Olympic silver medalist He Bing Jiao of China has retired from international badminton. She will, however, continue to play domestic tournaments.
The left-hander from China contested the women’s singles final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Although she lost to top seed An Se Young, her second-placed finish was the biggest accomplishment of her career at a major tournament.
(He Bing Jiao won the final point in the Uber Cup for China in May 2024.)
He Bing Jiao first shot to prominence with a runner-up finish to Akane Yamaguchi at the BWF World Junior Championships 2014. She reversed that result at the Youth Olympic Games later that year on home soil in Nanjing, beating Yamaguchi in the final.
In the period after Rio 2016, with the retirements and fading-out of China’s top stars like Wang Yihan, Wang Shixian and Li Xuerui, a fresh generation, with He Bing Jiao and Chen Yu Fei at the forefront, would take their place. Among the prominent results early in her career were the Japan Open 2016 win over compatriot Sun Yu and the French Open win the same year over Beiwen Zhang.
She would win a few other titles on the HSBC BWF World Tour, including the Denmark Open and the French Open in 2022, beating Chen Yu Fei and Carolina Marin respectively.
As a key member of the Chinese team, she was part of title-winning Sudirman Cup and Uber Cup teams; at the individual level, her biggest accomplishments at the World Championships were bronze medals in 2018 and 2021.
At Paris 2024, she won the hearts of fans worldwide for holding a Spanish pin on the podium as a tribute to Carolina Marin, who had retired with injury in their semifinal.