Shaoang LIU

FASHION ICON
Prides himself on his fashion sense and love of jewellery and tattoos. "Shaolin and I have an Olympic ring, we made it together. I am very proud of this, because only two of us in Hungary have one. I also wear a gold ring that four of us got in Canada for the world record in the relay."

Has tattoos of the Olympic rings, an eagle and Chinese punctuation marks on his right forearm, and a sun, moon and star to signify a close family connection. “My brother, Shaolin and I chose the eagle because it can catch fast, strong, larger animals, and is always ready to strike." (blikk.hu, 22 Jun 2019, 5 Sep 2019)

TRAINING ABROAD
In 2006, the Liu brothers went to China to train for a year-and-a-half after a chance meeting at the World Championships in Budapest. "My father had a really good relationship with the Chinese team leader and she said, hey, you should take the guys to China to train with us. Everything just changed in our lives because there was a different culture there. We'd never been there. The food was different, the ice rink was different, the people were different. I think we really had to grow up while we were there because we were kids and our parents went back to Hungary. We had to do 10 squats in Hungary, in China they said you have to do 100 or 200 so that was already a big difference.

"When we came back we won all the small competitions in Europe so it was already crazy. All the coaches saw it and they were asking how we did that, how we improved so much in one year." (ISU podcast Pushing Skating Boundaries, Episode 7, 4 Jun 2021)

CHINESE ROOTS
His Hungarian mother met his Chinese father at an accounting firm in Hungary. After they divorced, his father moved to Germany in 2017 and all other relatives live in China, while his mother lives in Budapest with his sisters. "The physical basics come from our Hungarian blood, and the technical part of speed skating comes from the Chinese. We are where the ancient Hungarian strength and ancient Chinese technique meet." (hvg.hu, 22 Feb 2018, origo.hu, 14 Feb 2017)

BROTHERLY LOVE
The Liu brothers lived together until 2019, when they moved into separate apartments but still in the same building, with Shaoang on the ground floor and Shaolin Sandor on the fifth. They have a close relationship. "I'm not going to stab my brother in the back if he wins gold and I only win silver or bronze. In fact, it works the other way around: if one of us gets good results, we are proud of it.

"When Shaolin and I get on the same ice together in the same race I think all the other skaters have the pressure because when they see the Liu brothers they start thinking they have no more chances. I think they get a bit scared when they see us together on the track." (hvg.hu, 22 Feb 2018, delmagyar.hu, 25 Sep 2018, infostart.hu, 7 Mar 2019, ISU podcast Pushing Skating Boundaries, Episode 7, 4 Jun 2021)

© Data by Sports Data Warehouse

Won gold in the 500m and bronze in both the 1000m and the mixed team relay at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Finished fourth in the 1500m.

Part of the men's 5000m relay team that won Hungary's first gold medal in any sport at the Olympic Winter Games.

World record holder for the 5000m relay at the World Cup in Calgary (2018).

Ten World Cup titles and 2017 overall winner in the 1000m.