2017–2021 Zou competed at the
2017 Asian Championships in Bangkok, Thailand, where he helped China win team gold. He did qualify to the pommel horse final where he ultimately finished fourth. During the team final they won bronze with a combined score of 262.397, 0.606 points behind the winning Russian Olympic Committee team. Zou won Olympic gold on parallel bars with a score of 16.233, the highest score and widest margin of victory (0.533) posted by any gymnast in any event at the Tokyo Olympics.
2022–2024 Zou competed at the
2022 World Championships in Liverpool. During the qualification round he successfully competed a new skill on rings. During the team final he helped China win gold. During event finals he won silver on rings behind
Adem Asil and gold on parallel bars. His score in the parallel bars final of 16.166 was the highest score posted by a gymnast at the competition. In the summer of 2023 Zou competed at the postponed
2021 World University Games where he helped China win team gold. Individually he won gold on parallel bars, silver on rings, and placed fourth on pommel horse. In the fall, the Chinese-hosted postponed
2022 Asian Games were scheduled to take place around the same time as the
2023 World Championships. Due to this, the Chinese Gymnastics Federation opted to send their best athletes to the Asian Games; as a result Zou was unable to defend his World title. At the Asian Games Zou helped China win team gold and individually he won gold on parallel bars. Zou was selected to represent China at the
2024 Summer Olympics alongside
Liu Yang,
Su Weide,
Xiao Ruoteng, and
Zhang Boheng. During the qualification round China qualified to the team final in first, 2.434 points ahead of their rivals Japan; as a result they were expected to win the gold medal. During the team final China went into the final rotation with a 3.267 point lead; however after Zou's teammate Su fell twice, Japan was able to capitalize on the mistakes leaving China with the silver medal. During the individual event finals Zou won silver on rings behind compatriot Liu and successfully defended his Olympic title on the parallel bars. == Competitive history ==