China leading gold medal count, tied with US overall
Sunday, 10th August 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
As of 9:30 pm Beijing time, China is leading the gold medal tally, with six medals. They have also won two silvers. South Korea has three golds, and two silvers. The US has two golds, two silvers and four bronzes, meaning that the US and China are tied for first place on overall medal count, with eight each.
Here's a count of China's gold medals so far:
Weightlifting - Women's 48kg - Chen Xiexia
Shooting - Men's 10m Air Pistol – Pang Wei
Diving - Women's Synchronized 3m Springboard – Guo Jingjing/Wu Minxia
Judo - Women 52kg – Xian Dongmei
Weightlifting - Men's 56kg – Long Qingquan
And here are some of the Sunday highlights for China's athletes prior to the much-anticipated meeting between the Chinese and US men's basketball teams.
Young lifter gives China second weightlifting gold
Long Qingquan, the 17-year-old Chinese weightlifter, acheived two junior world records on his way to winning the gold in the men's weightlifting 56kg category. The event is scored by totalling the weight lifted in the snatch and the weight lifted in the clean & jerk. Long's world records were for the snatch (132 kg) and for total weight (192 kg).
Historic men's swimming medal
Beijing native Zhang Lin won an historic silver medal in the men's 400 meter freestyle today with a time of 3:42.44, only 0.58 seconds behind gold medalist South Korean Park Taehwan. Zhang's silver is the best finish ever by a Chinese male swimmer in the Olympics.
China takes gold in women's judo
Guangdong native Xian Dongmei 冼东妹 picked up China's third gold medal of the Beijing games – this time in women's judo - defeating An Kum-Ae of the DPRK (aka North Korea) in the 52-kilogram category. Soraya Haddad of Algeria and Nakamura Misato of Japan won bronze. It is the second gold medal for Xian, who topped her weight class in Athens four years ago.
China unable to dethrone South Korea's women archers, takes silver
In women's team archery Zhang Juanjuan 张娟娟, Chen Ling and Guo Dan won silver. The team was beaten by perennial powerhouse South Korea. France took bronze. This is not Zhang's first taste of Olympic hardware, she won the silver in Athens and also won a silver at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. Zhang was the only person on this year's team that was on the Athens team.
Unfortunately for Zhang and company, South Korea has been absolutely dominant in women's team archery for decades, winning the event seven Olympics in a row.
Xian Dongmei image: en.beijing.2008.cn
Tags: medal count, Olympics
Diving gold medal brings China's total to four
Sunday, 10th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
China's "diving queen" Guo Jingjing ( 郭晶晶) and her partner Wu Minxia (吴敏霞) won gold in the women's 3-meter synchronized springboard event. It was the fourth gold for China in these games, and the fourth career gold for Guo, who is China's third highest earning athlete.Guo and Wu dominated the competition, taking a nearly insurmountable 17-point lead into the fifth and final round of dives. The pair finished with a score of 343.5. Runners up Russia totaled 323.61, and Germany landed bronze with a strong finish and an overall score of 318.9.
Here's a recap of their 2004 gold medal run (from Beijing TV, commentary in Chinese):
Guo and Wu are expected to go head-to-head in the springboard individual final next Sunday, August 17 at 8:30 p.m.
Tags: Beijing Olympics, diving, gold medal, Guo Jingjing, Olympics, synchronized, Wu Minxia
Yes, China can beat the Dream Team
Sunday, 10th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
China Sports Today editor Maggie Rauch writes a biweekly column in Chinese for the 21st Century Business Herald. Below is a translation of her column from yesterday on today's men's basketball game between China and the USA.China plays the United States in men's basketball tonight at Wukesong Arena, in what is for Chinese fans one of the most anticipated events of this Olympics. Members of the USA's "Dream Team," or "Redeem Team," have been received like rock stars since they arrived in China two weeks ago.
I have been quoted (accurately) as saying that the home team has no chance tonight, but I regret saying that. Of course China has a chance. That's why we actually play the game. To atone for my sin against the beautiful unpredictability of sports, I am going to break down a few possibilities that could help tip the scales a little in China's favor.
