View source for Li Ya

{{short description|Chinese artistic gymnast (born 1988)}}
{{Infobox gymnast
| name = Li Ya
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| full_name = Li Ya
| nickname =
| country = {{CHN}}
| formercountry =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1988|6|13}}
| birth_place = [[Bengbu]], [[Anhui]]
| hometown =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| height = 156 cm
| discipline = WAG
| level =
| natlteam =
| club =
| gym =
| collegeteam =
| headcoach = [[Liu Guicheng]], [[He Hua]]
| assistcoach =
| formercoach =
| choreographer = [[Ou Yangqin]]
| music = Duez-Bond
| eponymousskills = "Li Ya salto" and "Li Ya dismount"(uneven bars)
| retired = 2008
| show-medals = yes
| medaltemplates = <!-- see [[Template:MedalRelatedTemplates]] -->
{{MedalCompetition|[[World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|World Championships]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|2006 Aarhus]]|[[2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|Team]]}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Artistic Gymnastics World Cup|World Cup Final]]}}
{{MedalGold|2006 São Paulo|Balance Beam}}
{{MedalSilver|2006 São Paulo|Uneven Bars}}
{{MedalSilver|2004 Birmingham|Balance Beam}}
{{MedalBronze|2004 Birmingham|Uneven Bars}}
}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Li (李)|Li]]|lang=Chinese}}

'''Li Ya''' ({{zh|s=李娅|t=李婭|p=Lǐ Yà}}; born June 13, 1988, in [[Bengbu]], [[Anhui]]) is a former [[Chinese people|Chinese]] [[gymnast]]. She was a member of the Chinese team that won the team competition at the [[2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|2006 World Championships]] and competed in the World Championships in Anaheim<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2008/08/evidence-of-age-fraud-mounts-china-insists-gymnasts-are-16/|title=Baidu cache offers more evidence of underage Chinese gymnasts|date=20 August 2008 |access-date=2016-08-15}}</ref> and was also a member of the [[China at the 2004 Summer Olympics|2004 Olympic Team]]. During her career, she was an [[Uneven bars (gymnastics)|uneven bars]] and [[balance beam]] specialist.

Li Ya has two moves named after her in the [[Code of Points (artistic gymnastics)|Code of Points]]: the "Li Ya salto", which is a straddled Jaeger {{frac|1|2}} release (which she usually connected to a straddled Jaeger), and the "Li Ya dismount", which is an Arabian double-front in a piked position. Li retired from the national team in 2008.<ref name="intgym">{{cite news|url=http://www.intlgymnast.com/olympics/605.html|title=Li Ya Blogs from Beijing!|date=2008-08-12|work=International Gymnast Magazine|accessdate=2008-08-21}}</ref>

==Biography==
Li Ya is the 2004 National Champion on the uneven bars as well as the 2004 National All Around Silver Medalist. She had a great deal of success in the 2004 World Cup Circuit despite a bad showing at the [[Gymnastics at the 2004 Summer Olympics|2004 Olympics]]. In the team final in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens she fell twice on beam scoring an 8.300 (once on her front flip and then underrotated on her double back dismount and put her hands down). Then in the event finals, she fell again on her front flip and scored a 9.050 (ranking 7th).  She won the uneven bars title at the [[Glasgow]] and [[Ghent]] World Cup Qualifiers. She also won a bronze medal at the 2004 Glasgow World Cup Qualifier. In December 2004 Li Ya qualified to the World Cup Final in [[Birmingham]]. She was the most successful Chinese female gymnast at the World Cup Final. She won a bronze medal on the uneven bars and a silver medal on the balance beam.

Li was briefly injured in 2005, but recovered in time to win silver medals at the 2005 Chinese National Championships<!--gymnastics, not artistic gymnastics--> and the 2005 Britain vs China Dual Meet on the uneven bars. In October, she competed at the National Games but did not win any medals.  A few weeks later, she was part of China's winning team at the East Asia Games in [[Macau]], where she also won a gold medal on the uneven bars. She was not selected for the 2005 World Championships in [[Melbourne]].

She competed in the 2006 [[Tournament of Masters]] in [[Cottbus]], a world cup event, and won the gold medal on the uneven bars. In this event, she pioneered a difficult release-release combination, a Jaeger with a half turn directly into a Jaeger. The Jaegar with 1/2 turn release was later named for her. Li also qualified for the beam final and finished in fourth place, due to a mistake on her first skill.

She competed at the 2006 World Championships in [[Aarhus]], [[Denmark]] where she was a member of the Chinese team that won the gold medal in the women's team event.

After this competition, Li Ya was not named to the team for the [[2006 Asian Games]] in [[Doha]], [[Qatar]]. However, she had one more chance, having qualified for bars and beam in the World Cup Finals in [[Brazil]], held in December. She hit her routines at this competition, winning silver on bars behind world champion [[Beth Tweddle]], and winning gold on the balance beam.

In 2007, Li Ya competed in the [[Maribor World Cup]] where she placed 2nd on balance beam and 1st on the uneven bars.

She announced her retirement in 2008.

