s team class 9-10 event, advancing to the gold medal match. The Australian trio claimed silver after being defeated by Natalia Partyka and Karolina Pek of Poland 2-0.