121. Yaping Deng 邓亚萍

Yaping Deng, a world champion in table-tennis, is a woman of 30 from Henan Province. At the age of 4, she learnt to play table-tennis under her father's instruction. When she was only 8 years old, she won the championship in the national competition of the amateur sports schools.

乒乓球世界冠军邓亚萍是一位来自湖南的30岁的姑娘，四岁起就在父亲的指导下开始学打乒乓球，年近八岁的她就荣获业余体校全国竞赛的冠军。

She entered the national Training Team in 1988. Since she was only 1.5 meters tall, she made great efforts to improve her foot-work. Her hard work proved that height didn't count for much.

1988年她进入国家集训队，由于她个子矮小，仅1.5米高，她刻苦训练，改进脚底下的功夫。

She won gold medals one after another, the gold medals in the 11th Asian Games Table Tennis Competition, the 41st World Table Tennis championships and the 25th Olympic Games.

她的努力证明，个子的高矮并不能说明一切。邓亚萍先后获得第11届亚乒赛冠军、第41届世乒赛、第25届奥运会的冠军。