Taking success overseas

Kazakhstan's Zulfiya Chinshanlo (Zhao Changling) was born in Yong Zhoudao county, Hunan province, on July 25, 1993. She was sent to Kazakhstan as part of its "wolf-breeding program" (hard, rigorous athletic training) and became a Kazakhstan citizen in 2008. At the London Olympics, she won a gold medal and set a new clean-and-jerk world record and total Olympic record on the women's 53 kg weightlifting competition.

Kazakhstan's Maiya Maneza (Yao Li) was born in a village in Fuxin city, Liaoning province, on Nov 1, 1985. She was sent to Kazakhstan as part of the “wolf-breeding program” and became a Kazakhstan citizen in 2008, along with Zulfiya. She trained hard there to realize her dream. And she won the gold medal in the women's 63Kg weightlifting competition at the London Olympics.

Singapore's Li Jiawei participated in the women's table tennis team at the London Olympics. Li was born a Chinese citizen, in Beijing on Aug 9, 1981. She went to Singapore to practice table tennis at the age of 13, and became a Singapore citizen at 18. She has earned many medals in international competitions. She took the silver medal in 2012 World Team Table Tennis Championships.

Malaysia's Huang Qiang (right) competes in the men's synchronised 3m springboard final at the London Olympics. He was born in Changzhou city, Zhejiang province, in 1982. He once won the gold medal in the World Cup Men's Synchronised 10m Platform in 2000, cooperating with Tian Liang, representing China. Unfortunately, he was replaced by Hu Jia only 30 days before the Sydney Olympics. He then went to Malaysia to practice diving, and became a Malaysian citizen in 2011.

Huang Sui (left) is a former Chinese badminton women's doubles player. Now she lives in Australia and will become a naturalized Australian a year later. She was born in Hunan province on Feb 8, 1981 and won many championships for China. But she suddenly disappeared in 2007 before announcing she would compete for Australia in 2012.

South Korea's Tang Na, a former Chinese table tennis player, was born in Changchun, Jilin province, on April 27, 1980. She went to South Korea in 2000, and started as a “l(fā)adder player” (in the talent reserve). Later she competed in many championships representing South Korea and became a South Korean citizen in October 2007. She came in fourth in women's singles at the 2012 Asia Cup Table Tennis Championship.

Japan's Chire Koyama (He Zhili), a famous former Chinese table tennis player, was born in Shanghai on Sep 30, 1964. Representing China, she won the 1987 World Championships in New Delhi, India. However, she left the national team soon after as a result of her decision to not throw matches to her teammates. She was naturalized a Japanese citizen in 1989 and represented Japan at the 1996 Atlanta Games and 2000 Sydney Games. She reached the quarterfinal stage (singles) in both games.