Tong Jian

Infobox Figure skater
title= Tong Jian


caption=
country= PRC
dateofbirth= birth date and age|1979|8|15
residence= Harbin, China (PRC)
height= convert|180|cm|ftin|abbr=on
weight=
partner= Pang Qing
coach= Yao Bin
skating club= Harbin SC
retired =
combined total= 189.20
combined date= 2006 Worlds
SP score= 67.70
SP date= 2008 Four Continents
FS score= 124.22
FS date= 2006 Worlds

Tong Jian (zh-stp|s=佟健|t=佟健|p=Tóng Jiàn; born August 15, 1979 in Harbin, China) is a Chinese pairs skater. His partner is Pang Qing. They are the 2006 World Figure Skating Champions.

Career

Tong was born in Harbin, China, the home of Chinese pair skating. He began skating at age six. He originally competed as a single skater. He then competed as an ice dancer for two years because of his weak jumps. After his short ice dancing caeer, Tong switched to pairs. He previously competed with Zhang Yue. In 1993, coach Yao Bin teamed him up with Qing and they have been skating together ever since.

When Yao moved to Beijing, Pang and Tong trained without a coach until 1997, when they began training under Yao again.

Pang and Tong did not have a strong junior career, perhaps due to the fact that the Junior Grand Prix did not exist when they were skating at the junior level. They placed 14th, 9th, and 8th at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships between 1997 and 1999. After that, they went senior.

Pang and Tong won the silver medal at the 1997 Chinese national championships, but did not represent China at the World Championships until 1999. They are the 2000 Chinese national champions. At their first major senior international, the 1999 Four Continents Championships (the first Four Continents Championships ever held), they placed 5th. They then went to their first Worlds, where they placed 14th.

In the 1999-2000 season, Pang and Tong made their Grand Prix debut. They placed 4th at Skate Canada and 5th at Cup of Russia. They slowly moved up the ranks over the years. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, coming in as the Four Continents Champions, they placed 9th.

Following the 2001-2002 season, Pang and Tong began to be contenders. They consistently placed on the podium at their Grand Prix events. They won their first World medal (a bronze) at the 2004 World Championships.

At the 2006 Olympics, they placed 4th behind teammates Shen Xue & Hongbo Zhao. They went to the 2006 Worlds and won it.

In the 2006-2007 season, Pang and Tong were unable to defend their World title. They were forced to withdraw from Skate America due to injury. They won the silver medal at the Cup of China, the Asian Winter Games, and the Four Continents Championships. At Worlds, they placed second.

Competitive highlights

(with Pang)

Post-2002

Pre-2002

External links

*
* [http://www.isufs.org/results/owg2006/ 2006 Olympics results]
* [http://www.isufs.org/results/wc2006/ 2006 World Championships results]

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