After summiting Everest in 1975, Phanthog served as a deputy in the National People's Congress for five terms and became vice director of the Wuxi Sports Administration in 1981. She returned to Everest in 2008 at the age of 70 by hiking to Everest Base Camp to celebrate the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She was also one of eight former athletes chosen that year to carry the Olympic flag into the Olympics opening ceremony. In 2009, she was honored by China's State General Administration of Sports as one of the 60 most influential Chinese athletes since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.