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China’s biggest showing at the Winter Olympics

There is nothing like Olympic medals to boost the national pride in China and Beijing is planning an unprecedented haul at the 2010 games in Vancouver next month.
China, according to its national news agency will send its biggest ever Winter Olympic delegation to Vancouver for next month’s Games, according to the head of the country’s winter sports administration.
China, which topped the medals table at the last Summer Games in Beijing but has less pedigree in the winter version, sent 76 athletes to the Turin Olympics four years ago.
Many sports analysts are already predicting that China will have its best ever showing at the Winter games in Vancouver.
“We expect more than 90 athletes from China eventually to compete in Vancouver,” Zhao Yinggang, director of the Chinese Winter Sports Administrative Center, told the Xinhua news agency.
“We now have 64 qualified skaters and 25 skiers after they booked all the tickets on offer for an association in short track speed skating, (freestyle skiing) and curling, and also earned berths for figure skating, speed skating and women’s ice hockey.”
China won two golds, four silvers and five bronze medals in Turin, including their first gold medal in a snow event won by freestyle skier Han Xiaopeng in the aerials.
Han will defend his title in Canada as will China’s other champion from Turin, 500m short track speed skating gold medalist Wang Meng.
Zhao dismissed fears the 24-year-old was in danger of missing out on the Games because of injury, saying she would be back on the ice in 10 days after missing the ongoing national championships because of a cut to her hand.
“Wang is going on with her preparations and she just skipped the Beijing event on doctor’s advice,” her coach Li Yan said.
China has already hit records of both qualified players and events for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
The Winter Olympic Games, featuring 15 sports and 86 events, will be held in Vancouver-Whistler, on Feb. 12-28.
Vancouver’s Chinese community is also gearing up to show support for both Canadian athletes and participants from their mother land.
The Canada Alliance of Chinese Associations marked the start of 2010 with a two-kilometer New Year fun run to show its support for the Winter Olympics Games and Paralympics.
With dignitaries and politicians from the federal, provincial and civic levels, as well as Chinese Consul-General Liang Shugan, in attendance, Jerry Li Zhi Gang, CACA co-chairman and executive director, said with so many Chinese-Canadians living in Vancouver, it was important for them to show their enthusiasm for the Winter Games starting February 12.
CACA, a non-governmental organization, represents 55 Chinese community associations in the Vancouver area.
“The success of the Beijing Games showed the world the great progress that has been made there in recent years and also the opportunities that can be achieved through working together,” said Li, a native of Zhengzhou City, Hunan province.
“Through the Winter Olympics we are wishing for Vancouver good things to happen for the economy. This great event can act as a stimulus for the economy and promote the spirits of the Olympics.”
“A lot of these people here make a connection between Beijing and Vancouver,” said Richard Lee the native of Zhongshan, Guangdong province, who also acts as British Columbia’s Parliamentary Secretary for the Asia Pacific Initiative. “Like Beijing before it the world is coming to Vancouver. I believe over three billion people around the world will be looking in on their television to see Vancouver and the Olympics.”
Vancouver City Councilor Dr Kerry Jang, a third-generation Canadian-Chinese who specializes in mental illness, was equally enthusiastic about the pending arrival of the 21st Winter Olympiad.
“We know that the Olympics in China were memorable, fantastic and great. With your help and enthusiasm Vancouver’s Olympics will be just as good.”
Jacky Weng, a Ningbo native who has lived in Vancouver for five years, said prior to his run he felt fortunate to be living in a Winter Games host city as he would experience two Olympics in quick succession.
Weng said he was interested to see what benefits hosting an Olympics would bring for Vancouver after the Beijing Games were such a huge success.

Over the years

China made its debut at the Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games in 1980, sending 28 athletes to compete in speed skating, figure skating, cross-country skiing, alpine skiing and biathlon. Wang Guizhen finished 18th in the alpine skiing women’s slalom, featuring China’s best results at the Games.

In 1984, thirty-seven Chinese athletes took part in the Sarajevo Winter Olympics, during which Jin Xuefei and Wang Guizhen finished 19th and 20th respectively in the alpine skiing women’s slalom.

In 1988, Chinese short-track speed skater Li Yan claimed gold medal in the women’s 1,000m and bronze medals in the 500m and 1,500m at the 15th Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada, where short-track speed skating was a demonstration sport.

