With one gold, one silver and three bronze, China's short- track
speed skaters contributed most of the medals for the country at the
2006 Turin Winter Olympic Games, which came to a conclusion
yesterday.
However, the traditional short-track powerhouse has to wait for
more talents to emerge to maintain its strength after the Games,
since veterans will retire.
"We have to admit that besides Wang Meng, there are no more
talented skaters in the country right now," said Tong Lixin, leader
of the Chinese short-track team at the Turin Games. "We still have
to find such new competitors to keep China among the top-level
countries in the short-track field."
At the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics four years ago,
short-track skater Yang Yang broke the gold medal jinx for China in
the Games by winning the women's 500m and 1,000m races. She also
claimed a silver for China with her team-mates.
But with the gradual retirements of these veterans from
international competitions, China is losing its grip on the
sport.
"While claiming the gold medals at the Winter Olympics four
years ago, our gap with South Korea, the world's leading country of
the sport, was small, but now the gap between the two countries has
grown bigger and bigger, especially in the aspect of techniques,"
Tong said.
At the Turin Games, South Koreans dominated the short-track
event from the beginning to the end, taking six gold medals out of
the total of eight, with the other two going to Apolo Anton Ohno of
the United States and Wang from China.
China's Yang, 29, who returned to join the national team after a
one- year absence to study abroad, only managed a bronze in the
women's 1,000m, which saw South Korean Choi Eun-kyung disqualified
in the final for impeding.
China's women's team also had to accept a medal blank in the
relay race after being disqualified for impeding.
The situation is even worse on the men's side. Led by veteran Li
Jiajun, the four-time Olympic medallist, the men's team achieved
only one bronze, by the 30-year-old Li, and finished only fifth in
the relay race.
(China Daily?February 27, 2006)