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He Xuemei
Hexu
Xuemei performing on beam.

Full name

He Xuemei
Takaseki Setsubai

Countries represented

800px-Flag of the People's Republic of China China
800px-Flag of Japan Japan

Born

February 6 1977 (1977-02-06) (age 48)
Kunming, Yunnan, China

Years on National Team

800px-Flag of the People's Republic of China1989-1994
800px-Flag of Japan n/a

Coach(es)

n/a

Current status

Retired

He Xuemei (in chinese: 和雪梅; pinyin: Hé Xuěméi, born 1977 in Kunming, Yunnan) is a retired elite gymnast who represented both China and Japan throughout her career. From 1991 to 1994, Xuemei was a regular representative of China in meets in both the West and the East, competing in the American Cup, Asian Championships and the Massilia Cup as well as the World Championships and the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. She was the captain of the Chinese national team in 1993 and retired from the sport a year later.

After her retirement from gymnastics, Xuemei moved to Japan in pursuit of her studies, returning to the sport at the domestic level representing her university at Japanese tournaments. Once graduated, she returned to China, and years later, in 2002, married in Japan, changing her name to Takaseki Setsubai. Following a brief coaching stint, she decided to return to the sport in 2006. That year, she was a member of the Japanese team at the Asian Games in Doha. In 2007, she placed 1st in the beam finals at the All-Japan Championships. After not making the team for the 2008 Olympic Games, she retired from the sport and went back into coaching. Amongst her students is Sugihara Aiko.

Early Career[]

Like most gymnasts, Xuemei was a very active child, so in 1981, her parents decided to take her to an amateur sports school in Yunnan for her to join the gymnastics team. Xuemei was initially rejected by the coaches, who told her mother that she was not apt for the sport. She, however, persisted, and asked her mother to send her to the classes everyday, whether the coaches accepted her or not. Her persistence did not go unnoticed and she was eventually spotted by one of the older coaches at the school, who decided to train her. And thus, she began officially training gymnastics.

Junior Career[]

After eventually becoming a member of the Yunnan province squad, she was selected to join the national selection in 1989.

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