Yibing CHEN

Reckoning by number of world titles won, Chen Yibing only ranks behind Jury Chechi as the best gymnast on the rings ever. A relative late-bloomer, Chen won his first World Championship in 2006, retaining the title in 2007. He confirmed his status with an impressive 16.600 exercise in the Olympic final to win Olympic gold. After failing to reach the final at the 2009 worlds, Chen returned with back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011 to claim his third and fourth world gold medals, now only chasing Chechi, who won five titles. At each of the championships in which Chen won gold on the rings, he also captured gold with the Chinese all-around team, bringing his total to 8 world titles and two Olympic golds. Chen, also a double Asian Games champion in 2006, was named Yibing, or )one skate) by his father. He had won a speed skating competition on the day that his son was born.