MANILA, Philippines—Host nation China, which spent a mind-boggling $40 billion to host the 29th edition of the ongoing Olympic Games in Beijing, is taking a big step toward capturing its first Olympic overall title by staying ahead of perennial winner the United States in the gold-medal race.
With only four days to go, these gritty Chinese athletes are, quite simply, too overpowering to beat, nailing down the lion’s share of the gold medals at stake.
Last April 22, I wrote that China will rule these 29th modern Games by citing the reasons why.
First and foremost, these Chinese athletes have the benefit of rigorous training and diligent coaching at an early age, especially in sports disciplines that emphasize grace, stamina and strength such as gymnastics, diving, weightlifting and shooting.
Every Chinese athlete knows there are thousands of others with the same grueling training regimen who are always desperately ready to serve and get the chance at sporting glory.
“My goal was to win the gold because I don’t want to hear people saying I’m second fiddle,” commented a Chinese female athlete.
Added 15-year-old diving gold medal winner Chen Roulin: “Sometimes I would get really hungry, but I was allowed to drink only water.”
From childhood, Chinese athletes have learned to appreciate the importance of iron discipline.
But there are other reasons as well. Chinese athletes have consistently made great progress in past Olympic Games.
In 1988 in Seoul, the Chinese won only five golds, but in the succeeding Games—in 1992 in Barcelona and in 1996 in Atlanta—the Chinese surprisingly finished fourth. In 2000 in Sydney, they moved up to third place overall and—wonder of wonders—landed second overall in 2004 in Athens, finishing behind the ever powerful US team in the gold-medal derby, 36 to 32.
In these Beijing Games, the host nation is dominating the field with ease. Truly, China’s decades-long sports program is paying off.
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NOSTALGIA. I visited China twice, the first in 1972 during the “Ping-Pong Diplomacy” year when I covered the Asian Table Tennis Union Championship in Peking, now known as Beijing.
Back then, China and the Philippines did not have diplomatic relations yet.
The late PV Gonzales, former president of the Table Tennis Association of the Philippines, persuaded me to join the trip, explaining that if I accepted the invitation to go with the sports delegation, I would earn the distinction of being the first Filipino sportswriter to cover a big event in China since 1949 when Mao Tse Tung took over.
In China, I saw Chair Mao and Premier Chou Enlai wielding a mean table tennis racket to the delight of thousands of fans, some of them members of China’s Red Guards, a popular youth movement during the ‘70s.
Later, my exclusive articles and photographs about sports in China were published in the Evening Post, an English daily; and the Orient News, a Chinese newspaper, owned by husband-and-wife writers Juan Tuvera, who died some years back, and Kerima Polotan. Said articles and photographs were also serialized by a Hong Kong-based Chinese newspaper.
Among the officials and members of that first ever Philippine table tennis delegation were the late Tatap chair Vic Liwag of San Miguel Corp., coach Teofilo Ybañez, the top table tennis player of the late ’60s; the brother-and-sister team of Embong and Alice Tababa, Freddie and Girlie Ybañez, son and daughter of Teofilo; and Hector Cabrido.
