Lee Chih-kai
Lee Chih-kai is a Taiwanese artistic gymnast. He is the 2020 Olympic silver medalist in the pommel horse, and he was the first gymnast representing Chinese Taipei to win an Olympic medal. He is the 2019 World silver medalist and the 2018 World bronze medalist on the pommel horse. He is the 2018 Asian Games pommel horse champion and the 2019 Asian all-around champion. He is a three-time Summer Universiade pommel horse champion.
Early life
Lee was born in Yilan in 1996 and began training in gymnastics at the age of six by joining his elementary school's gymnastics team.Career
2014
Lee competed at the Pacific Rim Championships and helped the Chinese Taipei team finish sixth. Individually, he finished 13th in the all-around and fourth on the vault. He then represented Chinese Taipei at the 2014 Asian Games where the team finished sixth. Individually, he finished sixth in the all-around final. In the event finals, he finished eighth on the floor exercise and fifth on the vault. He then competed at the World Championships in Nanning where the Chinese Taipei team finished 24th.2015
Lee represented Chinese Taipei at the 2015 Summer Universiade and helped the team finish ninth. Then at the World Championships in Glasgow, he helped the Chinese Taipei team finished 23rd. Individually, Lee finished 42nd in the all-around and qualified for the 2016 Olympic Test Event.2016
In April, Lee competed at the Olympic Test Event where he finished 47th in the all-around and qualified as an individual for the 2016 Olympic Games. One month prior to the Olympics, Lee broke his foot and tore ligaments in his ankle, so he only competed on the pommel horse in Rio. He finished 31st on the pommel horse in the qualification round and did not advance into the final. This marked Chinese Taipei's highest individual finish at the Olympic Games in gymnastics.2017
Lee was selected to represent Chinese Taipei at the 2017 Summer Universiade alongside Chen Jin-ling, Hsu Ping-chien, Tang Chia-hung, and Yu Chao-wei, and they finished fifth in the team competition. Individually, Lee qualified for the all-around final where he finished seventh with a total score of 82.600. Then in the pommel horse final, he won the gold medal with a score of 15.300.2018
Lee competed at the Pacific Rim Championships and won the bronze medal on the floor exercise behind Americans Akash Modi and Sam Mikulak. Then in the pommel horse final, he won the silver medal behind American Marvin Kimble. He won the gold medal on the vault with an average score of 14.450. Then at the Melbourne World Cup, he won the silver medals on the pommel horse behind Nariman Kurbanov and on the vault behind Christopher Remkes. Then at the Doha World Cup, he won the silver medal on the pommel horse behind Zou Jingyuan. He won his first FIG World Cup title by winning the pommel horse title at the Osijek World Challenge Cup.Lee was selected to represent Chinese Taipei at the 2018 Asian Games alongside Chen Chih-yu, Shiao Yu-jan, Tang Chia-hung, and Yu Chao-wei, and they finished fourth in the team competition. Lee finished fifth in the all-around with a total score of 81.900. In the event finals, he finished fifth on floor and sixth on parallel bars, and he won the gold medal on the pommel horse. At the World Championships, the Chinese Taipei team finished 17th in the qualification round. Lee finished eighth in the pommel horse and qualified for the final with a score of 13.700. He then won the bronze medal in the final behind Xiao Ruoteng and Max Whitlock. This was only the second medal Chinese Taipei had won at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and the first since Chang Feng-chih won the silver medal on the vault in 1993. After the World Championships, he won the gold medal on the pommel horse at the Cottbus World Cup.