Subject: CND Summer Olympics Special Issue (V), August 1, 1992

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 23:38:20 -0500

* * *  C h i n a   N e w s   D i g e s t  * * *

                             (News Global)

                  Special Issue on 1992 Summer Olympics (V)

                         Saturday, August 1, 1992

Table of Contents                                                 # of Lines
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1. Olympics Today ....................................................... 23
2. Overall Medal Standings Through July 31 .............................. 40
3. July 31's Medal Winners .............................................. 59
4. 1.15 Billion Reasons to Be Olympic Superpower ....................... 119
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1. Olympics Today ....................................................... 23
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From:  Huijie, Charlie Li
Source: Compiled from News Services, July 31

[Editor's Note: CND Chinese Magazine (HXWZ) carried an article last year in
cm9109a and cm9109b, introducing Chinese female swimmers, the so-called "Six
Golden Flowers," Lin Li, Zhuang Yong, Qian Hong, Wang Xiao-hong, Yang
Wen-yi, and Huang Xiao-min.]

China's swimmers dominated WOMEN'S 50 METER FREESTYLE event today, with YANG
Wenyi winning the gold medal by breaking her own world record of 24.98
seconds with a 24.79 clocking. ZHUANG Yong of China won the silver. Jenny
Thompson of the U.S., a pre-race favorite, was fifth.

In the WOMEN'S BUTTERFLY event, WANG Xiaohong won the silver, losing out to
Summer Sanders of the U.S.  Susan O'Neill of Australia took the bronze.

The U.S. swimmers won three gold medals today, with the U.S. women's team
setting a world record in winning the 400-meter medley relay.

Canada's Ben Johnson qualified for 100-meter final, along with Americans
Leroy Burrell, Dennis Mitchell and Mark Witherspoon.

It was a disappointing day for U.S. swimmer Ron Karnaugh, who finished sixth
in 200-meter individual medley less than week after his father suffered
fatal heart attack at opening ceremonies.

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2. Overall Medal Standings Through July 31 .............................. 40
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From:  Huijie
Source: DJ, July 31, 1992

          (THROUGH 90 EVENTS)

COUNTRY      GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL
Unified Team   20     11     13    44
United States  14     14     12    40
China           8     12      4    24  <--\
Germany         7      7     10    24  <--| Tied for the second time
Australia       4      7      5    16
Hungary         8      5      2    15
France          2      3      8    13
Japan           3      2      5    10
Italy           2      3      5    10
South Korea     5      0      3     8
Poland          3      3      2     8
Cuba            2      3      3     8
Sweden          0      3      3     6
Bulgaria        1      4      0     5
Britain         1      2      2     5
Canada          1      1      3     5
Romania         0      1      4     5
Netherlands     0      1      4     5
Spain           4      0      0     4
New Zealand     0      2      2     4
Turkey          2      1      0     3
Norway          1      1      0     2
Israel          0      1      1     2
Independent Team (Yugoslavia)
                0      0      2     2
Belgium         0      0      2     2
Greece          1      0      0     1
Estonia         1      0      0     1
Brazil          0      1      0     1
Peru            0      1      0     1
Latvia          0      1      0     1
Finland         0      0      1     1
Mongolia        0      0      1     1
Surinam         0      0      1     1
North Korea     0      0      1     1
Denmark         0      0      1     1

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3. July 31's Medal Winners .............................................. 59
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From:  Huijie
Source: DJ, July 31, 1992

                                CYCLING
        MEN'S SPRINT                             WOMEN'S SPRINT 
Gold -- Jens Fiedler, Germany	       Gold -- Erika Salumae, Estonia       
Silver -- Gary Neiwand, Australia      Silver -- Annett Neumann, Germany    
Bronze -- Curtis Harnett, Canada       Bronze -- Ingrid Haringa, Netherlands

MEN'S 4,000-METER TEAM PURSUIT         WOMEN'S 3,000-METER INDIVIDUAL PURSUIT
Gold -- Germany			       Gold -- Petra Rossner, Germany        
Silver -- Australia		       Silver -- Kathryn Watt, Australia     
Bronze -- Denmark		       Bronze -- Rebecca Twigg, U.S.         

