Sport-by-sport breakdown of China's 2010 Winter Olympics performance
Monday, 1st March 2010 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
China finished the 2010 Winter Olympics with a total of 11 medals, the same overall tally it reached in Turin, but with more gold medals (5 compared to 2). That leaves China in 8th place if you count by combined medals, 6th if you measure in golds. In the previous seven Winter Olympics, China had only won 4 gold medals altogether (China in the Winter Olympics: Facts and figures. China's winter sports officials are congratulating themselves and looking toward the future, reports Reuters. Below is a sport-by-sport breakdown of China's performance in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.Pairs figure skating: 1 gold, 1 silver
The highlight of these games for China came right at the beginning, when Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo ended the Russian domination of pairs figure skating, and their own 20-year hunt for Olympic gold. The married couple won on Valentine's Day, which was also the first day of this year's Lunar New Year. Tong Jian and Pang Qing won silver, and another Chinese pair came in fourth, a good indication for China's future in this sport.
Skating: Short track 4 golds, speed skating 1 bronze
China's female short track speed skaters made an unprecedented sweep, taking all four gold medals. Wang Meng followed up her 500-meter gold medal with a win in the 1,000-meter event, and skated on the gold medal-winning 3,000-meter relay winning team. With four golds, a silver and a bronze over her career, Wang is China's most decorated winter Olympian. The 3,000-meter gold came at the expense of a disqualification of the South Korean women, on a close judgment call that went in China's favor (China's team: Wang Meng, Zhou Yang, Sun Linlin and Zhang Hui). China's top two skaters—Wang and Zhou—were both disqualified in the semifinals of events that the other eventually won gold in. Zhou won the 1,500-meter event. In speed skating (not short track), Wang Beixin won a bronze.
Skiing aerials: 1 silver, 2 bronzes
Another event China had several hopes in was skiing aerials, and going into the women's final, all seemed to be going perfectly, with four Chinese skiers making the cut. But Australia's Lydia Lassila won out over the field, leaving Li Nina with silver and Guo Xinxin with bronze. The men's team was strong as well, but only Liu Zhongqing managed to medal (a bronze), while two others came in 6th and 7th.
Curling: Bronze medal
China's hopes for its world champion women's curling team to win gold came up short, ending in a bronze. China's curlers—Wang Bingyu, Liu Yin, Yue Qingshuang, Zhou Yan, and Liu Jinli—have an average of 25, much younger than any of the rest of the world's elite, so Chinese curling is sure to be a force in Sochi.
Tags: 2010 Winter Olympics, China's 2010 Winter Olympians, curling, figure skating, Olympics, skiing aerials, speed skating, Vancouver Olympics, Wang Meng, Zhou Yang
Looking back: China's top 10 sports stories in 2009
Monday, 21st December 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
The Bird's Nest is just one of a growing number of white elephants in China. Jinan's Olympic Stadium, above, was built for this year's National Games.
1. Chinese soccer league match fixing
Bribery, match fixing, betting—the Chinese Soccer League has long been tainted with some of sport's worst scourges. In November, police arrested 16 players, coaches and officials in an attempt to clean up the league. But observers say that a lot more still needs to be done.
2.Chinese swimming makes a splash in Rome
When Zhang Lin became China's first male swimming world champ in Rome this summer--winning the 800-meter freestyle in world record time--media quickly crowned him the Liu Xiang of the pool. But unlike Liu, Zhang had some backup from his teammates, as China put in its best ever performance at the world meet. With 4 golds and 10 medals, China was behind only the United States and Germany. Though Zhang Lin dominated the headlines, it was the women—led by Liu Zige and Zhao Jing--who were responsible for China's breakout. Female swimmers accounted for all but two of China's medals, and three of the four golds.
3. Diving judging scandal
China's national games diving competition was shaken up when one judge quit late in the competition, and then leveled accusations that results were fixed and that Zhou Jihong, head of the Chinese diving federation, calls all the shots.
4. Sports official spills secrets
Former national volleyball coach and long-time senior sports administration leader Yuan Weimin published his memoir, "Yuan Weimin: Storms of the Chinese Sports World" in October. Among the stories in Yuan's memoir that are making sports officials squirm is the tale of a shady vote-trading arrangement that put Belgium's Jacques Rogge at the head of the International Olympic Committee and brought the 2008 games to Beijing.
4. Empty Nest
The Beijing Olympics' iconic building, Beijing National Stadium--aka the Bird's Nest, aka a $400 million project that takes $70 million to maintain annually, aka a venue that required the relocation of thousands of families—has hosted only four events since the games ended 16 months ago (including an opera and a martial arts show that couldn't have possibly turned a profit). The situation is so bad that in the fall, the state took back operating control of the venue from its private owners.
5. Liu Xiang's return
A grimacing Liu Xiang limping around the Bird's Nest track was one of the most potent images of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The former Olympic and world record holder in the 110-meter hurdles, an athlete who rivals Yao Ming in prominence in China, was unable to run because of an injury to his Achilles tendon. More than a year later, he put doubts to rest about whether his career was finished, returning to competition in the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, where he finished second in a 13.15-second photo finish.
