Chinese rowers will aim for eight to ten spots in next year's
Olympic Games at the world championships kicked off in Munich,
Germany on Sunday.
With the 2008 Beijing Olympics always on mind, China sent their
largest ever team including 57 athletes and 10 coaches to the
Munich tournament, a major springboard to Beijing.
"Of course we're here for medals, but our priority is to earn as
many Olympic places as we can," said Chinese team manager Cao
Jingwei.
"We are trying to qualify in eight to ten categories," he said,
"we know it is quite a big challenge since it's almost impossible
for a nation to qualify for all 14 Olympic categories."
The world rowing season so far has been marked by the success of
China. Chinese rowers took 5 medals at the first Rowing World Cup
regatta and 10 medals at the second in Amsterdam this season.
As this nation prepares for next year's Olympic Games, all eyes
will be on those Chinese crews at Munich.
"Hopefully, we can get good results. But it's also a chance for
us to learn more about crews from other countries, especially our
potential rivals next year," said Cao.
The Munich championships have allured record entries. Racing in
474 crews, a total of 1,285 athletes from a record 68 countries and
regions will take part in the pinnacle event of the 2007 rowing
season.
China will compete in all the 14 Olympic disciplines as well as
three non-Olympic out of the 23.
At Munich, the top 11 boats in the men's single, pair, double,
four, quad and the lightweight men's four and double will qualify
for next year's Olympics.
There are seven spots for the men's eight. Amongst the women's
events, the women's single has nine spots; the women's pair, double
and lightweight double take eight spots. The women's quad seven
spots and the women's eight five spots.
(Xinhua News Agency August 27, 2007)