Chinese delegation contents with historic breakthrough at Beijing Paralympics
17/9/2008 17:25
The Chinese sports delegation has accomplished its goal at the Beijing
Paralympic Games with fine sports performance and spirits, officials said in
Beijing today.
"Generally speaking, we have well accomplished our goal for
the Games and lived up to the expectations of the Chinese people," said Jia
Yong, deputy chef de mission of the Chinese delegation, at a press conference
this morning.
"We have made historic breakthrough by finishing top at both
the medal tally and the gold medal tally," he added.
Hours before the closing
ceremony, the Chinese athletes have secured a top finish at the first Paralympic
Games being held in China with 88 golds, 68 silvers and 52 bronzes.
Chinese
officials would not reveal the amount of bonus for Chinese Paralympic
medallists, underlining that the establishment and execution of a long-term
encouragement system was more important.
"We should pay more attention to the
long-term system that addresses the issues including rehabilitation, job hunting
and higher education of Paralympic athletes," said Wang Xinxian, chef de mission
of the Chinese delegation.
"We will try to make sure the Paralympic athletes
have nothing to worry about when taking part in sports and are well taken care
of in social security after retirement."
Having achieved great success at the
Summer Paralympic Games, Chinese athletes will work hard to improve their
performance at the Winter Paralympic Games.
"We have just started in winter
Paralympic sports and will have a long way to go," Wang said.
Chinese
athletes have never won a medal at any Winter Paralympic Games. The best finish
for them at the Turin Winter Paralympic Games in 2004 was a seventh in the
women's 15 kilometers cross country skiing.
Xinhua
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