Li Nina is a freestyle skiing athlete competing at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics for China.
Though she doesn't enter Vancouver as the reigning Olympic champion or reigning World Cup champion, a case can be made that Li Nina is the top women's aerialist in the world. That distinction comes from the fact that Li—who will be 27 in Vancouver—is the three-time reigning world champion. In addition, she won Olympic silver at the Torino Games (behind Switzerland's Evelyne Leu) and has finished as runner-up in the World Cup aerials standings two of the past three seasons. She made her Olympic debut in Salt Lake City as a 19 year old, placing fifth in aerials at the 2002 Games.
Li's career as an aerialist can be traced back to her background in acrobatics, the branch of gymnastics famous for human tower formations. When she was younger, Li performed acrobatics with Chinese aerialist Xu Nannan, who won the country's first skiing medal (silver) in Nagano. Li has been deemed the successor to Xu, who finished fourth at the Torino Games but has since retired. Both hail from the town of Benxi (ben-SHEE) in the Liaoning province. Li started doing aerials when the daughter of one of her mother's friends brought her along to try out the sport.
Former World Cup aerialist Dustin Wilson, the Canadian head coach of the Chinese team and former head coach of the Australian aerials team, explains that in the past, Li's nickname was "always second best." The genesis for that nickname was that she recorded seven second-place finishes on the World Cup circuit before capturing her first win, in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic, in 2004. Entering the 2009-10 season, Li had recorded 14 career World Cup victories.
Though she doesn't enter Vancouver as the reigning Olympic champion or reigning World Cup champion, a case can be made that Li Nina is the top women's aerialist in the world. That distinction comes from the fact that Li—who will be 27 in Vancouver—is the three-time reigning world champion. In addition, she won Olympic silver at the Torino Games (behind Switzerland's Evelyne Leu) and has finished as runner-up in the World Cup aerials standings two of the past three seasons. She made her Olympic debut in Salt Lake City as a 19 year old, placing fifth in aerials at the 2002 Games.
Li's career as an aerialist can be traced back to her background in acrobatics, the branch of gymnastics famous for human tower formations. When she was younger, Li performed acrobatics with Chinese aerialist Xu Nannan, who won the country's first skiing medal (silver) in Nagano. Li has been deemed the successor to Xu, who finished fourth at the Torino Games but has since retired. Both hail from the town of Benxi (ben-SHEE) in the Liaoning province. Li started doing aerials when the daughter of one of her mother's friends brought her along to try out the sport.
Former World Cup aerialist Dustin Wilson, the Canadian head coach of the Chinese team and former head coach of the Australian aerials team, explains that in the past, Li's nickname was "always second best." The genesis for that nickname was that she recorded seven second-place finishes on the World Cup circuit before capturing her first win, in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic, in 2004. Entering the 2009-10 season, Li had recorded 14 career World Cup victories.
Check out Li Nina hot pics and Li Nina sexy photos.
Li Nina Li Nina Li Nina Li Nina Pictures
SEE ALL LI NINA PICTURES (4)