The Shanghai-born athlete began her career at a young age, and was part of the team representing China. She won gold at the team and mixed doubles in the 1983 World Table Tennis Championships at the age of 20.
Back then, table tennis was not yet an official Olympic sport, and it was only at the 1988 Seoul Olympics that it was recognised as one.
Xia Lian and Guangzhou-born Chile table tennis player Zeng Zhiying, 58, used to train together in China, but never got to represent their birth country in the Olympics.
In 1989, after retiring from the Chinese national team, Xia Lian moved to Germany. She moved to Luxembourg two years later, and has been representing the European country since.
Xia Lian’s husband, Swedish table tennis player Tommy Danielsson is her coach and her training partner. The couple has a son, who is a physiotherapist
Xia Lian participated in the 2000 Sydney Olympics at the age of 37, and has qualified for every Olympics since.
During the 2016 Rio Olympics, she went up against Singapore’s Feng Tianwei in the third round of the women’s singles competition. Xia Lian lost 4-2 in that match-up.
She participated in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at 58, and was already the oldest table tennis Olympian then.