Xiaoli Lai

Before she was a teenager, Lai was a Chinese national diving champion. She switched to skydiving at age 14. Quickly adapting to the skies, she became a member of the Chinese Parachute Team in 1988 and four years later was appointed captain. With more than 7,200 skydives, Lai accumulated 31 national and international medals in the classic events during her career, including 22 golds. From 1991 through 1997, she won seven consecutive national accuracy championships in her home country. She worked for the Aero Sports School of Sichuan province for more than two decades. As a Chinese sportswoman, she received her nation’s highest athletic honors, including participating in the lighting-of-the-torch ceremonies at China’s quadrennial international athletic competition.

When her competitive skydiving career was winding down, she received a visa to work in the U.S. at the North American Aerodynamics parachute company, which John Higgins (also a member of the International Skydiving Hall of Fame) ran. As part of her apprenticeship in skydiving equipment manufacturing, she learned to sew by hand every single product in the company’s inventory.