# Zhai Chao
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{{short description|Chinese handball player (born 1971)}}
{{family name hatnote|[Zhai](/source/Zhai)|lang=Chinese}}
{{Infobox handball biography
| name = Zhai Chao
| image = Chao Zhai.jpg
| caption =
| full_name =
| nationality = Chinese
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1971|12|14|df=y}}
| birth_place = [Beijing](/source/Beijing), China
| height = 178 cm
| position = Playmaker / Left back
| currentclub = ''Retired''
| clubnumber =
| youthyears1 =
| youthclubs1 =
| years1 =
| clubs1 = Beijing
| years2 = 1998-2000
| clubs2 = [SV Berliner VG 49](/source/SV_Berliner_VG_49)
| years3 = 2001-2004
| clubs3 = [Randers HK](/source/Randers_HK)
| years4 = 2004-2010
| clubs4 = [Viborg HK](/source/Viborg_HK)
| nationalyears1 = 1989–2004
| nationalteam1 = [China](/source/China_women's_national_handball_team)
| nationalcaps1 =
| nationalgoals1 =
| ntupdate =
| show-medals =
| medaltemplates =
{{MedalSport|Women's [Handball](/source/Handball)}}
{{MedalCountry|{{CHN}}}}
{{MedalCompetition|[Asian Games](/source/Asian_Games)}}
{{MedalSilver|[1990 Beijing](/source/1990_Asian_Games)|[Team](/source/Handball_at_the_1990_Asian_Games_%E2%80%93_Women)}}
{{MedalBronze|[1994 Hiroshima](/source/1994_Asian_Games)|[Team](/source/Handball_at_the_1994_Asian_Games_%E2%80%93_Women)}}
{{MedalBronze|[2002 Busan](/source/2002_Asian_Games)|[Team](/source/Handball_at_the_1994_Asian_Games_%E2%80%93_Women)}}
{{MedalCompetition|[Asian Championships](/source/Asian_Women's_Handball_Championship)}}
{{MedalSilver|[1995 Seoul](/source/1995_Asian_Women's_Handball_Championship)|Team}}
{{MedalSilver|[1997 Amman](/source/1997_Asian_Women's_Handball_Championship)|Team}}
}}
'''Zhai Chao''' ({{zh|c=翟超|p=Zhái Chāo}}; born December 14, 1971, in [Beijing](/source/Beijing)) is a [Chinese](/source/PR_China) [handball](/source/Team_handball) player who competed in the [1996](/source/1996_Summer_Olympics) and [2004 Summer Olympics](/source/2004_Summer_Olympics), as well as in the 1999, 2001 and 2003 World championships. Widely considered the best Chinese player of all time, and one of the best Asian players of all time, she was voted [IHF World Player of the Year](/source/IHF_World_Player_of_the_Year) 2002.[{{cite web |title=All the previous World Handball Players |url=https://archive.ihf.info/en-us/thegame/allthepreviousworldhandballplayers.aspx |publisher=International Handball Federation |access-date=1 November 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210152621/https://archive.ihf.info/en-us/thegame/allthepreviousworldhandballplayers.aspx |archive-date=10 February 2021}}]
==Career==
Chao Zhai started playing handball in [Beijing](/source/Beijing) in 1985. In the [1996 Olympics](/source/Handball_at_the_1996_Summer_Olympics) she finished fifth with the Chinese team. She played all four matches and scored 29 goals. She played for the Chinese national team at the [1999 World championship](/source/World_Women's_Handball_Championship) in Denmark/Norway. She started playing for the German club ''[SV Berliner VG 49](/source/SV_Berliner_Verkehrsbetriebe)'' in January 1998,[{{in lang|de}} [https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/nur-bei-erstklassigkeit-darf-die-chinesische-handballerin-bleiben-bvb-bangt-um-chao-zhai-li.28929 Karl-Heinz Bergmann: "BVB bangt um Chao Zhai – Nur bei Erstklassigkeit darf die chinesische Handballerin bleiben"] – ''Berliner Zeitung (02.11.1999)'' (Retrieved on February 6, 2008)] and switched to the Danish club [Randers HK](/source/Randers_HK) in 2001. She played for the Chinese national team in the [2001 World Women's Handball Championship](/source/2001_World_Women's_Handball_Championship) in Italy where she scored 49 goals and the 6th best scorer in the championship. She was a member of the Chinese team which finished eighth in the [2004 summer Olympics](/source/Handball_at_the_2004_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Women's_handball), where she played all seven matches and scored 32 goals. In 2004, she started playing for the Danish club [Viborg HK](/source/Viborg_HK), and with this club she won the [EHF Champions League](/source/EHF_Women's_Champions_League) in 2006 and [2009](/source/EHF_Women's_Champions_League_2008%2F09).[{{cite web|url=http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/women/2008-09/article/11507/Viborg:+handball+capital+of+Europe%3F |publisher=European Handball Federation|title=Comeback at the age of 36|date=19 May 2008}}] In 2007-08 she took a break from handball due to pregnancy.