Outshone by dual Olympic champion Wang Nan for years, Zhang Yining savored the sweetest moment of all in 2004.
Athens will be remembered for the 22-year-old winning China's 100th Olympic gold since the country took its first-ever Olympic title 20 years ago.
With this gold, Zhang vindicated her world top ranking and her leadership in China's new generation of women's table tennis.
Also Zhang stands the third Chinese women paddler who has won both singles and doubles gold medals at one Olympics, following Wang Nan in Sydney 2000 and Deng Yaping in both Atlanta 1996 and Barcelona 1992.
Zhang took up the sport at five and gained an early fame in 1999 when she finished runner-up to Wang Nan in the world championships. It should have been three or four years earlier for the Beijinger, who emerged as the cream of a crop of youngsters in the star-packed Chinese team, to overtake Wang Nan since the latter hit the bottom in two years following her glorious run in Sydney.
However, the defeat by Wang in the 1999 worlds was just the beginning of a chain of losses of Zhang in domestic and international tournaments.
In May 2001 Zhang was denied a world title by Wang and five months later she lost in another comeback game of Wang in the Chinese National Games.
"Those moments should not be repeated in Athens," vowed the pencil-slim player before leaving for Athens.
In Athens, Zhang disposed of DPR Korean Kim Hyang Mi in 25 minutes to win the singles final, two days after she combined with Wang Nan for the doubles gold.
"The Athens Olympics was a payday," said Zhang.
In early 2004, Zhang showed her maturity in the world championships, being instrumental in Chinese women's 15th team trophy.
Chinese table tennis chief Cai Zhenhua said Zhang showed her makings as the new Chinese team leader in Athens.
Zhang followed her Olympic success with a World Cup title in October and the victory looked sweeter at the cost of Wang Nan.
Now Zhang looks at 2008.
"I will try to repeat a gold double when Beijing hosts the Olympics," she said.
SPENDING 10 YEARS SHARPENING SWORD
After snatching the championship point in Athens, Zhang ran to the stand to hug Li Sun, her coach for 10 years. "It took 10 years to sharpen a sword," Li exclaimed, eyes brimming with tears.
"I can never thank my coach enough and words are pale and powerless," said Zhang. "He has been in different roles as I need him to be. He is my coach and also like my father and best friend."
Zhang had been Li's charge since she joined the Beijing team at the age of 11 in 1993. Two years later Zhang made it to the Chinese youth team coached by Qi Baoxiang. In 1996, Li was named a coach of the women's national team and reunited with Zhang, who tells Li her secrets she would not share with her parents.
"There are two types of Olympic champions," said Li. "One has been through trials and tribulations before reaching the top. The other is headlong fighter who strikes gold in Olympic debut. Zhang is the former." The 1998 Chinese National Games was Zhang's first major tournament, in which she upset more famed national teammates to be the only unbeaten player in the team tournament.
Before she left for the 1999 world championships, she asked her uncle to predict the singles winner. Her uncle said: "It could be Wang Nan, Li Ju or Yang Ying." "Why not me?" Zhang asked.
The uncle was proven right. In that worlds, Zhang squandered a 2-0 lead and lost the gold medal to Wang Nan who staged a heroic comeback. "The defeat was devastating," Zhang recalled. "I wept in the rest room but fortunately nobody saw me. I vowed to win back the championship."
To Chinese coaches, second place wasn't bad for the 18-year-old Zhang and she was included in the provincial lineup for the 2000 Olympic Games. But then came a cruel twist to Zhang's career. She lost her game against Xu Jing in China's victory over Chinese Taipei in the 2000 world team championships.
The downslide continued and she fared poorly in the Asian qualifying tournament for the Olympics. "Two straight losses took away my confidence and I began doubting myself. I felt like living on the edge of a cliff and didn't feel sunshine." Coach Li admonished her favorite student: "It's only you who can save yourself. If you want to carry on with the sport, you must overcome this obstacle."
"I was down for several months," Zhang recalled. "I love table tennis and I don't want to quit so easily. Once I sang karaoke with my family and I shouted to microphone: 'Zhang's era is coming! Zhang's era is coming!' My parents were stunned but they knew what I was thinking about."
