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Games-Chinese gymasts rescue national pride as swimmers falter
1998-12-08
BANGKOK - Chinese swimmers sank at the Asian Games on Tuesday, failing to win a single gold medal in five events they were favoured to dominate. There was another major upset on the third day of the Games when World Cup contenders Iran were beaten by lowly Oman in a qualifying round of the soccer tournament. China was saved from one of its most humilating days in recent Asian Games when their women gymnasts easily won the team title, dedicating their medals to paralysed team mate San Lan. China's divers also took gold and silver in both their events in Asia's biggest sporting spectacle involving nearly 7,000 athletes from 41 nations competing in 36 sports. The setbacks left Japan, who collected four swimming golds with the other going to Taiwan, ahead in the medals table. Among the vanquished Chinese swimmers was Xiong Guoming, who was stripped of two gold medals at the 1994 Asian Games when he was one of seven Chinese swimmers to fail dope tests. He lost out to strong-finishing Japanese Takahiro Mori in the men's 4x100 individual medley. ``There have been a lot of changes in the swimming team since 1994. We're missing a lot the more experienced swimmers and the current team is quite young,'' Xiong said. Japan's Mori had a different view. ``We had a team meeting on the first night here and decided we were determined to beat China,'' Mori told reporters. In 1994, China won 25 swimming golds to Japan's five, even after the disqualification of Xiong and other winners. After two days of competition this time Japan have already surpassed their total at Hiroshima, having six gold to China's three. In terms of national pride, the greatest blow was in the women's 200 metres freestyle when Taiwan's Tsai Shu-Min stormed in from an outside lane to beat Chinese star Qin Caini by almost a second. Sachiko Yamada of Japan took the bronze. The pre-tournament favourite, China's Chen Yan, withdrew from the race with ilness before the heats after a disappointing run in Monday's 4x100 individual medley. ``This is not my medal -- it belongs to the whole country,'' said Tsia joyfully. Oman's 4-2 soccer win over Iran also set off celebrations back home, made all the sweeter for their Brazilian coach Valdeir Viera because he was fired by Iran last year. ``I don't know how I feel,'' said the coach Iran sacked after only three three games in charge. ``If we played Iran 10 times, I don't think we would win more than one or two.'' China's pint-sized women gymnasts had their paralysed team mate in mind when they waltzed away with the team gold. San Lan would have been joining the celebrations, but instead lies paralysed from the mid-chest down after a fall from the vault in warm-ups at the Goodwill Games in New York in July. ``All the team care very much about San Lan,'' said coach Lu Shanzhen. ``Today we have the gold and we want to dedicate that to her.'' Lu, who said there was no competition for his gymnasts at the Games, forecast they would also win every individual title. China's teenage divers showed they were made of sterner stuff than the swimmers when they vowed to be back training for the 2000 Sydney Olympics on Wednesday. Guo Jingjing, 17, won the gold in the women's three-metre springboard event while in the men's 10-metre platform competition, 19-year-old Tian Liang soared to victory. ``I am happy with my performance,'' Guo told Reuters. ``But there's no time to rest. I'll be training again tomorrow.'' Asked whether she was concerned about doping scandals once more marring China's image at the Asian Games, Yang said: ``That's never been a problem for Chinese divers.'' ``Diving is about precision and talent -- not about drugs.'' [Reuters]
Gymnast Honored at Times Square (1999-01-04)Games-Gymnastics-Chinese dedicate gold to paralysed team mate (1998-12-08)Games-Chinese gymasts rescue national pride as swimmers falter (1998-12-08)Paralyzed Gymnast `Quite Amazing' (1998-09-16)Sang Lan Gets One Dream Wish: Meeting DiCaprio (1998-07-31)
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