A nation which takes huge pride in its sporting supremacy and which is prepared to pour millions of dollars into building facilities and nurturing talent was bound to end up on top.
Four years ago, in Athens, when China finished second to the United States in the medals tally, everyone who knew anything about sports had predicted that it would top the standings at home. With a gold medal tally of 51, the highest ever since the Soviet Union took 55 in Seoul in 1988, China must have exceeded its own expectations, though in the overall tally it could not beat the US which took the second place in the standings with 36 gold medals. The US had a total of 1 10 medals compared with China’s 100.
Almost every forecast had put China ahead of the US in the number of gold medals as well as in total count. The US had taken the top place in the last three editions of the Olympics in total count as well as in gold medal tally.
This was to be China’s Games. Not just in showcasing its magnificent infrastructure and its organisational capacity but its sporting prowess too. A nation which takes huge pride in its sporting supremacy and which is prepared to pour millions of dollars into building facilities and nurturing talent was bound to end up on top. The home advantage, so crucial on such occasions, was of course a plus point. How did China, which had 32 gold medals in Athens, cross the half-century-mark in Beijing?
Since finishing third in the medals table in Sydney, China had mounted ‘Project 119’ that basically looked at the number of medals available in events such as athletics and swimming and how to win the maximum from them.
The group of sports comprised athletics (47 gold medals), swimming (34), rowing (14), sailing (11) and canoeing and kayaking (16, including four in slalom). It was still called ‘Project 119’ even though the number of gold medals in these disciplines went up by three with the inclusion of women’s steeplechase and 10km open water swimming for men and women. The number had swelled to 122.
China managed just one gold medal from these events in Sydney and four in Athens. There was a large chunk to be grabbed if only it could break through in these events in Beijing.
A massive effort was mounted with specialised coaching, expert trainers and world-class facilities being made available, but the eventual success of ‘Project 119’ was limited.
It is to China’s credit then that even without much success in a project in which it had sunk a lot of effort and money it still managed to beat the US by a mile in gold medal collection. ‘Project 119’ brought only three gold medals, one in swimming, one in rowing and one in canoeing and kayaking.
China reaped its harvest of gold mainly from traditional strongholds — eight in weightlifting out of a possible nine, seven out of eight in diving, a record-tying nine in gymnastics including two individual and a team gold from male gymnast Zou Kai, and five out of 15 in shooting It also had gold medals for the first time in boxing, archery, rowing, sailing and trampoline. (There was a controversy about the age of one of the Chinese gymnasts, He Kexin, gold winner on the uneven bars and part of the gold-winning Chinese women’s team, and at the time of writing, the IOC was yet to take a decision on the matter.)
Liu Zige, 19, whom the world hadn’t seen till then, came out of the pool with the 200m butterfly gold, a big bonus for China. It was one of the most unexpected results in the Games, with another Chinese girl, Jiao Liuyang claiming the silver and favourite Jessica Schipper of Australia touching home for the bronze.
Tongues wagged of course with the Western and Australian media quickly asking questions about Zige, but then such speculations were in abundance even four years ago when the Australian and Western media carried stories of imaginary, secret Chinese swimming camps and swimmers who were to be brought before the world just on the eve of the Beijing Olympics.
The truth about Liu Zige was told by none other than Schipper’s coach Ken Wood. He told Fox Sports that he had trained Liu Zige, especially through Chinese coach Jun Wei for several years and that the Chinese girl had trained at the Redcliffe High Performance Centre, Queensland, Australia, where he is the Head Coach.
The Chinese set a world record of 2:04.18 in a discipline mainly dominated by the Americans and the Australians.
If China managed to pull off surprises, apart from consolidating its position in disciplines like weightlifting and gymnastics, it also suffered most heart-breaking setbacks; none more painful than the first-round exit of Liu Xiang, the defending champion in the 110m hurdles, even before he had crossed a hurdle.
The whole nation had waited to see Liu Xiang win over world record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba on August 21. Perhaps in a new world record time. This was one gold medal that China wanted badly. But it was not to be. Liu Xiang pulled out with an injury, caused primarily by an Achilles tendon problem that had been bothering him for some time.
Liu Xiang’s coach, Sun Haiping, wept as he addressed the media and so did thousands of Chinese. Four years of hard work had gone unrewarded. Liu Xiang, the country’s second biggest sports celebrity after basketballer Yao Ming, had lost a chance to display his undisputed talent on the biggest stage of all in front of his home crowd. Incidentally, Yao Ming and the basketball team also failed, not being able to go beyond the quarterfinals.
There was a surprise fencing gold, in the men’s individual sabre, from Zhong Man, China’s first in 24 years.
It was 24 years ago that China came back to the Olympics. It had competed in the 1932 and 1936 Games without winning medals. It also participated in the 1948 London Games with a 52-member delegation, but with disappointing results. No one crossed the preliminary round.
There was a token representation by the Chinese in 1952 but in 1956, when some IOC members raised the issue of Taiwan and eventually allowed that country to compete in the Olympics, China withdrew from the Games and then from the Olympic Movement.
It was not until 1979 that China came back into the mainstream when the IOC reinstated it after accepting the country’s demand that only one team be entered as the Peoples Republic of China.
China skipped the Moscow Games, which was boycotted by the Soviet bloc, but in Los Angeles, it made a big impact by winning 15 gold medals to occupy the fourth place on gold medal count. China could manage only five gold medals in Seoul, but came back strongly in 1992 with a 16-gold haul. Onto Atlanta it was another 16 and fourth position on the table. Sydney saw China moving into the third position with 28 gold medals behind the US (37) and Russia (32).
In Athens, China finished behind the US by just four gold medals with 32. Its gold medals came from athletics (2) badminton (3), canoeing (1), diving (6), gymnastics (1), judo (1), shooting (4), swimming (1) table tennis (3), taekwondo (2), tennis (1), volleyball (1), weightlifting (5) and wrestling (1).
Now, China is on top of the world; the result of years of dedication, not to speak of State support, sports schools and rich talent coming out of mass-scale participation. If at all there is a disappointment this time, it could be from the fact that the country did not win a single athletics gold. China will surely work it out by the time London 2012 comes along.
A Special Correspondent
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