Xu Lijia

Sport: Sailing

Xu Lijia won the women's Laser Radial at the 2012 London Games despite being almost blind and deaf from birth. It is the second gold ever obtained in Chinese Olympic sailing history. She was chosen to be China's flag bearer at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics.

Born in Shanghai on Aug 30, 1987, Xu set foot in Optimist at age 10. When she was 15, she had won two consecutive Optimist world championships in 2001 and 2002. The quiet-looking girl is determined and decisive when competing. Extremely skilled, she was nicknamed the "Female Yao Ming."

Xu was named the female winner of the 2012 ISAF World Sailor of the Year Awards at a ceremony held in Dublin in November of this year.