China's top 10 athletes to watch

Name a Chinese star athlete that's not Yao Ming or Liu Xiang. Time's up. How'd you do? Although China still hasn't cemented its athletic prowess in our collective consciousness, the Middle's Kingdom's rising star are the names you should start memorizing now since they're not going anywhere any time soon.

Badminton star Wang Yihan

Wang Yihan (王仪涵): Badminton, Shanghai

21 years old and already the world number one badminton player, she rolled through the competition with seven titles in 2009, including first-place finishes in five of 12 Badminton World Federation Super Series tournaments. On top of that, the attractive Wang is quickly gaining crossover appeal in China with her looks.

Zhang Lin (张琳): Swimming, Beijing

Zhang became the first Chinese male to win swimming gold in 73 years when he busted Grant Hackett’s world record by an amazing seven seconds in the 800m freestyle at this year’s World Championships in Rome. He’s also collected a bronze and a silver medal in the 400m freestyle in the past 18 months.

Liu Xiang (刘翔): Track, Shanghai

The former world champion, Olympic gold medallist and world record holder disappointed the nation by pulling out of the Beijing Games with an Achilles injury, but the Shanghainese 100m hurdler remains one of the biggest sports stars in China. His 2009 comeback has already netted him a silver at the Shanghai Grand Prix and a gold at the Asian Athletics Championships.

Zou Shiming (邹市明): Boxing, Zunyi (Guizhou)

The world’s top-ranked flyweight amateur was China’s first-ever Olympic boxing champion and has won two of the last three World Championships to boot. Watch for him to move up into the professional ranks sometime in the near future.

A perfect 10 for dive Guo Jingjing.

Guo Jingjing (郭晶晶): Diving, Baoding (Hebei)

Guo Jingjing is a crossover cultural icon and the biggest diving star alive today. The current and five-time winner of the 3m and syncho springboard events at the World Championships is also the three-time defending champion of those two events at the Olympics, making her the most decorated female Olympic diver in history. How long can she keep it up?

Shen Xue & Zhao Hongbo (申雪 & 赵宏博): Figure Skating, Harbin (Heilongjiang)

Long-time figure skating partners, Shen and Zhao are two-time Olympic Bronze medalists, three-time World Champions and five-time Grand Prix Final Champions. The pair retired and married in 2007, but they returned to competition this year and have already won golds at the Cup of China and Skate America while preparing for the Vancouver Olympics.

Li Na李娜, Tennis, Wuhan (Hubei)

Currently the top-ranked womens tennis player in Asia, Li was the first Chinese player to break into the top 20 of the WTA rankings and now sits at 15th in the world. She’s also the first woman to win a WTA event, and had great success this year at the US Open, beating four in straight sets before falling to eventual champion Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals.

Wang Bingyu (王冰玉): Curling, Harbin (Heilongjiang)

China’s quickly developed into a curling power in recent years, and “Betty” is a big reason why. Wang broke out internationally this year, leading her team to China’s first World Championship and then turning it into the first non-Canadian team to ever reach a curling Grand Slam final. She’ll be one of China’s few gold-medal hopes at the upcoming Winter Olympics.

Wang Hao's ping pong version of the crypt walk.

Wang Hao (王皓): Table Tennis, Changchun (Jilin)

Wang finally won his first World Championships this year after holding the world’s top ranking for twenty-six consecutive months, and is now only an Olympic gold away from earning a career Grand Slam. All that success has even earned him the right to have a girlfriend.

Wang Meng (王蒙): Short-Track Speed Skating, Harbin (Heilongjiang)

China’s one of the four world powers in short-track speed skating, and right now, there’s no faster woman than Wang. The two-time defending champion of the World Championships’ overall individual title will next be seen at the Vancouver Games, when she’ll be defending her 500m title and looking to improve on the silver and bronze medals she won in the 1000m and 1500m races in Turin.