Tools: Save | Print | E-mail |
China Announces Historic Delegation for Athens Olympics
Adjust font size:

China will send a record 407 athletes to compete in 26 sports at the upcoming Athens Olympics Games, aiming to finish top three in the medal standings, said vice Chef-de-Mission Li Furong here on Tuesday.

The delegation, announced here in a press conference, will be headed by Yuan Weimin, Minister of the State Administration of Sports, and also consists of 226 officials, interpreters and medical staff.

"We have set two records this time," Li said. "The first is thenumber of athletes, and the second is the sports we will compete in."

China finished third in the medal standings four years ago in Sydney with 28 golds, 16 silvers and 15 bronzes, behind the UnitedStates and Russia.

Li thinks traditional powers United States and Russia are the strongest and should be in a group of their own in Athens while China should be in the second "group" which includes the likes of Australia, France, Germany and South Korea.

"Our target is to ensure our leading position in the second group," he said. "Specifically, I think we can win some 20 gold medals, it's very difficult to capture as many as we earned in Sydney because only 84 athletes out of the 407 have Olympic experiences. And 23 competed in the Atlanta Games, 79 in Sydney and 18 in both."

But he stressed that winning good results is just one of the two goals for the Chinese delegation, the other is to give Olympicexperience to the young athletes who are medal hopefuls in the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing.

"323 of them are first timers," he said. "And the average age of the 407 athletes is only 23.3, down 0.5 compared with that in Sydney. And 227 athletes are under 23.3."

Li, a former three-time world table tennis silver medalist, said, "After tasting the Olympics for the first time, they can definitely do better in the 2008 Beijing Games."

The oldest athlete is 43-year-old sharpshooter Wang Yifu, who will compete in his sixth Olympic Games and expect to win his second gold medal. The youngest is female swimmer Zhang Tianyi, who is only 14.

And as before, China will rely more on women athletes than men in Athens. Among the 407 athletes, women account for 269 and men for only 138.

Li said that Chinese athletes will face harder challenge in Athens than four years ago.

"In our potential medal events like table tennis, diving and badminton, either Australia or South Korea can pose serious threats to us," he said. "And we cannot afford to any mistakes in gymnastics, shooting and fencing before our Russian rivals."

China has competed in five Olympics since they returned to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in late 1970s. They finished fourth in the medal table three times in 1984 Los AngelesGames (15 golds), 1992 Barcelona (16), 1996 Atlanta (16) and ranked third in 2000 Sydney (28). They collected only five golds in the 1988 Seoul Games.

(Xinhua News? Agency? July 22, 2004)

Tools: Save | Print | E-mail |

Comment
Username   Password   Anonymous
 
China Archives
Related >>
Most Viewed >>
- White paper on energy
- Endangered monkeys grow in number
- Yangtze River's Three Gorges 2 mln years in the making
- The authorities sets sights on polluted soil
- China, US benefit from clean energy

Product Directory
China Search
Country Search
Hot Buys
主站蜘蛛池模板: 日本5级床片全免费| 欧美怡红院在线| 国产v亚洲v欧美v专区| 日本免费色网站| 国产自国产自愉自愉免费24区| xxxx性bbbb欧美野外| 挺进白嫩老师下面视频| 久久婷婷丁香五月综合五| 樱桃视频高清免费观看在线播放 | 久久精品日日躁夜夜躁欧美| 欧美大片在线观看完整版| 亚洲第一页在线观看| 狼色精品人妻在线视频| 免费观看毛片视频| 美女久久久久久| 四虎影院成人在线观看| 色综合久久综合欧美综合图片| 国产成人久久精品亚洲小说| 中文在线天堂网| 国产精品亲子乱子伦xxxx裸| 7777奇米四色成人眼影| 国语第一次处破女| 99亚洲精品高清一二区| 天天摸天天碰成人免费视频| yellow视频免费看| 小sao货水好多真紧h视频| 一级特黄aaa大片在线观看| 成人无码午夜在线观看| 中文字幕无码不卡免费视频| 日本www高清| 久久99精品久久久久久噜噜| 日本免费小视频| 久久久亚洲精品无码| 日本动漫h在线| 久久久亚洲av波多野结衣| 日本精品a在线| 久久成人福利视频| 日本高清视频色wwwwww色| 久久精品一区二区三区av| 日本高清www无色夜在| 久久国产精品视频一区|