	               MEN'S INDIVIDUAL POINTS
                  Gold -- Giovanni Lombardi, Italy
                  Silver -- Leon van Bon, Netherlands
                  Bronze -- Cedric Mathy, Belgium

            FENCING                              GYMNASTICS 
      MEN'S INDIVIDUAL FOIL               MEN'S INDIVIDUAL ALL-AROUND 
Gold -- Philippe Omnes, France         Gold -- Vitaly Scherbo, Unified Team 
Silver -- Sergei Goloubitski, Unified  Silver -- Grigory Misiutin, Unified 
          Team                                   Team 
Bronze -- Elvis Gregory, Cuba          Bronze -- Valery Belenky, Unified Team 

                                   JUDO
WOMEN'S 123-POUND DIVISION              MEN'S 156.5 -POUND DIVISION       
Gold -- Miriam Blasco, Spain	       Gold -- Toshihiko Koga, Japan      
Silver -- Nicola Fairborther, Britain  Silver -- Bertalan Hajtos, Hungary 
Bronze -- Driulis Gonzalez, Cuba and   Bronze -- Chung Hoon, South Korea  
          Chiyori Tateno, Japan	              and Shay Oren Smadga, Israel

         SHOOTING                            WEIGHTLIFTING                    
MEN'S THREE-POSITION FREE RIFLE            LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT                  
Gold -- Gratchia Petikiane, Unified    Gold -- Pyrros Dimas, Greece           
        Team			       Silver -- Krzysztof Siemion, Poland    
Silver -- Bob Foth, U.S.	       Bronze -- Ibrahim Samadov, Unified 
Bronze -- Ryochei Koba, Japan                    Team

                                  SWIMMING
WOMEN'S 200-METER BUTTERFLY            MEN'S 200-METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
Gold -- Summer Sanders, U.S.	       Gold -- Tamas Darnyi, Hungary    
Silver -- Wang Xiouhong, China	       Silver -- Greg Burgess, U.S.     
Bronze -- Susan O'Neill, Australia     Bronze -- Attila Czene, Hungary  

 WOMEN'S 50-METER FREESTYLE              MEN'S 1,500-METER FREESTYLE    
Gold -- Yang Wenyi, China	       Gold -- Kieren Perkins, Australia
Silver -- Zhuang Yong, China	       Silver -- Glen Housman, Australia
Bronze -- Angel Martino, U.S.	       Bronze -- Joerg Hoffman, Germany 

 WOMEN'S 200-METER BACKSTROKE          MEN'S 400-METER MEDLEY RELAY
Gold -- Krisztina Egerzegy, Hungary          Gold -- U.S.          
Silver -- Dagmar Hase, Germany	             Silver -- Unified Team
Bronze -- Nicole Stevenson, Australia        Bronze -- Canada      

                            TRACK AND FIELD
      MEN'S SHOT PUT                      MEN'S 20-KILOMETER WALK 
Gold -- Mike Stulce, U.S.	       Gold -- Daniel Plaza, Spain 
Silver -- James Doehring, U.S.         Silver -- Guillaume LeBlanc, Canada 
Bronze -- Vyacheslav Lykho, Unified    Bronze -- Giovanni DeBenedictis, 
          Team				         Italy 

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4. 1.15 Billion Reasons to Be Olympic Superpower ....................... 119
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From:  Zuofeng Li
Source: The New York Times, July 30, 1992

Barcelona, Spain, July 29 - Reveling in the spotlight focused on the XXV
Summer Games, China has emergeed as an Olympic superpower and is challenging
for a share of international sports prestige long accorded only to the
United States, Germany, and the former Soviet Union.

With three more medals today, including a surprising gold in the women's
100-meter butterfly and silvers in men's springboard diving and men's team
gymnastics, China has won 17 medals in the first 5 days of the Games. The
only countries with higher totals are the United States and the Unified
Team, made up of athletes from the 12 former Soviet Republicans. The Chinese
are running at double their medal rate of four years ago in Seoul, South
Korea.

"We're paying attention to the Olympics now," said Wang Yongsun, director of
the New China News Agency. "People want medals. Medals show that our country
is making a lot of progress. We hope to bid for the Olympics for the year
2000."