Zhang swept singles titles in the Polish and Swedish Opens in late 2000 and was crowned winner in the ITTF Pro Tour Finals in early 2001.
In the 2001 world championships in Osaka, Japan, Zhang lost to Wang Nan in the semifinals. In the Chinese National Games late that year, Zhang made the same mistake as Wang came back from near defeat to beat the younger teammate in the final.
As Wang Nan experienced the lowest of her career in the Asian Games in 2002, Zhang claimed the singles crown in Busan, South Korea, and went on to sweep the World Cup and Pro Tour Finals to top the world rankings for the first time.
In the 2003 world championship final against Wang Nan, Zhang came from 3-0 down to make it 3-3 but lose the deciding set. She lost confidence once again.
"She was just less experienced," said Li Sun. "We had to rebuild her confidence. In nine out of 10 talks, I encouraged her to be the best."
Zhang said she wanted to be the strongest in the Chinese team, if not the wisest. "In the past four years, I had experienced all kinds of difficulties. I had finished with silver medals so many times. Defeats are not useless and they have become my assets," she said.
"Coach Cai Zhenhua said I would be the leader of the Chinese team and I know it's not easy to be looked up to. I will work even harder," she added.

MOTHER'S WARM VEST
"Ning Ning (nickname) is a good girl and she's like a warm vest to me," said Zhang's mother.
Zhang started table tennis in a sports school in Beijing's Dongcheng District and her agility and understanding of the sport was shown at the very beginning. "I was born for table tennis. If I didn't take up table tennis, I would still become a fairly good athlete," Zhang said.
Zhang plays best billiards and badminton in the Chinese team and is an avid fan of European and Argentine soccer. She reportedly has a talent for foreign languages and once talked with a German lady in English for two hours but her teammate Li Nan disclosed that Zhang was just not afraid of making mistakes.
Although her parents live just an hour's drive away from her training center, Zhang can only go home on holidays. Once she is home, she chats with her mother till 2 or 3 o'clock early morning. On the eve of Zhang's championship final in the Athens Olympics, her mother received a text message from the daughter which read: "Mom, I feel almighty."
"We felt Ning Ning would make it in Athens," recalled her mother. "I saw her eyes sparkling, which we had never seen before.
"When we sent Ning Ning to sports school, we didn't expect her to be world or Olympic champion. We just thought she would land a good job with a bit sports background."
The mother had a unique way to console the daughter. After Zhang lost the 2003 Pro Tour Finals, she quipped: "Ning Ning is a magic chef. She is good at making roast duck. Once the duck was done, it flies away." These words made Zhang laugh.
Zhang has bought numerous gifts to her mother, who uses high-end cosmetics, wears a table tennis bat-shaped necklace and carries a cell phone with the screen reading "take better care of yourself", all from the daughter.
Zhang Yining Factfile
Date of birth: Oct. 5, 1982
Height: 169cm
World ranking: 1
Zhang embodies the technical best of women's table tennis and plays high quality forehand and backhand loops. She is consistent and has no obvious weakness. She mostly serves sidespin, backspin and non-spinning short with forehand and sidespin and backspin with backhand. Her loop is the most consistent in the Chinese team, if not the heaviest. Zhang is also good at dealing with pips-out players. She doesn't have the strongest legs but is very fast. Zhang prefers placement forehand returns or backhand flick on opponents' serves.
Results:
1st in team in 1998 Asian championships in Osaka, Japan
2nd in singles in 1999 world championships
1st in 2000 world team championships
1st in singles in 2000 ITTF Pro Tour Finals in Kobe, Japan
1st in singles and team, 3rd in doubles in 2001 world championships in Osaka
1st in 2001 World Cup in Wuhu, China
1st in 2002 World Cup in Singapore
1st in singles and 2nd in doubles in ITTF Pro Tour Finals in Sweden
1st in singles, 2nd in doubles and team in Asian Games in Busan, South Korea
1st in doubles and 2nd in singles in 2003 world championships in Paris
1st in 2004 world team championships in Doha, Qatar
1st in 2004 World Cup in Hangzhou, China
1st in doubles in 2004 ITTF Pro Tour Finals
1st in singles and doubles in 2004 Olympic Games in Athens
1st in singles in 2004 Qatar Open