The 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics were the last Winter Games to be staged in the same year as the Summer Games. Sending 33 athletes to the Albertville Winter Games, China saw Ye Qiaobo clinch the country’s first winter Olympics medal, a silver, in women’s 500m speed skating. Ye then took her second silver in the women’s 1,000m speed skating and Li Yan added another silver for China in women’s 500m short-track speed skating, which entered the official program for the first time.

When the 17th Winter Olympics were held in Lillehammer in 1994, a total of 28 Chinese athletes participated in the Games and took home three medals. Zhang Yanmei, who led most of the way but slipped with the finish line within sight in the women’s 500m final, settled for a silver in short-track speed skating and veteran skater Ye Qiaobo struggled for a bronze medal in the women’s 1,000m speed skating with bad injury to her left knee. Also at the Games, Chen Lu emerged as third-place finisher in the women’s figure skating, winning China’s first medal in Olympic figure skating.

With a record entry of 60 athletes to the 18th Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan in 1998, China strived for its first gold medal but finished with six silvers and two bronzes. Chinese short-track speed skaters reaped five silvers and one bronze as Chen Lu took home another bronze medal.

At the 19th Winter Games held in Salt Lake City, the United States in 2002, China sent a total of 72 athletes, collecting two golds, two silvers and four bronzes to place 13th in the medal tally. On February 16, 2002 Yang Yang (A) triumphed in the women’s 500m short-track speedskating, bringing China its first gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Seven days later, she added one more gold for her team in the 1000m short-track speedskating finals to become China’s first woman athlete to win two short-track individual events at one Olympics.

Eye on China at the Winter Games

Richmond Olympic Oval
Sports: Long track, speed skating
Outlook: China could undoubtedly experience its greatest Winter Games triumphs at this venue as Chinese short track and speed skating athletes accounted for seven of the team’s 11 medals at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy. Since its 1980 Winter Olympics debut, 20 of China’s 33 Winter Games medals have come in short track speed skating, including Wang Meng’s gold in the women’s individual 500 meters at Turin.

Vancouver Olympic Center
Sport: Curling
Outlook: China is making its Olympic curling debut in Vancouver and comes into the tournament a contender, at least among the women. Wang Bingyu, a 24-year-old from Harbin, led China to victory at the 2009 World Championship in South Korea, marking a historic win for an Asian team over such traditional powerhouses as Canada, the United States, the Nordic countries and Scotland.

Pacific Coliseum
Sports: Figure skating, short-track speed skating
Outlook: Chinese figure skaters come into Vancouver in search of their first Olympic gold. After capturing three of the top four places in the mixed pairs in Turin, but no gold, Chinese coach Yao Bin is determined to get his skaters to the top of the podium. Former world pairs champion Shen Yue and Zhao Hongbo, bronze medalists in the last two Games, won their sixth Grand Prix Final title in Tokyo in December, while 2008 World Champions Pang Qing and Tong Jian were second.

UBC Thunderbird Arena
Sport: Ice hockey
Outlook: The China women’s hockey team returns to the Olympics for Vancouver after finishing seventh at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. The squad, however, will be unlikely to get a warm welcome back in its opening game on February 14 as it faces Group B powerhouse the United States, the team most likely to face Group A favorite Canada in the gold-medal game. The China men’s hockey team did not qualify for the Olympics.

Cypress Mountain
Sports: Freestyle skiing, snowboarding, snowboarding half-pipe
Outlook: A recent freestyle aerials World Cup event in Changchun demonstrated how strong China is in this event as the host nation dominated the proceedings, taking five of the six spots on the podium in the men’s and women’s events. Following in the footsteps of Han Xiopeng and Nina Li who won gold and silver respectively in Turin, among those to watch in Vancouver are Jia Zongyang and Qi Guangpu for the men, and Xu Mengtao, Guo Xinxin and Zhang Xin on the women’s team.

Whistler Creekside
Sport: Alpine skiing
Outlook: Jinzhi Dong and Li Guangxu were China’s sole representatives in the women’s and men’s downhill, respectively, in Turin. But expect to see a greater China presence on the slopes in Vancouver in this sport traditionally dominated by European nations and the United States.

The Whistler Sliding Center
Sports: Bobsled, luge, skeleton
Outlook: China did not compete in any of the sliding sports in Turin.

Whistler Olympic Park
Sports: Biathlon,
cross-country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined
Outlook: China is increasingly becoming a presence in these sports traditionally dominated by the Nordic countries and Germany. Zhang Chengye and Liu Xianying were among the most prominent Chinese competing in the men’s and women’s events, respectively, in Turin in 2006.

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