One of China's most successful women's doubles specialists, Zhang has won some thirty international titles, the vast majority of them in partnership with
Yang Wei, during the first decade of the 21st century. They have shared world dominance almost equally with their compatriot adversaries
Gao Ling and
Huang Sui. One or the other pair has captured all of the
BWF World Championships held since 2000, with Zhang and Yang winning in both
2005 and
2007 by defeating Gao and Huang in the finals. Zhang and Yang also emerged victorious at the
2004 Olympics in Athens by besting their rivals in a closely contested gold medal match. Conversely, Gao and Huang had the upper hand in three finals (
2003),
2004,
2006) at the venerable
All-England Championships. This tourney has been something of an anomaly for Zhang as she has reached the women's doubles final there six times (four with Yang and twice, earlier, with
Wei Yili) without winning. In
2008 Zhang helped
China secure its sixth consecutive
Uber Cup (women's world team championship), and won the
Swiss,
Thailand, and
Malaysia Open women's doubles titles with Yang. At the
Beijing Olympics where they were top seeded, however, Zhang and Yang were upset in the quarterfinals by Japan's
Miyuki Maeda and
Satoko Suetsuna. The event was eventually won by another, younger Chinese pair,
Du Jing and
Yu Yang, perhaps marking a changing of the guard in the Chinese dynasty. Zhang Jiewen decided to quit competitive badminton after the
2008 Summer Olympics, when she married former
Malaysian men's badminton doubles star
Choong Tan Fook, with whom she has two children. She is currently coaching in a badminton facility in Guangzhou. Zhang Jiewen received an award during a ceremony to mark her retirement with five other teammates from the Chinese national badminton team on the sidelines of the
China Open badminton event in Shanghai, 23 November 2008. == Achievements ==