Zhang Shan was born in the city of Nanchong in Sichuan province in Southwest China. She began shooting skeet at age 16. In 1989, she joined the Chinese national skeet team.[2] She won the gold medal in the Olympic Skeet Shooting event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.[1] This event had been mixed, open to both men and women, since it was introduced to the Olympics in 1968. Shan's 1992 gold was the first medal won by a woman in this mixed event.[3] However, 1992 was the last time women competed against men in this category, as they were barred from the 1996 Olympics—a decision made in April 1992, prior to the games where Zhang won her gold medal.[4]
For the 2000 Sydney games, the International Olympic Committee allowed women again, but only in segregated competition. Zhang participated in the 2000 Olympic women's skeet placing 8th.[2][1] She had won the title at seventh National Game in 1993. Zhang won the title at Lonato World Shooting Championship in 2005.[2]
She won a gold medal with the Chinese team in the women's skeet (team event) at the 2007 World Shotgun Championships in Nicosia.[5] She took part in the 2010 ISSF World Shooting Championships in Munich, where she placed 15th in individual skeet.[6] Her later achievements includes a silver medal in 2017 at the 13th Chinese National Games, at the age of 49, 25 years after her Olympic gold medal.[5]
^Jackson, Victoria (2021-08-05). "In Tokyo, as was the case in previous Olympics, mixed gender events remain a mixed bag". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2024-08-07. Retrieved 2024-08-10. Although mixed-gender shooting was already on the Olympic program, the International Shooting Union, at a meeting in April of 1992, and therefore ahead of the Games, elected to bar women from shooting against men in future events.
