China's 2010 Winter Olympians: Wang Meng and Zhou Yang, short track speedskating
Thursday, 18th February 2010 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
UPDATE: Wang Meng won gold, making her China's most decorated Winter Olympian, with two golds, one silver and one bronze. Zhou Yang finished 5th. Medal number 4 for China puts it in 9th place in the medal count. Wang competes next in the 1,500, with heats at 9:45 a.m. Beijing time, on Sunday Feb. 21, and finals two hours later.
Wang (right) celebrates a 1-2 finish in the 3,000 meters in Turin, with gold medallist Yang Yang
Wang Meng (王濛) is the most dominant athlete in China's 2010 Olympic delegation. The 24-year-old won three medals in Torino in 2006--gold in the 500m event, silver in the 1,000 and bronze in the 1,500. She is also the reigning world champion in the 500 and 1,000, with back-to-back 500 titles. In the preliminaries at Vancouver, she skated to an Olympic record of 43.926 seconds. Wang is more outspoken and outwardly competitive than many Chinese athletes. She has had a rocky history with her sport's officials in China, and left the national team for part of 2007 over a training dispute.
Chasing Wang and her first Olympic medal is 18-year-old Zhou Yang (周洋), who also moved on to the next stage, posting the second fastest qualifying time at 44.115 seconds.
Short track speedskating is China's top source of Winter Olympics medals, accounting for five of its 11 medals in Turin. China's first gold medalist in the winter games was Yang Yang (pictured above), in the 2002 games. The Chinese women won last year's world team championship in the Netherlands, and 2008 world championships in Harbin.
As China's program rapidly improves, its rivalry with Korea is heating up. Korea's head coach, Choi Gong-Bok, threw water bottles at a Chinese official who was taping a Korean training session, according to this report
The 500m short track final takes place Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 7:07 p.m. PST, or Thursday, Feb. 18 at 11:00 a.m. Beijing time.
The top threats to Wang and Zhou (Saturday heat times in parentheses) are Katherine Reutter, USA (44.187); Park Seung-Hi, Korea (44.221); Kalyna Roberge, Canada (44.254); and Cho Ha-Ri, Korea (44.313).
Related: Chinese speed skaters will medal at Vancouver Olympics, Canadian team coach says
Wang/Yang image: Baidu
Tags: China's 2010 Winter Olympians, speedskating, Wang Meng, Winter Olympics, Zhou Yang
Double double: Figure skating pairs bag China's first two medals
Tuesday, 16th February 2010 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Shen and Zhao
Shen/Zhao snagged the gold that has eluded them in their previous three bronze medal performances, with a score of 216.57. Taking silver were Tong/Pang, with 213.31 overall. German world champions got the bronze, at 210.6.
The third Chinese pair, Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, ended up in fifth place. The day's results no doubt indicate that China has a strong figure skating program, but most of the media attention focuses on Shen and Zhao--married, retired, unretired, and now Olympic champions. In his report on the couple, The Wall Street Journal's Ian Johnson quotes Zhao as saying, "When I hold her in my arms, I don't have to pretend to love her. I do."
Links:
Chinese Skating Pair Breaks the Mold
Related:
China's 2010 Winter Olympians: Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, pairs figure skating
Figure skating: Shen and Zhao on top heading into pairs final
Shen/Zhao image: Xinmin.cn
Tags: figure skating, Shen and Xue, Winter Olympics
Figure Skating: Shen and Zhao on top heading into pairs final
Tuesday, 16th February 2010 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
After breaking their own world record Sunday, Chinese figure skating pair Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo have a good chance of becoming China's first medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics.The veteran couple posted a score of 76.66, beating out the world champions from Germany, Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, who weren't far behind at 75.96. Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "In their 2 minutes, 50 seconds of captivating power and effortless beauty, the Chinese set the bar where no pair ever had been." The score beat Shen and Zhao's previous world record, set just a couple of months ago.
Shen, 31, and Zhao, 36, face a tough field in the final, which takes place at 5:00 p.m. PST on February 15 (9 a.m. Beijing time, Feburary 16). The Two other Chinese pairs are still in contention—Pang Qing and Tong Jian finished Sunday in fourth place, and Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao came in at fifth. Russians Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov are in third place with a score of 74.16.
Other Chinese athletes competing for medals on February 15 are free cross country skiers Li Hongxue (women) and Xu Wenlong (men), both long shots; and men's speed skaters Yu Fengtong, Zhang Zhongqi, Liu Fangyi and Wang Nan (all men). Yu is China's record holder in the 500 and 1,000 meters, but his best result is a 13th-place finish in the 2005 World Championships.
Related: Shen-Zhao lead pairs figure skating
Tags: 2010 Winter Olympics, figure skating, Shen and Zhao, speed skating, Winter Olympics, world record
China's 2010 winter Olympians: Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, pairs figure skating
Tuesday, 9th February 2010 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (1)
Zhao and Shen on the cover of SI China's 2010 Olympic issue, with the headline "Skating toward Vancouver"
The couple who, like many of China's winter Olympians, grew up in Harbin, came out of retirement last May. They proceeded to win three Grand Prix titles in the past year.
In a recent Reuters story, Shen says, "This is not our best chance. It is just our last chance, a last chance at the Olympics."
Olympic experience
Nagano, 1998: Fifth place
Salt Lake City 2002: bronze
Turin 2006: bronze
Other international experience: World champions in 2002, 2003, 2007
When to watch them compete: 4:30 p.m. EST (5:30 a.m. Beijing time), Sunday February 14--Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year and Day 1 of the pairs figure skating competition
Reuters: Last chance for Chinese figure skating pair
NBCOlympics.com: Figure skating schedule and results
Tags: China's 2010 winter Olympians, figure skating, Shen and Zhao, winter Olympics
China in the Winter Olympics: Facts and figures
Friday, 11th December 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Although China—like the rest of the world—care a lot less about the Winter Olympics than they do about the summer games, there is indeed an Olympics coming up. Olympic gold medals are a huge source of national pride in China, so the Vancouver 2010 Olympics will be watched more closely here than in most countries.Here's a rundown of some facts and figures on China's Winter Olympic history:
China's Winter Olympic debut: Lake Placid, 1980. China's best result was an 18th place finish in women's slalom ski. In 1984, matters only got worse, as China's top finish was 19 in the women's slalom ski.
China's first Olympic medal: 1992, Albertville, 2 silvers in women's speed skating, 500 meters and 1,000 meters, for Ye Qiaobao (was the first year in the program for speed skating)
First Winter Olympic gold: 2002, Yang Yang won the women's 500 m and 1,000 m in short track skating.
China's rank in medals from Torino 2006: 11 (2 gold, 4 silver, 5 bronze). All were in speed skating except for one gold in men's freestyle skiing aerials (Han Xiaopeng) and silver in women's freestyle skiing aerials (Li Nina)
China's historical Winter Olympic medals: 4 gold, 16 silver, 13 bronze, 33 total
China has historically been very strong in short track/speed skating, which account for 25, or almost 80 percent, of China's winter Olympic medals. Its other Olympic medals have come in figure skating (5) and skiing (3).
China's best shot at the elusive team sports gold is in curling. The Chinese women's team became national heroes when they brought home the world championship earlier this year. The women's ice hockey team has also improved rapidly, but despite their number 7 world ranking, they have very little hope of medaling this time around. Powerhouses USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland and Russia are too dominant.
Tags: China, figure skating, ice hockey, skiing, speed skating, Vancouver 2010, Winter Olympics