Ep 28: Lily Xu Lijia (x2 Olympic Medallist & x3 World Champion Medallist in Laser Radial)

Lily Xu Lijia (徐莉佳) is a Chinese sailboat racer who won the
bronze medal in the women’s Laser Radial class at the 2008 Summer
Olympics and the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London
where she was also the flag bearer for China at the closing
ceremony. She also medalled at the 2006, 2008 and 2012 World
Championships. 





In this STIMY Episode, Lily shared:





3:38: Why Lily had short hair until the age of 15

4:49: Why Lily told her mother to consider a divorce

7:55: Growing up with her disabilities

10:45: How Zhang Ning, her first coach, discovered and chose
her to attend the Shanghai sailing training camp

13:30: Life in the Shanghai sailing program

15:43: The consequences of disagreeing with what they were
told to do in the sailing program

16:35: The incident that led Lily to seriously study English

19:10: How Lily narrowly escaped death during a training
session off the coast of Wujian;

21:46: Discovering a tumour in her left knee 

24:33: Why Lily loves sailing

27:12: Why she adopted the name Lily

28:38: Her experience at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics

36:02: Communicating with Jon Emmett during the 2012 London
Olympics 

41:48: Being China’s flag bearer for the Closing Ceremony at
the 2012 London Olympics 

44:00: Retiring from the sport after the 2012 London
Olympics 

45:01: Participating in her third Olympics at Rio;

47:34: Working in media

53:01: How COVID-19 has impacted her life & career

54:44: Being an author

55:31: One thing Lily would do differently

56:03: What Lily believes in that most people don’t






Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/28