Word: medaling
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...other members of China's Olympic delegation flex their muscles on the world's largest sporting stage. China has long been considered the province of leaping gymnasts and twirling divers, but the rise of this 24-year-old Asian Atlas underscores the country's dramatic impact on the medal rankings after just two decades of Olympic participation. Three days into the 16-day Games, China was already halfway to its officially projected medal count of 20 golds. By Saturday, the country's medal pouch was bulging with 39 honors of every hue. Victories came in China's usual strongholds...
...Despite their tender age, plenty of China's novice Olympians are winning big in Athens. Nineteen-year-old marksman Zhu Qinan, who had participated in only two international competitions before last week, set a new world record during his successful gold-medal quest in the men's 10-m air-rifle competition, while 21-year-old Liu Chunhong broke three world records in the women's 69-kg category in weight lifting. Four years after China sent its first-ever female field-hockey team to the Olympics, the Chinese became the first squad in Athens to win a semifinal berth...
...That medal reverie is shared by China's hoops team, which is currently relying on one oversize 23-year-old to carry it past traditional basketball powers. Like an ancient Chinese warrior, the nation's 2.26-m center Yao Ming had vowed not to shave for six months if the Chinese didn't make it to the Athens round of eight?an empty threat from a guy who looks like he can hardly grow a single whisker. But in their debut game against Spain, Yao bucketed only 12 points, and the Chinese suffered a 83-58 drubbing. After the game...
...finishing a miserable seventh out of eight. "The team is very young," explained coach Lu Shanzhen. "We did very badly today, but I hope to build a dream team by 2008." A day earlier, in the choke performance of the week, China's male gymnastics team tumbled from gold-medal shoo-in to fifth-place finisher. The disastrous showing owed largely to the mishaps of one 19-year-old Olympic newcomer, pommel-horse world champion Teng Haibin, who, in rapid succession, stepped twice out of bounds in the floor routine, slipped on the parallel bars and, in a crowning, cataclysmic...
...Japanese gymnasts vaulted into first place, with the Americans and Romanians rounding out the medal count, Teng sat slump-shouldered on the sidelines, his face set in a stunned frown. Finally, teammate Yang Wei, a veteran gymnast who captured a gold team medal and a silver in the individual all-around in Sydney, leaned over and patted Teng. "He shouldn't worry, because he will have another chance in Beijing," commented Yang. "Teng's still a young boy full of hope." Two days later, Yang himself floundered, finishing seventh in the individual all-around event, after being pegged...