6. China win's women's curling worlds
Curling? On a top 10 list? Stick with me here… When China's women's curling team won world championships last year, skipper Wang Bingyu and her teammates became instant media stars on the mainland. The current team is China's first generation of curlers, and if Canada doesn't figure out how to beat them at the 2010 Winter Olympics, curling will become only the second team sport in which China has won an Olympic gold medal (women's volleyball being the other, in 1984 and 2004).
7. Dealmaker Kenny Huang
Last May, news broke that a Chinese investor was nearing a deal to purchase a 15 percent stake in the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA franchise. That investor was Huang Jianhua, or Kenny Huang, who subsequently made a deal to promote youth baseball with the Chinese Baseball Association and to purchase a team in the Chinese Basketball Association. Last week, reports indicated that the Cavs purchase might go through before the end of the year. The lead on the deal is now Albert Hung, but Huang's still very much involved and seems to have dreams of a Chinese sports empire--keep an eye on this guy.
9. HSBC Champions
Shanghai's HSBC Champions golf tournament was elevated this year to World Golf Championship status, with $7 million in prize money. Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els finished first and second, and China got its last look at a squeaky clean Tiger Woods, who finished sixth. In his reporting on the event for ESPN, Shanghaiist editor Dan Washburn wrote that the event was well timed, as the inclusion of golf in the Olympics could provide a boost to the sport's popularity and official support here. HSBC Champions returns to Shanghai next year, which means it will take place alongside the Shanghai World Expo.
10. China disappears from the NBA
While Huang buys his way into the NBA, Chinese players are limping out. Yao Ming is missing the current season with a foot fracture, and the Nets' Yi Jianlian played just four games before sitting out at least the next 24 with injuries. The next great hope, Sun Yue, was dropped by the Lakers, then picked up and dropped by the New York Knicks. The NBA could really use another once-in-a-lifetime athlete like Yao right about now.
Related:
Zhang Lin, China's first male swimming champ
China Daily: Enthusiasm fades for Bird's Nest
LA Times on Yuan Weimin
ESPN.go.com: Olympics makes China major player in golf
Tags: Bird's Nest, curling, Dan Washburn, football, HSBC Champions, Huang Jianhua, Kenny Huang, Liu Xiang, Liu Zige, NBA, soccer, Sun Yue, Yi Jianlian, Yuan Weimin, Zhang Lin
Around the Web: Curling, HK Sevens, diving and basketball
Tuesday, 31st March 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
China likes gold medals. Exhibit A: Its state sports system has produced a world champion curling team seemingly out of nowhere. China beat out Canada for the gold over the weekend to win the Women's World Curling Championships in South Korea. Last year's silver was China's first medal in the 30-year history of the tournament. Canadian Daniel Rafael coaches the team, which was started in 2001. The team skip is Wang Bingyu. She hails from China's far-north, famously frozen city of Harbin and has been on the team since it was created. A look at her Wikipedia entry will give you an idea how rapid the ascent of China's curling team has been.
Fiji wins Hong Kong Sevens
Fiji beat South Africa in the final to win the Hong Kong leg of the IRB World Sevens Series, the hottest annual sporting event in Greater China. IOC president Jacques Rogge got the rugby world extra excited over the weekend, with his comments that he has "a lot of sympathy" for the sport's case for inclusion in the Olympics.
Divers go 7 for 8 at Changzhou
China's divers took seven out of eight golds at the FINA World Grand Prix event in Changzhou over the weekend. The only event that China conceded was the women's three-meter springboard. Sharleen Stratton of Australia won that one after China's Wu Minxia failed to qualify for the final. China's top female three-meter diver, Guo Jingjing, did not compete. Two dates remain on the 2009 Grand Prix circuit--Sheffield, England, on April 18-19; and Mexico City April 24-25.
New coach for women's basketball
China named Sun Fengwu head coach of its national women's basketball program. He replaces Australian Tom Maher, who led the team to a fourth-place Olympic finish and also seems to have been quite well-liked by players and fans. Sun was a point guard for China's men's team in the 1980s. The pressure is on for Sun to lead the team to a medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, but in his more immediate sights are the following competitions:
Asian Championships in Chinese Taipei in June 21
World Championships in Prague, 2010
Asian Games in Guangzhou, 2010
The team will look pretty different by 2012, Sun told Xinhua. He expects that only three to five players from the current squad will still be around then.
Yao Ming gets waxed
Madame Tussaud's Shanghai's wax sculpture of Yao Ming is currently on loan to Madame Tussaud's in New York. Wax Yao, whose height reportedly called for the use of scaffolding in the construction process, was unveiled with a show featuring a troupe of Chinese acrobats. Personally, the place creeps me out and in five years in New York, I never set foot inside. But apparently the new Madame Tussaud's Sports Zone offers activities like playing Wii tennis with Billie Jean King. Maybe, just maybe, that could draw me in. (Note to Western journalists: If you want to call the guy by his surname, it's Yao, not Ming.)
Chinese curling team image: Sina.com
Tags: basketball, curling, diving, Hong Kong Sevens, rugby, Wang Bingyu, Yao Ming