Lori Fung | ||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Lori Fung Methorst | |||||||||||||||||
Born | (1963-02-21)February 21, 1963 (age 62) Vancouver,British Columbia,Canada | |||||||||||||||||
Gymnastics career | ||||||||||||||||||
Discipline | Rhythmic gymnastics | |||||||||||||||||
Country represented | ![]() | |||||||||||||||||
Headcoach(es) | Liliana Dimitrova | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Lori Fung Methorst,CM OBC (馮黎明; born February 21, 1963)[1] is aCanadiangymnasticscoach and retiredrhythmic gymnast. She won the gold medal in all-around rhythmic gymnastics at the1984 Summer Olympics, the year the sport was introduced to the Olympics.
Fung was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada.[2] She was part of her elementary school gymnastics club. One of her teachers noticed her level of skill and suggested she try rhythmic gymnastics.[3] She began training in the sport in 1976.[4] She is ofChinese descent on her Father's side and of Japanese descent on her Mother's side.
She was a three-time Canadian rhythmic gymnastics champion prior to her Olympic debut in 1984. The year before the Olympics, she placed 23rd at the world championships, but was able to raise her ranking in subsequent meets in order to qualify for the games.[2]
Rhythmic gymnastics was officially added as an Olympic sport at the1984 Olympic Games. That year, the gymnasts fromBulgaria andUSSR were favored to win, but theEastern led Boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics meant the top gymnasts were absent from the competition. Fung trained with Romanian rhythmic gymnastDoina Stăiculescu who was, as a result of the boycott, the highest ranking rhythmic gymnast competing at the inaugural Olympic event. Fung finished in third place during qualification behind Stăiculescu and her Romanian teammate,Aline Dragan, who finished first and second respectively. In the final, Fung upset the Romanian team to become the first gymnast to win anOlympic gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics.[5]
Fung retired from competition in 1988.[1][6] She went on to become a coach, including a role as national team coach for Canada, and to co-own a Vancouver gymnastics club.[4]
Fung married Dean Methorst in 1996.[7] They have three children.[3]
![]() ![]() | This article about a Canadian Olympic medallist is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
![]() | This biographical article related torhythmic gymnastics is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |