Biography
Zhang Hao previously competed with Zhang Liyun. He teamed up with Zhang in 1997. They immeidately had a lot of success on the junior circuit. They won two medals on the Junior Grand Prix in their first year on it and then placed 5th at the Junior Grand Prix Final. They also won the bronze medal at the 1999 Chinese national championships and the silver at the 2000 Chinese national championships.
In the 2000-2001 season, they won the Junior Grand Prix Final, placed third at nationals, and then won Junior Worlds. At the 2000 Junior Worlds, they performed a quadruple twist, the first quad twist ever performed at that event.
They stayed junior in the 2001-2002 season, winning the Junior Grand Prix Final yet again. They won the bronze medal at the 2002 Four Continents Championships and then went to the 2002 Olympics, where they placed 11th. After the Olympics, they went to their first Worlds and came in 9th.
In the 2002-2003 season, they did both Junior and senior Grand Prix, due to ISU rules that pairs can do both in one season. They won the Junior Grand Prix event in China, then performed well at both their Grand Prix events, placing 4th in both of them. They went to Junior Worlds and once again won it before going to Worlds and placing 6th.
Following that season, Zhang and Zhang became serious contenders. They consistently medaled at their Grand Prix events. They won the 2005 Four Continents Championships and then won the bronze at the 2005 Worlds.
Zhang and Zhang went into the 2006 Olympics as medal contenders. During their free skate, Zhang Dan had a bad fall on their attempted throw quadruple salchow, a jump that was not consistent. Zhang Dan suffered a bad injury, but chose to finish the program. Although the delay between the fall and the continuation of the program was longer than the ISU-proscribed 2 minutes, they were not automatically withdrawn because the referee waited before stopping the music and beginning the official 2 minute wait. Zhang regrouped and was able to finish the program. They won the silver medal, placing ahead of defending Olympic medalsts Shen Xue and Hongbo Zhao. At Worlds, they won the silver, behind Pang Qing and Tong Jian.
In the 2006-2007 season, Zhang and Zhang did very well. However, at the 2007 Worlds, they did not do very well, and placed 5th.
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