DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Tuesday, August 10, 2021 | 19 SPORTS

olympics

Sailor Bi Kun won the men’s windsurfer RS:X bronze on Chinese veteran Bingtian made major breakthroughs in the 100-meter in Wang Chunyu made history in by becoming the first July 31 — Team China’s first ever medal in the event. The Tokyo, setting an Asian-record 9.83 seconds in his semifinal and becoming the first Chinese woman to run in an Olympic 800-meter final, on 25-year-old’s performance was described as a “miracle” by Chinese to reach an Olympic 100m final. A medal ultimately proved beyond the Aug 3. The ambitious 26-year-old still could not hide her his coach, Li Feng. Bi believes he’s born to sail, and vowed 32-year-old in the final on Aug 1, when he finished sixth, however he had already disappointment at not grabbing a medal after finishing to always try his best in the sport. AP inspired young sprinters across to follow in his speedy steps. reuters fifth with a personal best 1:57.00. Wang was nonetheless heartened by proving the potential of a new generation of Chinese middle-distance runners. AP GREAT LEAPS FORWARD It’s onwards and upwards for Team China after breakthroughs abound at Tokyo 2020

By SUN XIAOCHEN proud of their athletes, of what they have [email protected] achieved so far. I’ve witnessed some of the gold medals,” said Bach, an Olympic champi- Reinforcing its strengths, smashing on in fencing at the 1976 Games. records and outstripping expectations, Team China delivered an Olympic campaign that Cementing supremacy China competed in the Olympic team eventing competi- perhaps even exceeded its own ambitions in Team China consolidated its supremacy in China’s women’s 3x3 basketball team sprang a surprise by tion for the first time at the Tokyo Games. Aside from star Tokyo. weightlifting, table tennis and diving, miss- winning a bronze medal in Tokyo on July 28. With their rider Alex Hua Tian, the team’s other eventers — Bao Ying- After the curtain came down on the Games ing out on only one gold in each sport in male counterparts struggling on the international stage feng and Sun Huadong — were making their Olympic on Sunday, the Chinese delegation boarded Tokyo. these days, the success was a real lift for hoops fans back debuts in the Japanese capital. However, they still man- their flights home having served up two The country’s shooting squad brought home. Chinese player Wang Lili hailed the medal as “the aged to muster an excellent ninth-place finish. Reuters weeks of spine-tingling action that tran- home a record 11 medals, including four best reward” for her team’s years of hard work. Reuters scended the sporting landscape to cheer the golds, while the gymnastics team, which fin- entire nation. ished without any golds at the 2016 Rio Leaving the Japanese capital with 38 gold, Games, bounced back to grab three titles in 32 silver and 18 bronze medals, Team China Tokyo. tied its London 2012 result as the best golden Despite the retirement of legend Lin Dan, haul at an overseas Olympics. That proved Chinese badminton players reached finals in worthy of a second-place finish in the overall all five disciplines, where they prevailed in medal table, just one gold behind the United women’s singles and mixed doubles. States’ leading tally of 39 golds. Athletes in these six sports contributed 28 China accounted for four of the 23 world gold medals, about 74 percent of the total records broken at the Games, spearheaded title haul, while strong Olympic debuts from by the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay swim- a host of rising stars also bode well for the ming team (7 minutes and 40.33 seconds). 2024 Paris Games. Men’s weightlifter Shi Zhiyong improved “Hopefully, this Games will only be the his own world record by a kilogram to 364kg beginning for many more successes ahead in to win the 73kg class. Track cycling duo my career,” said 19-year-old diver Wang Zhong Tianshi and Bao Shanju clocked Zongyuan­ after winning the men’s synchro- 31.804 seconds in their heat to set a world nized 3m springboard with Xie Siyi. record in team sprint en route to retaining gold, before marksman Zhang Changhong ‘All the impossibles’ fired a world-best score of 466 points to hit Much to the surprise of fans back home, the golden target in the men’s 50m rifle Chinese athletes made