China Grabs Games Glory
China's sportspeople proved they are still the dominant
force in Asian competition by taking 129 golds to top the medals table at the 13th Asian
Games in Thailand in December.
The Chinese team, which made a clean sweep in Wushu, rowing, diving and the women's weightlifting competition, collected 129 gold, 78 silver and 67 bronze medals in the 15-day Asiad. South Korea and Japan finished a distant second and third with 65 and 52 gold medals respectively.
Especially taking into consideration the fact that China fielded mostly
young hopefuls, the results overall were a great success. Tu Mingde, Secretary General of
the Chinese Olympic Committee, said: "Our athletes have learnt a lot about
sportsmanship and winning fairly. We have basically achieved all our aims."
But although Chinese sports officials were satisfied with the number of gold medals, therewere some cavils at the overall level of performances.
The only really eye-catching performance came in the women's weightlifting, in which China is a powerhouse even at the Olympic level. China's women lifters broke 13 world records and won all 7 golds. But they found their domination being challenged by competitors from Myanmar, Thailand and North Korea for the first time in the history of the Games. The Chinese head coach admitted that in the next two or three years, Chinese women lifters will have to face even stiffer challenges.
China's gymnasts suffered a measure of disappointment as two of the 14 gold medals slipped through their fingers, and the athletics team, which hoped to win at least 18 to 20 golds, missed its target and barely edged its Japanese opponents 15-12 in the medals table.
And in the swimming pool, China suffered a bitter defeat to the Japanese, winning only 13 golds to Japan's 15.
It was the first time since the 1990 Asian Games that China had been beaten in the pool by Japan.
Even the all-conquering Chinese diving team could not fully enjoy its victories, even though they took all four gold medals with great ease as usual.
Deputy team manager Zhou Jihong said the performances of the Chinese divers at the Asiad were not satisfactory. "If we compete at this level in major international meets, we will be no match for ace divers like Dmitry Sautin," Zhou said.