==Eponymous Skills== 
Li has an uneven bars release move and a dismount named after her in the [[Code of Points (gymnastics)|Code of Points]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Women’s Artistic Gymnastics – 2025-2028 Code of Points |url=https://www.gymnastics.sport/publicdir/rules/files/en_1.1%20-%20WAG%20COP%202025-2028.pdf |website=[[International Gymnastics Federation]] |date=22 April 2024 |access-date=2 February 2025}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
!Apparatus
!Name
!Description
![[Code of Points (gymnastics)#Table of elements|Difficulty]]{{efn|name=difficulty|Valid for the 2025–2028 Code of Points}}
|-
|rowspan="2" | Uneven bars || Li Ya || Jaeger salto straddled with ½ turn (180°) to hang on high bar || D (0.4)
|-
| [[Carlotta Giovannini|Giovannini]]-Li Ya || Swing forward with ½ turn (180°) to double salto forward piked || E (0.5)
|}
{{notelist}}

==Competitive history==
===2007 season===

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Year
! Competition Description
! Location
! Apparatus
! Rank-Final
! Score-Final
! Rank-Qualifying
! Score-Qualifying
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2007
| rowspan="2" |World Cup/Series
| rowspan="2" | Maribor
| Balance Beam
|bgcolor="silver" | 2
| 14.350 ||  8 ||  14.000
|-
| Uneven Bar
|bgcolor="gold" |   1
| 16.025 ||  1 ||  15.500
|-
|}

===2006 season===

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Year
! Competition Description
! Location
! Apparatus
! Rank-Final
! Score-Final
! Rank-Qualifying
! Score-Qualifying
|-
| rowspan="10" | 2006
| rowspan="4" | World Championships
| rowspan="4" | Aarhus
| All Around
|
|
|      188 || 28.425
|-
|Balance Beam
|
|
|     65 || 13.975
|-
|Team || bgcolor="gold" |   1   || 182.200||   2||   239.525
|-
| Uneven Bars
|
|
|     32
| 14.450
|-
| rowspan="2" |World Cup/Series
| rowspan="2" | Cottbus
| Balance Beam
| 4
| 14.800
|
|
|-
|Uneven Bars
|bgcolor="gold" |   1
|  15.800
|
|
|-
| World Cup/Series || Ghent || Uneven Bar || bgcolor="gold" |  1 ||  15.725 || ||
|-
| World Cup/Series || Shanghai || Balance Beam  ||bgcolor="silver" |  2 ||  15.450 || ||
|-
| rowspan="2" | World Cup/Series
| rowspan="2" | São Paulo
|Balance Beam
|bgcolor="gold" | 1
|  15.625
|
|
|-
|Uneven Bar
|bgcolor="silver" |   2
|  16.225
|
|
|-
|}

===2004 season===
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Year
! Competition Description
! Location
! Apparatus
! Rank-Final
! Score-Final
! Rank-Qualifying
! Score-Qualifying
|-
| rowspan="10" | 2004
| rowspan="4" | [[Olympic Games]]
| rowspan="4" | Athens
| All Around
|
|
|   65
| 28.412
|-
|Balance Beam
|  7
|  9.050
|  6
|  9.600
|-
|Team ||   7 || 110.008||  3 || 151.085
|-
|Uneven Bars
|   5
|  9.562
|   3
|  9.675
|-
| rowspan="2" |World Cup/Series Final
| rowspan="2" | Birmingham
| Balance Beam || bgcolor="silver" |   2 ||  9.612 || ||
|-
|Uneven Bar || bgcolor="cc9966" |   3 ||  9.600 || ||
|-
|  rowspan="2" | World Cup/Series
| rowspan="2" | Glasgow
| Balance Beam  || bgcolor="cc9966" |  3 ||  9.325    || ||
|-
| Uneven Bar || bgcolor="gold" |   1 ||  9.500 ||  ||
|-
|rowspan="2" |  World Cup/Series
|rowspan="2" | Ghent
| Balance Beam   || 4||  9.375 ||  ||
|-
| Uneven Bar   || bgcolor="gold" | 1 ||  9.712 || ||
|-
|}

===2003 season===
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Year
! Competition Description
! Location
! Apparatus
! Rank-Final
! Score-Final
! Rank-Qualifying
! Score-Qualifying
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2003
| rowspan="2" | World Championships
| rowspan="2" | Anaheim
|Balance Beam ||  4 ||  9.450 || ||
|-
|Team ||   4 || 110.259 || 1 || 148.671
|-
|}

==Floor Music==
*2004-2006 "Duel" by Bond

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{FIG|bio=18019|lic=426|name=LI Ya}}
* {{Olympedia}}

{{NavigationWorldChampionsArtisticGymnasticsWomenTC|2006}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Ya}}
[[Category:1988 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Chinese female artistic gymnasts]]
[[Category:21st-century Chinese sportswomen]]
[[Category:Gymnasts at the 2004 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships]]
[[Category:Olympic gymnasts for China]]
[[Category:Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics]]
[[Category:People from Bengbu]]
[[Category:Gymnasts from Anhui]]