Name: Chen Zhong
Date of birth: November 22, 1982 in Jiaozuo, Henan province
Entry for the Beijing Games: Women's taekwondo, 67kg class
Career highlights: Gold medal, 67kg class, 2004 Olympics
Chen Zhong's gold medal in Athens provided the spark that taekwondo needed on the mainland. According to the Beijing Sports Bureau, taekwondo has become the second most popular pastime among Chinese aged 20-35 - behind badminton - yet just five years ago taekwondo aficionados were labelled 'aliens'.
'It is just fantastic, nobody predicted such great changes,' Chen told Beijing Television. 'I remember people always used to ask me if my white uniform was some kind of nightwear.
'We were called aliens because we sometimes went to the post office in our uniform after training.'
