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Lori Fung Methorst, CM OBC (馮黎明; born February 21, 1963)[1] is a Canadian gymnastics coach and retired rhythmic gymnast. She won the gold medal in all-around rhythmic gymnastics at the 1984 Summer Olympics, the year the sport was introduced to the Olympics.
| Lori Fung | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Lori Fung Methorst | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | February 21, 1963 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | |||||||||||||||||
| Gymnastics career | ||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Rhythmic gymnastics | |||||||||||||||||
| Country represented |  Canada | |||||||||||||||||
| Head coach(es) | Liliana Dimitrova | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Fung was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada.[2] She was part of her elementary school gymnastics club. One of her teachers noticed her level of skill and suggested she try rhythmic gymnastics.[3] She began training in the sport in 1976.[4] She is of Chinese descent on her Father's side and of Japanese descent on her Mother's side.
She was a three-time Canadian rhythmic gymnastics champion prior to her Olympic debut in 1984. The year before the Olympics, she placed 23rd at the world championships, but was able to raise her ranking in subsequent meets in order to qualify for the games.[2]
Rhythmic gymnastics was officially added as an Olympic sport at the 1984 Olympic Games. That year, the gymnasts from Bulgaria and USSR were favored to win, but the Eastern led Boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics meant the top gymnasts were absent from the competition. Fung trained with Romanian rhythmic gymnast Doina Stăiculescu who was, as a result of the boycott, the highest ranking rhythmic gymnast competing at the inaugural Olympic event. Fung finished in third place during qualification behind Stăiculescu and her Romanian teammate, Aline Dragan, who finished first and second respectively. In the final, Fung upset the Romanian team to become the first gymnast to win an Olympic gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics.[5]
Fung retired from competition in 1988.[1][6] She went on to become a coach, including a role as national team coach for Canada, and to co-own a Vancouver gymnastics club.[4]
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Fung married Dean Methorst in 1996.[7] They have three children.[3]
- In 1985, she was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame.[8]
- In 1985, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada.[9]
- In 1990, she was awarded the Order of British Columbia.[4]
- In 2004, she was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.[4]
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