Lijia Xu
Lijia Xu was born in Shanghai in 1987. She was approached to become a sailor in 1997 and from the age of 10 Lijia travelled all year round to sail and train; becoming a full-time sailor shortly after her 10th birthday. She was a double winner of the Optimist World Championships before moving onto Olympic campaigning, winning bronze at Beijing 2008 and gold at London 2012. She is now a sports journalist covering the Olympics and many sailing events.
