Bi Yirong

In this Chinese name, the family name is Bi.
Bi Yirong
Personal information
Full nameBi Yirong
NicknameRose[1]
National team China
BornHangzhou, China
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese畢易榕
Simplified Chinese毕易榕
Hanyu PinyinBì Yìróng
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle
College teamUniversity of Michigan
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing China
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Incheon 800m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2014 Incheon 400m freestyle

Bi Yirong (born 1996) is a Chinese competitive swimmer who won the gold medal in the 800 meter freestyle at the 2014 Asian Games. She also won a silver medal in 400 meter freestyle there.[2][3] She specializes in freestyle. In 2016, she joined the University of Michigan swim team.[4] She has produced a total of two international medals, one gold and one silver, both in the 2014 Asian Games.

Personal life

Bi was born in Hangzhou in 1996. Her given name Yirong expresses her father's wish that she would have an easy life; it is literally the Chinese word for "easy" (Chinese: 容易; pinyin: Róngyì) with the syllables reversed and a "tree" radical added to the character for "róng", making it into a homophonous morpheme meaning "banyan".[5]

Swimming career

2013 Chinese National Championships

At the 2013 Chinese National Championships, Bi won a gold medal in the 800 meter freestyle. With a time of 8:36.01, she finished almost three seconds ahead of 2nd-place finisher Liu Yiru and five seconds ahead of 3rd-place finisher Yan Siyu.[6] She also won a gold medal in the 400 meter freestyle, a day before she won the 800 meter. She finished with a time of 4:09.41, finishing four seconds ahead of 2nd and 3rd-place finisher Zhang Yufei and Yan Siyu.[7]

2014 Asian Games

At the 2014 Asian Games, Bi won a gold medal in the 800 meter freestyle. She finished with a time of 8:27.54, finishing ahead of Chinese teammate Xu Danlu and Japanese swimmer Asami Chida.[3] She also won a silver medal in the 400 meter freestyle with a time of 4:08.23, one second behind 1st-place finisher Zhang Yuhan.[8]

University of Michigan

In January 2016, Bi joined the University of Michigan swim team.

College honors

Source:[1]
Two-time NCAA All-American (2016: 500-yard Freestyle, 1,650-yard Freestyle)
• Big Ten champion (2016: 800-yard Freestyle Relay)
• All-Big Ten (2016: First Team)
• CSCAA Scholar All-American (2016)

Sophomore (2016–17)
• Big Ten Swimmer of the Week (Oct. 12)
• USA College Challenge (Nov. 12-13): Finished 3rd in the 500-yard Freestyle (4:39.16) and the 1000-yard Freestyle (9:28.38), and 5th in the 400-yard IM (4:10.43).

Freshman (2015–16)
• Two-time NCAA All-American (2016: 500-yard Freestyle, 1,650-yard Freestyle)
• Big Ten champion (800-yard Freestyle Relay)
• All-Big Ten (First Team)
• CSCAA Scholar All-American
• NCAA Championships (March 16–19): Finished 3rd in 1,650-yard Freestyle (15:45.26), 5th in 500-yard Freestyle (4:35.76) and 23rd in 400-yard IM (4:10.34).
• Big Ten Championships (Feb. 17-20): Finished 2nd in both the 500-yard Freestyle (4:35.69) and 1,650-yard Freestyle (15:50.56), and 3rd in the 400-yard IM (4:08.56).

References

  1. ^ a b "Yirong Bi Bio – Michigan Women's Swimming – MGoBlue.com".
  2. ^ "Silver medalist China's Bi Yirong (R) poses with gold medallist and teammate China's Zhang Yuhan after the victory ceremony for the women's 400m freestyle swimming event during the 17th Asian Games..."
  3. ^ a b "Asian Games 2014 Aquatics Swimming Results and Schedule". 2 September 2014.
  4. ^ "Michigan Women Add Chinese National Teamer Yirong Bi At Mid-Season". 2 February 2016.
  5. ^ "全中国最会读书的游泳冠军 是个土生土长的杭州妹子". Hangzhou News. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2019. 毕易榕，1996年出生在杭州，和叶诗文同龄，比傅园慧小1岁，三个姑娘的爸爸也都是多年好友。出生时填名字报户口，老爸希望让女儿将来的日子过得简单容易些，就想着倒过来取个"易容"，却又怕产生歧义，就在"容"字加了个木字旁。
  6. ^ "Chinese national swimming championships results". Xinhua – English.news.cn. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013.
  7. ^ "Chinese national swimming championships results – Sports News". SINA English. 28 October 2013.
  8. ^ Isko, Kots (17 September 2014). "Asian Games 2014 Swimming Results". Pinoy Headline. Archived from the original on 26 August 2017.