Shining post-90s sports stars (5)

Shiwen was born in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province in eastern China. Her father Ye Qingsong was a runner in his youth, and her mother Ning Yiqing, who was a champion long jumper at school, works for a washing machine company. She started swimming at the age of 6 after her kindergarten teacher noticed she had large hands and feet, joining the Chen Jinglun Sport School in the city. She won the 50 meters freestyle at the 2006 Zhejiang Provincial Games. By 2007, she was on the provincial swimming team, and was on the Chinese national team by 2008, attending the national junior training camp for two months from October of that year.

She trained in Brisbane, Australia with two world-class coaches, Ken Wood and Denis Cotterell, training that Ye described as "really harsh … but helpful". Her coach Xu Guoyi stated in 2011 that the training in Australia had helped Ye improve her two weaker swimming strokes, with her strengths being the backstroke and the freestyle.