Gong was one of the world's leading women's singles players between her first international titles in 1996 and her retirement in 2002. She won some of the world's biggest tournaments, including the venerable
All-England Championship consecutively in
2000 and 2001 over fellow countrywomen
Dai Yun and
Zhou Mi respectively in the finals. Her other titles included the 1996
Asian Championships, the 2000
Copenhagen Masters; and the
Denmark (1996),
Swedish (1997),
China (1997),
Japan (1998, 2000), and
Malaysia (2000) Opens. At the then biennial
IBF (BWF) World Championships Gong was a silver medalist behind fellow countrywoman
Ye Zhaoying in
1997, and a bronze medalist in
2001. She played winning singles for
Chinese Uber Cup (women's international) teams that reclaimed the world team title from
Indonesia in
1998, and retained the title in
2000. Unfortunately for Gong, her biggest triumph in an event for individual players, women's singles at the
2000 Olympic Games, is tainted by controversy. According to his later statement, China's head badminton coach
Li Yongbo instructed Gong's semifinal opponent, teammate
Ye Zhaoying, to "throw" the match against her, on his assumption that Gong would have the better chance to defeat
Denmark's
Camilla Martin in the final. Whatever the effect of these "instructions" on Ye, a two time former IBF World Champion, she lost the match to Gong 8-11, 8-11, who in turn defeated reigning IBF World Champion Martin for the gold medal 13–10, 11–3. == Achievements ==