The Yao that we know finally returns.
Yao has given China a boost since his post-injury debut, but not the heroic performances the team requires from him if it is to pull off any upsets. He will suit up to play the USA after a week of rest and he'll also be playing for bragging rights among his NBA buddies. There is every reason to believe that Yao's strongest Olympic performance will come against the USA.
Team USA assumes Wang Zhizhi and Sun Yue (孙悦) are China's third and fourth most important players.
Among American fans, the only known names besides Yao and Yi are Wang Zhizhi, who played five seasons in the NBA, and Sun Yue, who created a bit of a stir when he was drafted by the Lakers in 2007. Wang's minutes and production have declined as Yao's have gone up, and Sun has averaged just over 4 points over the last 8 games. Either of these guys could have some good games in the Olympics, but containing veteran point guard Liu Wei (刘炜) and shooting/slashing small forward Zhu Fangyu (朱芳雨), if they are both healthy, should be higher on the U.S.'s list of priorities. How dangerous is Zhu? Watch the below video of him (wearing number 8) scoring 13 points in 3:30 to bring the Guangdong Tigers back from a 15-point deficit in the 2005 CBA Finals (Yi Jianlian is also in the video).
Lebron, Kobe and Carmelo just don't care enough.
The guys have all been saying the right things about how much it means to them to win Olympic gold. But in America, boys who swim or do gymnastics grow up dreaming of winning a gold medal. Boys who play basketball grow up dreaming of an NBA championship. And should the American team lose a few games it is expected to win, its players all have multi-million dollar contracts to comfort them.
Coach K keeps Prince on the bench.
In recent FIBA competition, both Angola and Australia disrupted China's offense with strong perimeter defense. Angola's smart and quick players kept popping up in China's passing lanes, and Australia's big guards made it hard for China to get easy shots or advance the ball toward the basket. Long-armed and defensive-minded Team USA forward Tayshaun Prince, not likely to be a starter, could really help slow down shooters and keep the ball out of the key.
China's fans give the home team an even bigger lift than they gave the women's team in April.
The USA women were heavy favorites in the finals of the Good Luck Beijing women's basketball test event in April. But when the game tipped off, the American women looked like they were ready to board the plane, while China's women, in front of a packed house at home, played like it was the most important game of their lives. Ultimately, they avenged their 20-point rout by the U.S. two days before. The men will need a really strong crowd to get a similar boost at the Olympics.
China shoots the lights out.
Okay, it's obvious. If you make a lot of baskets, you win. That's why the game is called basketball. But China has some great shooters in Zhang Qingpeng, Li Nan (李楠) and Zhu Fangyu (朱芳雨). If two of them get really hot, the whole floor opens up for China.
Maybe none of these things will happen—although I expect a strong performance from Yao Ming—but if a few of them do, we've got ourselves a game on August 10. Whether you like Adidas ("Impossible is Nothing,") or Li-Ning ("Anything is Possible,") basketball is a great sport for upsets.
Image: Tuhuan.com
Tags: basketball, Beijing Olympics, Dream Team, Olympics, Sun Yue, Wang Zhizhi, Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, Zhu Fangyu
U.S. volleyball coach's relative stabbed to death in Beijing
Sunday, 10th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Todd Bachman, father-in-law of a U.S. Olympic volleyball coach, was stabbed to death in Beijing Saturday. His wife Barbara was also stabbed and is in the hospital with injuries described in a statement from the IOC as "serious and life-threatening." The couple's Chinese tour guide, a Chinese woman, was also injured in the attack.The assailant, a 47-year-old from Hangzhou, jumped to his death from the Drum Tower, the famous tourist site where the assault occurred.
The Bachmans' daughter, who was also present at the attack, is Elisabeth Bachman McCutcheon, wife of United States Olympic men's volleyball head coach Hugh McCutcheon.
Tags: Beijing Olympics, crime, Drum Tower, Elisabeth Bachman McCutcheon, Hugh McCutcheon, Todd Bachman, volleyball