Coming into the 2014 Paralympic Games, China had amassed an impressive 326 gold, 259 silver, and 198 bronze medals 1984-2012, but all 783 of them had come in the Summer Games. The best result at a Winter Games had been a fifth place finish by Peng Yuanyuan in the women’s 5km cross-country classic style standing in Vancouver four years ago.
Here are a few things we’ve been reading on China’s Olympic progress:
The BBC’s Martin Patience makes the good point that Zhangjiakou doesn’t have a hill large enough to host the downhill were China to win the 2022 Olympics. Fake snow? Check. Clear the skies? No problem. Bigger hill? Hmmm….
Continue reading Olympic links: Problems for 2022, record TV numbers & 1 very fed up athlete
As expected, Sunday February 9 provided little in the way of Chinese cheer: in cross-country, Xu Wenlong finished 59th (out of 68) in the men’s skiathlon,
while biathletes Zhang Yan, Tang Jialin, Song Chaoqing and Song Na finished 49th, 55th, 63rd and 83rd (out of 84) respectively. Song Na missed a team-high four targets in total, and, at 18, clearly hasn’t realized that if you’re going to have rock star hairstyle, you’d better be ready to play in the big leagues.
Continue reading China’s Olympics: Day 2 review, Day 3 preview
Despite starting the second day of the figure skating team event in bronze medal position, a disastrous ice dance by Huang Xintong and Zheng Xun in the team competition saw China ranked last out of the ten teams, gaining just a single point. Zhang Kexin didn’t do much better in the ladies short program, ranking 7th and earning four points, meaning that China finished qualification in 7th overall and missed out on a place in the final by three points. Continue reading China’s Olympics: Day 1 review, Day 2 preview
There was no actual sport on Friday February 7 in Sochi, but there was plenty of action, not least the opening ceremony, which kicked off at 20:14 local time. The Chinese team, led by figure skater Tong Jian, was described by one website as “reliably pleasant peppermint candies“. Here’s why:
Continue reading China’s Olympics: Day 0 review, Day 1 preview