Chinese athletes gear up for Games in last 100 days
30/4/2008 16:56
Chinese national teams are putting on a final sprint to the Beijing
Olympic Games as the 100-day countdown to the world's biggest sports gala came
today.
Some 50 national teams are working hard in closed training camps all
over China and the "situation on the whole is good", said Xiao Tian, vice
director of China's State General Administration of Sport during a weightlifting
Olympic trial last week.
In the host country which bagged 32 golds to rank
third on the medals tally in the Athens Olympics four years ago, some teams are
sure to attract more attention.
When the third phase of the Olympic ticket
sales kicks off on May 5, tickets for weightlifting, shooting, diving, table
tennis, badminton and gymnastics will be not available for Chinese spectators
while globally popular events like basketball still have a bunch of tickets up
for grabs.
Shooting and weightlifting, which combined to produce 10 gold
medals in Athens for China, has received unprecedented attention now as the
first gold medal of the Games may be yielded from either event.
"Whether
shooting or weightlifting brings the first gold of the Beijing Olympics has to
be decided by the schedule, but we will field the best athletes in a hope to
clinch the title," Xiao said.
Either women's 10m air rifle or women's 48kg
will produce the first gold medal of the Games as defending champion Du Li is
preparing to shoot down the title and Chinese strongwomen, possibly Wang
Mingjuan or Yang Lian, will vie for the weightlifting glory. According to Ma
Wenguang, chairman of the Chinese Weightlifting Association, the final squad
will be decided in June.
For shooting team coach Wang Yifu, one of the
problems in their preparation might be the so-called "home
disadvantage".
"How to help the athletes to adjust to home pressure is a new
subject for us," said the former Olympic champion and six-time Olympian.
The
shooting team is not alone in fighting home pressure when the diving squad,
dubbed the "Dream Team" in China, also find it a difficulty to handle.
China
took six diving titles in Athens and grabbed nine in the world championships in
Melbourne last year but team leader Zhou Jihong still feels unsure about the
Beijing Games. She invited a famous professor to explain The Analects of
Confucius, the essential book of Confucianism and asked the divers to practice
Yoga.
"We hope to help them ease tension and learn to fend off pressure,"
Zhou said.
"Steely nerves will help the athletes to bring out all their
potential," she added.
The final roster will be announce in June but double
Athens springboard champion Guo Jingjing is almost sure to lead the charge,
probably together with her three-meter springboard partner Wu Minxia as well as
men's 3m board world champion Qin Kai and World Cup winner He Chong.
Table
tennis and badminton, seen as "cradles of world champions" in China, are
fine-tuning the lineups.
Multi-world champion Wang Nan and her men's
counterpart Wang Liqin missed the direct qualifications in the team and had to
fight for the berths for Beijing in the Asian qualifier in March.
Olympic
champion Zhang Yining and reigning world champion Guo Yue as well as Olympic
men's singles runner-up Wang Hao and doubles winner Ma Lin were directly
qualified for the August 8-24 Games.
The badminton team secured 13 berths
with dual world champion Lin Dan spearheading the men's squad and veteran
Olympic defending champion Zhang Ning leading the women's.
Striving to
achieve better results than a three-gold finish in Athens, head coach Li Yongbo
said he was concerned about form of the women players.
"Zhang has been
bothered by a series of injuries but she is painstaking with her training, all
for the Olympics," Li said about the 33-year-old Zhang who suffered from thigh
strain and knee injury recently.
"As for another ace player Xie Yingfan, she
has to work on stamina," Li added.
Unlike the above teams who were successful
in Athens, Chinese gymnasts are keen on a turnaround after the gymnastics
powerhouse took only one out of the 16 gold medals on offer in Athens.
Four
years later, Chinese gymnasts have recovered and become even better, claiming a
total of 13 titles from the last two world championships as Athens rookies grew
into top-level stars.
Floor and vault specialist Cheng Fei, dominating the
vault in the last two world championships with the original "Cheng Fei Jump",
most probably anchors the women's team, while members of the winning team at the
world championships including all-rounder Yang Wei, Huang Xu, Xiao Qin and Chen
Yibing produced good performances in last week's team trial.
"I am really
satisfied with my gymnasts who are in high spirit and good form," said head
coach Huang Yubin. "Some of their routines look great. I found the athletes
began to pay more and more attention to details in their
training."
Xinhua
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