So when they talk in China these days of "going for the gold," they mean it
literally.

Each of the country's six gold medalists through today's competition will
receive the equivalent of $50,000, a staggering sum for most Olympic
athletes and extraordinary by standards in China, where capitalist
influences continue to emerge.

This startling financial incentive, and the resultant medal count, does not
come by accident. Although the Chinese returned to the Olympic movement at
the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the real thrust began after the Seoul Games
in 1988. That team finished seventh over all with 28 medals, including 5
gold - a first place total the nation has already surpassed here.

"Seoul was a setback for us," said Wang, discounting that the return of the
Soviet-bloc countries after their boycott in 1984 was a reason China could
not match its 1984 cache of 15 gold medals and 32 over all.

China was determined that no further setbacks would take place and took
immediate steps to improve by learning from their competition. Many domestic
coaches were dismissed and foreign coaches were brought in in at least four
sports. They included two swimming coaches from the former East Germany, a
coach from Cuba, a traditional boxing power; another from Bulgaria, who is
coaching rhythmic gymnastics, and a one-time first division German soccer
coach.

Many of the Chinese coaches were former athletes with little or no
education. Now, the Chinese are sending their young coaches to universities,
using modern training techniques from the reigning powers like the United
States and adapting these principles to their programs.

When 13-year-old Fu Mingxia won the women's platform diving two days ago,
new training methods were credited for her success. Ron O'Brien, one of the
American coaches, acknowledged that Fu had elevated the sport to a different
level. In the future, he said, dives will be attempted at new degrees of
difficulty to try to keep up with her achievements.

"They've become acrobats in the water," O'Brien said.

Yu Fen, Fu's coach, said her pupil even dives during thunderstorms.

"We train by the seas," she said. "And where we train there are storms. If
you can dive in the middle of a rainstorm, then you can dive anywhere."

One technique that is decidedly non-Western is the practice of encamping
athletes for state-supported training, following the formula once adhered to
by the East Germans and Soviets. Fu, for example, has been training away
from her home and parents, in a special diving school, since she was 10
years old. Many young American athletes may train away from home, but they
are not afforded government support.

Coaches already had determined Fu's potential by the time she was 8 and
attending evening classes in gymnastics in her home city of Wuhan. Possessed
with great talent and control, she was already a bit old for gymnastics, so
she was channeled into diving.

In the equivalent of a fairy tale, Fu was discovered by Yu on a routine
scouting trip and was encouraged to come to Beijing.

"At first I was sad," Fu said, of her long periods away from home, a system
used successfully by East Germany and the Soviet Union. "I missed my parents
but now I'm used to it."

"Diving is advancing very fast," said Tan Liangde, who finished second in
the men's springboard today but acknowledged that, at age 27, he was "too
old and too tired" to capitalize on the country's Olympic renaissence.

With a population of 1.15 billion, China has an enormous talent pool, but
its athletes are not all made from the same mold. One of the swimmers, Wang
Xiaohong, who finished fourth today in the 100-meter butterfly, recently
returned to China after spending a year at the University of Utah. And one
of the swimming coaches studied technique at U.C.L.A.

Such backing comes not only from an increased government resolve. The
Olympic effort also has added traditional Western-style sponsorships from
big business and big factories. Volkswagen of Shanghai, for example, has
helped underwrite the Olympic movement.

In addition, every first-place finisher from China will receive a gold
replica of a soda can, worth $6,000.

"I've been getting calls all day, how excited China is with five gold medals
in the first days," said Yang Xinwei of China Daily, the only daily
English-language newspaper in the country.

China has entered 261 athletes, but some sport have been bypassed, as much
for practicality as politics.

One is equestrian because of a shortage of riders and the cost of training
and preparing horses.

The Olympic spirit did not extend today to China's basketball team, though.

The squad lost to the Unified Team, 100-84, while China's best player sat
out until the final five minutes.

"I do not know why," contended Ma Jian, a forward, when asked why Coach
Jiang Xingquan had benched him. But another basketball official said it was
in retaliation: Ma is leaving the national team in the fall to enroll at
U.C.L.A. 

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