huge strides in West- 3-position. ern-dominated sports, such as track and Perhaps more encouragingly, the country’s field, swimming, and rowing. Teenager Li Bingjie won a precious bronze medal in the efforts to expand its prowess beyond its tra- Sprinter Su Bingtian dashed into history Having qualified for the Olympics for the first time in women’s 400m freestyle in the Tokyo pool on July 26. The ditional strengths, such as diving, table ten- by clocking an Asian-record 9.83 seconds to Tokyo, China’s women’s rugby sevens squad entered the 19-year-old not only set an Asian-record 4:01.08 in the nis and weightlifting, have yielded real become the first Chinese to reach an Olym- Games with modest expectations. The team, though, bat- final but also became the first ever Team China swimmer progress. Team China claimed golds across pic men’s 100m final. tled to an impressive seventh-place finish in a major boost to win a medal in the discipline. Reuters 14 events — its most diverse title distribution Two-time world champion Gong Lijiao to the sport’s fledgling development in China. Reuters at an overseas Olympics. claimed the country’s first women’s Olympic There were plenty of memorable moments shot put title in her fourth Games, before Liu off the podium too. Chinese athletes finished Shiying followed suit with a similar feat in in the top eight places 158 times in Tokyo — the women’s javelin. another all-time high since the country’s Zhu Yaming won the country’s first Olym- Olympic debut in 1984. pic silver medal in the men’s triple jump, As something of a post-Games bonus, Chi- leaping to a personal best of 17.57m in the nese athletes have all returned home safe final. and clean, without a single COVID-19 case “All the impossibles are meant to be bro- reported or any of their 226 drug tests ken, and here in Tokyo we did it,” Su said aft- returning a positive result. er finishing sixth in the 100m final. “Despite uncertainties and struggles dur- president Sebastian Coe ing Tokyo 2020’s pandemic-enforced delay, hailed Chinese athletes’ “upward trajectory” Chinese athletes have delivered on their tar- in Tokyo, adding: “You’ve seen the strength gets in Tokyo, improving on the delegation’s in endurance events. Chinese relay teams performances at the last Games in 2016,” now are extremely competitive. You have read a statement released by the Chinese seen the wide range of talent that has Olympic Committee on Sunday. emerged and is emerging in the field as well. “More importantly, the confident and Su Bingtian is a really good example of the diverse images of Chinese athletes, with or progress that is now being made in the short without golds around their necks, have pre- distances.” sented the young face of the country in a In rowing, the quartet of Chen Yunxia, modern light.” Zhang Ling, Lyu Yang and Cui Xiaotong won With skateboarding making its Olympic debut in Tokyo, Thomas Bach, president of the Interna- the country’s second ever gold in the wom- Chinese rowers Liu Zhiyu and Zhang Liang pocketed a historic teenager Zeng Wenhui finished sixth in the women’s tional Olympic Committee, heaped praise on en’s quadruple sculls, while Zhang Liang and bronze medal in the men’s double sculls on July 28. The third- street final on July 26. The 16-year-old, who used to prac- the performance of Chinese athletes in an Liu Zhiyu collected bronze in the double place finish delivered China’s first ever Olympic medal in men’s tice Chinese martial arts, was proud of her feat and interview with China Central Television. sculls to bring home the country’s first Olym- rowing. Zhang said the pair had been aiming for gold in Tokyo, insisted she would never walk away from the sport she “I think the Chinese people can be very pic medal on the men’s side. but claiming bronze was also a significant breakthrough. AP loves. AFP 158 21 226 28 14 11 top-eight finishes were Olympic records shattered drug tests gold medals events gold medals achieved by Team China, and four world records were conducted on were won across table ten- saw gold medals won by were successfully the most in its history broken by Chinese Chinese athletes, all nis, badminton, diving, Chinese athletes, the most defended by Chinese athletes returning negative results weightlifting, shooting and diverse distribution at an athletes in Tokyo gymnastics overseas Olympics